Chapter 44 Maya
MAYA
“You’ve got her phone?” I stared at Noah like he’d just conjured fire.
“Don’t ask how,” he said.
Even Dom—cool, always-ready Dom—looked halfway impressed. “Tell me you didn’t—”
Noah just gave him a look that said, I handled it. You’re welcome.
“Let’s get to work,” he said. “Her passcode’s ‘sbwdepom3.’ Whatever that spells out on your number pad.”
Dom squinted. “Not her birthday?”
“It’s her dog,” I said. “Sir Balthazar Wigglington de Pompadour the Third.”
Dom chortled. “You made that up.”
“I wish I had.”
When Noah handed the phone to Dom, I caught it mid-pass.
“Guys, no offense, but let me do the first sweep,” I said.
They both looked at me.
I hated Annamaria, but no one deserves their laundry aired like this. And knowing her, it’s not just dirty. It’s rated.
Noah nodded, immediately respectful. “All right. Flag anything that looks like it might help.”
I took the phone and slipped away to the bedroom, curling up next to Reko, who instantly flopped a paw over my thigh like a therapy dog with no training but perfect timing.
I opened the gallery and started scrolling through the timeline around the first heist.
There’s Annamaria in full costume at Big Sky’s Halloween party, barely a week after my sentencing. She was dressed as a prisoner, with an orange jumpsuit, fake chains, and a giant plastic diamond at her throat. The caption? Cousin vibes.
I stared at it and scoffed. “Classy, Ann.”
She knew what she was doing. Of course she did.
I kept scrolling.
And…ugh. Yep. Exactly why I told the guys to stay out. Videos that belonged in a vault labeled DO NOT OPEN EVER. Her and the boyfriend she used to have. I winced, muttered a horrified “oh no,” and skipped past.
But then, I paused.
There was a string of photos that were seemingly harmless, such as her dog posing in a little sweater beside a potted plant. Normal.
Until I looked closer at the reflection in the mirror-like silver pot.
Her face. And what was that white thing?
Not a mask.
She was bandaged across her nose and cheeks!
And the timestamp?
Two days before I broke into the mansion.
My fingers trembled around the phone. And my throat dried up.
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
So she hadn’t gone with her dad for her grandparents’ anniversary that weekend because she’d been nursing an injury. She had been home.
I burst out of the bedroom, half-running, half-sliding across the rug. Reko jerked upright, confused, but chased after me anyway.
Dom and Noah’s heads snapped toward me, both of them springing to their feet.
“I found something,” I said, my breath tangled between panic and the high of what I’d just uncovered.
Noah crossed the space between us in three long strides. Dom hovered close behind.
“Sir Balthazar Wigglington de Pompadour the Third,” Dom muttered.
“You remember?” I frowned.
“Lawyer superpower,” he quipped. “So, what secret is this innocent pooch holding?”
“Not the pooch. The pot.” I zoomed in on the photo and held it out. “Look.”
“Is that her?” Noah asked, squinting at the reflection.
“Yep. Her face…wrapped in bandages. Dated two days before the heist.”
Noah exhaled. “Blue! You found a gem.”
His hand slid over my back, then he pressed a kiss to the crown of my head. I swore I felt the pride vibrating through his skin.
Dom, on the other hand, didn’t even blink.
“She was hurt before I went to the mansion,” I said, coaxing a reaction from him. “That proves I didn’t hit her!”
“Well, it doesn’t clear you completely,” Dom argued. “Technically, she could’ve gotten more later, but this? It muddles the timeline. We’re planting seeds of doubt, and that’s half the battle. Anything else? Emails? Messages?”
“I haven’t checked yet,” I admitted.
Dom sighed, deeply dramatic. “Maya, I love you, but you scroll like my great-aunt ordering takeout on an iPad.”
Noah tensed. “Back off, Dom. I thought you had people to do this for you.”
“I do,” Dom said smugly. “And they’re all brilliant. Because I trained them.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re that confident?”
