Rachel didn’t believe in coincidences. “So how do we figure out who authorized the payment?” she asked, her mind spinning with the implication of this new information.

“I checked the recipients, and this PAC oddly donates money across party lines,” Rowan said. “Guess the two senators who have received the largest contributions from this PAC.”

“Hutton and Byron,” Logan said through gritted teeth.

Rowan nodded. “Bingo.”

Oz dropped into his chair in front of the computer and spun it from side to side. “Senator Hutton wouldn’t have put himself at risk of contracting a deadly disease. It doesn’t make sense. And what motive would either of them have to do it?”

“Hutton has introduced a bill to increase spending for the prevention of biological warfare,” Logan told him. “Releasing a deadly disease like Leopold would support his position that additional funds are necessary.”

Seemed to Rachel like a drastic way to earn money. “But he’d be crazy to expose himself to the virus.” She’d met Hutton and had a hard time believing he could do such a thing. “What about Byron?”

Logan shook his head. “Why would he do it? Wouldn’t it hurt his chances that his bill would pass?”

“Maybe he just wanted Hutton dead,” Hunter said, perched on the edge of a desk.

“There are easier ways to do that,” Rowan pointed out.

Suddenly somber, Oz stopped moving his chair. “You should also know that according to Byron’s intern, Byron is also in Las Vegas.”

Rachel perked up at that bit of news. What reason did Byron have for being here at the same time as his senatorial nemesis? Surely, that couldn’t be a coincidence. She didn’t want to believe that the man she’d met at the FBI office could be capable of such an act or that Logan and she had gone to such lengths to protect a man who had possibly been behind the whole plot to release Leopold on innocent people.

“I’ll research the treasurer of the PAC as well as Byron to see if there’s something we’re missing, but let’s just focus on Hutton right now,” Rowan said with his usual logic. “What would we need to tie him to the Rinaldi or the agents?”

Logan squeezed her side in reassurance as if he sensed her distress over the recent revelation. “If we could hack into his computer, we could go through his files and emails. Maybe we’d find something there.”

“How do we do that?” she asked, burrowing in closer to his side.

“I don’t suppose he gave you his IP address,” Oz quipped.

She laughed. “No, surprisingly, that wasn’t on the card he gave me. Isn’t there another way?”

Sawyer rested against the wall, his feet crossed in front of him. “If he brought his computer with him and if it were on, there are a couple of different ways we could access it.” He looked at Rachel. “You can locate the IP address and give it to us. Then we could hack him remotely, but we’d only be able to do it so long as the computer was on. The other way is to hack it through the Wi-Fi. It’s harder to trace that way, but we could download his files in a single swoop through an app on a cell phone.”

Her heart started hammering from the surge of adrenaline racing through her. While she didn’t have the computer skills on par with the guys, she had experience working undercover. She could help them access Senator Hutton’s computer. “That’s what we’ll do,” she said excitedly. “Give me a phone with the app on it, and I’ll use it when I do the interview.”

Logan grew rigid against her. “Guys, can you excuse us?”

The room went dead silent for a beat. Then shooting each other looks that spoke volumes, Sawyer and the others left the room. A sense of dread fell upon her, and she braced for the words that would slice her heart in half.

Logan’s arm fell away from her waist and he moved to stand in front of her. “I don’t want you to do it,” he said quietly.

She inhaled a deep breath as if drawing strength into herself. “Why not?”

“If he is responsible for everything and you get caught, what do you think a monster like that would do to you? And if he’s not responsible and you get caught, you’ll have pissed off a powerful senator who will have you thrown behind bars. In both scenarios, you’ll end up hurt.”

She placed her palm on his chest. “How about the scenario where I don’t get caught and nothing happens to me?”

It pained her when, shaking his head, Logan took a step back from her. “It’s not worth the risk. We can take what we know and pass it on to the FBI.” His tone gave her the impression that his decision was final.

She felt the hope of their marriage working slip through her fingers like sand. “Right, because they’ve been oh so helpful so far,” she said, laughing bitterly. “They want to pretend like none of this ever happened. They’ll give their official statement and that will be it. We need to find something that incriminates Hutton before we can go to the FBI.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “We should wait until we have more intel before charging in and putting your life in danger.”

Was this about control? Or a result of his time in the army when incomplete intelligence had cost the lives of his fellow soldiers and an innocent civilian? Regardless, his traumatic experience had obviously affected him strongly.

“How are we going to get that intel?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” Averting his eyes, he dipped his chin toward his chest and ran his fingers through his hair. “We’ll figure it out.”

Frustrated, she clenched her hands. “And by then our chance to hack his computer will have passed.” Her voice came out louder than she’d intended, but he wasn’t listening to reason.

He threw his hands in the air. “Then I’ll do it. I’ll come with you to the interview. Or I’ll stop by his room another time and do it.”

This had nothing to do with waiting for more intel. He just didn’t want her to do it. And while part of her knew he did it out of concern for her, the other part realized her greatest fear had come true. She’d fallen in love with a man who wanted to control her.

“You’ll do it. It’s too dangerous for me, but it’s okay for you? You’re not even thinking rationally. If you get caught, he’ll assume I’m in on it anyway.” She waved her hand at him. “This is about you wanting to control everything. But you can’t control me, and it scares you.”

“I’m not trying to control you.” He stalked forward and grabbed her shoulders, his fingers digging into her skin. “I’m only trying to keep you safe.”

A war raged inside her. She knew he was telling the truth, but it didn’t matter.

The result was the same.

She blinked back the tears. “This isn’t going to work. I told you my job is dangerous sometimes, and you promised you’d try to accept that. But the first opportunity to test that promise, you’re forbidding me from doing my job.”

He took her face in his hands. “You haven’t been out of danger for a day yet and already you’re throwing yourself back to the wolves. I love you. My job as your husband is to protect you even if you don’t want that protection.”

Wetness stained her cheeks. This didn’t feel like a marital argument. This felt like good-bye. “Your job as my husband is to support me and my decisions. This is why I never wanted to get married. I’m never going to obey you outside of the bedroom, Logan. I’m not submissive.”

His throat worked over a swallow as he tenderly brushed her tears with his knuckles. “You say the word submissive like it means you’re weak. You know that’s not true. There’s strength in submission.”

She pushed him away. “The strength comes from handing over that power to another. I’m not giving it to you. You’re trying to take it from me. I won’t let you do it. You say you love me. Then let me take a risk. Let me be the same woman you fell in love with. The one who defied you in the dungeon and followed you outside at Benediction. The one who put herself in front of a dog to protect it the same way you put yourself in front of Evans’s gun to protect me. That’s who I am. I can’t change for you. I won’t.”