Page 177 of This Life of Mine

“I know,” Reese replies. “But right now? On paper? It’s clean. Too clean.”

My grip tightens on the phone.

“Any connection back to the contract?” I ask.

“Not yet,” he says. “But I overheard Elinor in David’s office call Blake, their Accountant. Let me play the recording.”

I wait, and then I hear Elinor’s voice.

“I told you to make the transactions look more conspicuous. David was able to figure it out. If he could, that’s a problem, Blake. I pay you good money to keep this under the radar. Do your damn job.”

A beat passes.

“I’ll handle it. You do your job, and I’ll take care of the rest.” Elinor hangs up the phone, sighing. Then all we hear is the click of her heels as she leaves the office.

I exhale the frustration, carefully, forcing my expression back into something neutral before Lina can read too much from across the room.

“Keep digging,” I tell him. “Everything. Autopsy. Financials. Security footage. I want timelines.”

“You got it.”

I hang up and turn back to Lina.

She’s watching me now. Fully alert. Reading the tension I didn’t hide well enough.

“What is it?” she asks softly.

I step toward her, heart heavy, mind already racing ten steps ahead.

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” I say carefully.

Her eyes sharpen. “Tell me.”

I hold her gaze. She stills, waiting for me to speak.

“David Allister was found dead this morning.”

The room goes silent.

Lina’s hands go straight to her mouth, shaking her head in disbelief.

Lina sits on my bed, and I can see the wheels turning. A tear escapes her as she sits in shock.

The sight of it twists something inside me. I hate seeing her like this. Hate the way every new revelation seems to ask her to carry another impossible weight. Hate that her first instinct is always to search for a way to blame herself.

As if she’s somehow responsible for the choices made by every terrible person who has crossed her path.

“Is this my fault?” she asks.

“No,” I reassure her.

Not a second of hesitation or a fraction of doubt. Because I know where her mind is going. She’s connecting dots that don’t belong together. Trying to make herself responsible for things she never controlled.

Lina pulls her knees to her chest and hugs them, closing her eyes as tears gather along her lashes.

God. I wish I could take this from her. I wish I could reach into her mind and remove every ounce of guilt she insists on carrying.

Instead, I kneel beside her and rub her back.