Page 151 of Ride or Die

But Kristi had expanded on it, adding columns and dates and transaction amounts, linking to all her sources. Financial reports, business opening announcements, social media posts.

She’d done an absurd amount of research, and even Riley could see it was very damning.

“This is going to get her killed,” Saint muttered, over her other shoulder. They sat in Riley’s apartment. With both men, the small studio felt far too tight. She shifted between them, jumping through the different tabs, all laid out by month.

Nico had been moving hundreds of thousands of dollars, through real estate purchases, his other businesses, restaurants, and even a laundromat.

“How do we make sure that doesn’t happen?” Riley asked, twisting to look up at them.

“She’s been pretty careful. She’s got an air-gapped laptop and didn’t tell you about it over the phone. She’s being smart about this,” Aaron said quietly. “She’ll be okay.”

Kristi was always taking online courses, learning about all sorts of things, and always watching her crime thrillers. Spies and hacking and explosions.

But this?

“Did you teach her?”

Aaron shook his head. “Didn’t need to. Said she learned by watching YouTube and Googling.”

Riley blinked at him and then turned back to the file. It was titled nicoisgoingdown.xlsx.

Did she even know Kristi at all?

“We’ll figure it out.” Saint looked down at her, lips lifted in a gentle smile. “We’ll keep her safe.”

“I just need to talk to her. Properly,” Riley said, jabbing at the arrow keys. Kristi had fucked off to New York, to visit her dad on an impromptu trip. He was getting married. Again. She’d been gone three days and had barely texted back.

Aaron opened a cupboard.

“You’re not going to find any black tea. Coffee’s it,” Saint told him, and Riley had to smile.

“I did get mint,” she said. “Even though it’s just dead leaves.”

Aaron huffed a barely-there laugh.

A bitter aroma filled the kitchen, and she breathed it in. “I’m going to give this to the police.”

She was doing it. It was right. It wasn’t about being a good person, or getting payback on Nico—as much as Kristi wanted that to be the reason. It was about doing what she could live with.

She was being smart about it. She wasn’t doing it alone.

Aaron stilled in the kitchen, and Riley turned to look at him, but he was looking over her head at Saint.

Saint’s mouth was tight, and his jaw ticked. His eyes dropped to her. “You don’t go on the stand.”

“Off the record. Nia can put you down as a confidential informant, but that should be it,” Aaron said, as the coffee dripped through the maker in the background.

“You trust her?” Saint asked Aaron.

“With this.”

It would have to be good enough.

Chapter 45

Riley

The precinct still smelled the same. Burned coffee, adrenaline, and a tang of vomit underneath the disinfectant. Some things never got clean.