THE SILENT PARTNER by Sara M. Cockrell

Forensic auditor Kim Kessler doesn't chase danger. She chases discrepancies — the decimal point that's off, the invoice that doesn't match the manifest. So when her firm sends her to quietly investigate Callahan Maritime Group after a whistleblower's death is ruled an accident, she expects spreadsheets. She does not expect Kelly Reyes. Kelly runs security for the Callahan family. He's the man who makes problems disappear — quietly, permanently, without ever raising his voice. He's also the last person Kim should trust, and the only one standing between her and whoever is willing to kill to keep the company's books clean. Every hour she spends decoding the fraud pulls her closer to a truth that could destroy the empire Kelly has spent his life protecting — and closer to the one man capable of protecting her, if he doesn't destroy her first. Because Kelly isn't just guarding her. He's guarding a secret of his own, one that puts him on the wrong side of her investigation the moment the numbers start pointing at the family he calls his own. As the body count rises and the walls of Callahan Maritime close in, Kim has to decide whether the man who makes her feel safest is the same man she should fear most. And Kelly has to decide if loyalty to the family that raised him is worth losing the one person who's ever made him want something else. The clock is ticking. The ledger doesn't lie. And neither of them is walking away unmarked.