“He’d have loved how many people showed up today,” Taylor murmured, leaning her head on Roman. He’d been with her the past couple days, a steady rock. For once in her life she had no problem depending on someone for emotional support. Because right now, she needed it. Saying goodbye had been harder than she’d thought. She’d made a silent vow to him that she would see Neal brought down for what he’d done. That was the only thing that helped make her feel better.

Roman’s arm tightened around her shoulders as Escobar started the engine. The last three days they’d basically been holed up in Wyatt Christiansen’s condo. Despite what Escobar had said about her taking time off, she’d been working on different company projects, tying up anything she could this week just to keep busy and because she didn’t want things to fall apart because Hugh was gone. Since she could work anywhere as long as she had her laptop it hadn’t been an issue.

She knew she needed to ask Roman how much longer he’d be staying and what would happen between them from here, but she’d been feeling way too raw to say it in case he didn’t give her the answer she wanted. She’d just needed to get through today. Now that the funeral was over, she knew it was time for the conversation. Because as much as she wanted him to, she knew he couldn’t stick around and guard her until Neal was found.

She was still pissed he’d managed to get away. Neither the police nor the security team—all of whom Escobar had since fired for losing sight of him—had been able to track him down after he’d fled the marina. Alexei had actually called to apologize for not locking Neal down at the marina. The Russian had said he thought the cops would easily apprehend him and if she hadn’t known better she might have believed the man truly felt bad.

“Yeah, Hugh would have,” Escobar murmured from the front. He cleared his throat, almost nervously as he glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “Are you going to stay with the company now that he’s gone?” he asked, the blunt question not exactly a surprise. He’d dropped hints the past couple days, clearly curious what her plan was.

It was subtle, but she felt Roman tense next to her. She wished she had an answer. “I don’t know.” Her voice sounded raspy and tired. The thought of going back to work for Powers Group without Hugh there was beyond depressing. “You?”

To her surprise, he shook his head. “I don’t know either. The new CEO…” He shrugged, his face twisting into a momentary state of disgust before returning to its normal impassiveness.

The new guy was okay but the truth was, he wasn’t Hugh. No one could replace him, not in the sense that mattered for Taylor. Because she’d been more loyal to the man than the company.

They drove in silence back to the condo, but the whole time stress built inside her. She hated being in this weird suspended state where she couldn’t return to her apartment and needed guards in case Neal made a move against her.

It was like the man had basically disappeared off the grid. Even Vadim, who’d since returned to Vegas, was implementing all of his magic and running Neal’s face through all his facial recognition software programs and he was coming up empty too.

When Escobar’s phone rang, the soft chime seemed overly loud in the interior of the SUV, and she nearly jumped.

“Yeah,” he answered, his tone clipped. “Hold on. I’m putting you on speaker.” Without seeming to wait for a response, he connected to the vehicle’s blue tooth system. “We can all hear you.”

Taylor and Roman both straightened when Detective Durnin’s brusque voice came over the line. “Got good news for you guys. Taylor, you sitting down?”

“Yes.” The only good news she could imagine right now was Neal being caught and prosecuted for his crimes. Her heart beat an out of control thump in her chest as she waited for him to speak again.

“Found Lynch’s body late last night. Would have called sooner but I knew you’d be at the funeral.” His voice softened the slightest bit.

“Body?” Roman asked, voicing what Taylor was thinking.

“Yeah and it’s not pretty. From our investigation we know he owed some serious debts to the Russian mob. Off the record, I think he couldn’t pay so they killed him.”

Taylor shot Roman a glance but didn’t say anything. They’d never told the police about their involvement in making sure the Russians got the money they were owed.

“Why do you think it’s the Russians?” Roman asked.

There was a long pause, probably because the man was debating whether he should tell them or not. It was an ongoing investigation and while Taylor knew they couldn’t be suspects because they’d been on virtual lockdown the last three days—and could all prove their whereabouts for pretty much every second of the last few days—he probably shouldn’t tell them. When he spoke again, however, she guessed he felt bad about how everything had gone down.

“Hands, feet and another…important body part were missing. Even the face was too fuc—uh, messed up to positively identify. The only way we know it’s him is because of his dental records. He had multiple fake IDs on him too, like he might have been planning to leave the country.”

Taylor’s stomach twisted at the thought of the torture he must have endured. And a dark part of her she hadn’t realized existed inside her, was glad he’d suffered.

Roman’s expression was grim. “You’re sure it’s him?”

“We’re still going to check his DNA because of the high profile nature of the case, but…yeah. Barring anything unforeseen, I think we’ve got him.”

Escobar, Roman and the detective talked for a couple more minutes but Taylor basically tuned it out. Relief and sadness warred inside her, both winning. Neal Lynch was dead and no longer a problem. And from the sound of it, he’d gotten what he deserved. But Hugh was still gone too and that just killed her.

“You can finally go home,” Roman murmured as Escobar ended the call. He kissed the top of her head as she turned into him, cuddling against his strong body.

“I thought I’d feel more relief. Which I do. I’m glad this nightmare is finally over, it’s just…”

“Your friend’s still gone. I get it,” he said quietly.

Yes, he did. Because he got her. Sighing, she closed her eyes. It was time for her to go home and move on from this madness.

* * *

Taylor was quiet as they headed up the elevator to her place, leaning back against the wall, biting on her bottom lip. She still wore the simple black dress from the funeral this morning. They’d gone back to Wyatt’s condo after the call from Durnin, but Escobar and Roman’s brother, who was still in town, had offered to bring most of Taylor’s stuff over.

For that, Roman was grateful. Taylor’s life had been basically put on hold and right now she needed to be somewhere familiar.

“They won’t be too far behind us,” he said quietly, referring to Escobar and Logan, mainly just to talk. He, who never made small talk. But he wanted to hear her voice, to convince himself she was okay. Today had been understandably hard on her and he just hated seeing her with puffy, red-rimmed eyes and knowing there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop her pain.

Ease it a little, yeah, but not stop it. He’d lost enough friends overseas so he knew how hard it was to lose someone to violence. Hell, to lose someone period was difficult. And he had a feeling that things were finally starting to hit her, the reality of everything settling in.

“Yeah,” she murmured, her arms crossed over her chest.

As they reached her floor, he stepped out with her, then pulled her close, turning her so that she was facing him. No one was in the hallway so he wasn’t worried about lack of privacy. “I know you’ve got a lot to deal with right now but I’d like it if you came to Vegas for a week or two. You don’t have to stay with me—but I want you to—and I think it’d be good for you to get some distance. Escobar says you’re still technically not supposed to be working and I understand you want to stay busy, but it might not hurt to have some real downtime. To decompress. You witnessed violence against someone you loved. It’s going to take time to heal.” There was a hell of a lot more he wanted to say, but now wasn’t the time. He didn’t want to freaking preach at her and it was taking all his control to rein in his need to make decisions for her—because he knew that would never work with a woman like Taylor.