“I’m a lawyer.” Dom held out his hand. “I’ve seen things that you’d pay therapists to forget. So yes, I can go through her phone. Is it invasive? Absolutely. Do I care? Absolutely not. My priority is winning. For you. For him. For all of us.”
I hesitated, then handed it over. “Fine. But texts and emails only. No photos.”
“Scout’s honor,” he said before immediately diving in.
It didn’t even take ten minutes.
“Aha!” Dom called, tapping the screen. “Email confirmation from Clinique La Tulipe in Beverly Hills. The nose job capital of the western hemisphere.”
My jaw dropped. “She got work done?”
“Are you surprised?” Dom said.
I shouldn’t have been.
Noah squinted at the screen. “Plastic surgery. That’s what we saw in the reflection?”
I frowned, half-talking to myself. “Let’s say she had the surgery two days before the heist. Then she reported the so-called assault to Harlow two days after?”
Dom nodded as he kept pace. “Four days post-op, the bruising would’ve started to fade. Less surgical, more like a regular shiner. Same with the swelling. It could easily pass for a punch.”
Noah raised a brow. “You sure know a lot about plastic surgery. That nose of yours real?”
Dom threw him a glare. “Watch it. Or you’ll be the one needing work done.”
“Boys,” I warned, lifting my hands.
Dom leaned back, unfazed. “All right. Fun’s over.” He looked at me. “Maya, you’re spot on. That gives us an angle. PCR.”
“English?” Noah asked.
“Post-Conviction Relief. New evidence, false testimony. It’s a Hail Mary with teeth.”
Noah’s brows tugged together. “This isn’t…legal, though. Is it?”
Dom sighed. “For a guy who dragged a man to the edge of a bluff and blackmailed him into stealing a phone, you’re awfully uptight.”
I shook my head. Edge of a bluff. It had to be Napoleon. I didn’t give a damn about that piece of trash. I cared about Noah. He couldn’t afford to get caught up in this.
“He’s right, though,” I said, “Can we use it?”
Dom put Annamaria’s phone down. “Maybe not the device itself. But the information? We can work with that. How did we know? The prosecutor’s gonna whine about hearsay, privacy, whatever. Let him.”
I turned to Noah. “Tell me no one saw you, however you pulled it off.”
He eased closer. “Relax. I was careful.”
Dom stopped me from picking up Annamaria’s phone. “No one touches this thing anymore,” he said. “I’ll wipe it clean before our resident cat burglar returns it.”
Noah let out a pitiful meow loud enough for Reko to decide he’d had enough of his humans and to pad off toward the back of the house.
Meanwhile, Dom pulled up a search on his own device. “The internet’s already made the case. Miss Annamaria’s nose, before and after. Clear as day. It’s not exactly side-by-side like a woman’s magazine spread, but it’s there.”
I used my own to scroll through her socials—posts from before the date in question, and then after, once she’d started showing her face again. Dom wasn’t exaggerating. Her nose, her whole profile…it was different. Subtle in some shots, blatant in others.
Dom’s grin widened. “I’ve worked cases where full-blown identities were erased with a scalpel. You think I can’t find one pampered enfant gaté in a sea of Botox and billing records?”
Noah rolled his eyes. “Prove it then, Counselor.”
Dom stood, already pulling his laptop closer. “Montana’s where I fish. But L.A.? That’s where I hunt.”
Just then, his phone lit up with a buzz. His expression shifted. Focused and serious.
The call didn’t last long. A few clipped words, then silence. When it ended, he turned to Noah and me. “Trial date’s been set. It’s in Bozeman.”
“What?” Noah’s eyes flared.
“So we’re not getting the judge who, you know…ruled in favor of love last time?” I tried to make it a joke, but no one cracked a smile.
“The felony warrant was issued in Gallatin County,” Dom said. “Fighting to keep it local is a waste of time, and it wouldn’t change the outcome. What we need is more evidence. Besides, remember that Hollywood client of mine who went full outlaw up here? Same judge handled that circus.”
Noah let out a breath, low and rough.
And me? I just hoped the universe hadn’t changed its mind about us.