Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cole
The minute I hang up with Royce, I exit my office and walk to Ashley’s desk, kneeling beside her. “Royce and I just talked. He’s going to take you to his offices where we know you’re safe until we find out what is going on with the FBI.”
She squeezes her eyes shut and looks at me. “You mean where you know I can’t be a risk to everyone else. I get it.” She opens her drawer and grabs her purse. “I’m ready. I assume I have an escort?” She stands up and I follow her to her feet.
“Smith is going to take you, but Ashley—”
“Don’t explain. You’re being smart. I should have considered this.”
It’s at that moment that Smith, a tall, broad man with sandy brown hair, heads in our direction. He’s dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and wears a thin leather jacket. “He has a gun on under that jacket,” she says, glancing at me. “That should comfort me. It’s doesn’t.”
“We’re going to get through this. Royce is moving the meeting up to tonight. We’ll get answers.”
“Tonight?” Her voice quakes.
“Yes. Tonight.”
She looks away. “Okay.”
Smith stops beside us. “Ready, Ashley?”
“What girl isn’t ready for a hot guy with a gun?” she asks flippantly, but her voice cracks.
He gives her a direct look. “Then you know everything is just fine.” He offers her his arm. “Come on.”
“I don’t need your arm. I’m fine.” She walks ahead of him and he and I share a look.
“She’ll be okay,” he promises before quickly pursuing her.
Lori passes them and stops in front of me. “What just happened?”
I pull her to me and kiss her. “I’ll explain in my office, and if I could take you home right now and take you to bed, where we would stay all day, I would. We need a day like that. Just you and me.” I lace her fingers with mine and pull her into the office.
A few minutes later, we’re both sitting on the couch and I’ve just updated her on the situation. “Maybe I should talk to her,” she says. “I’ll go over to Walker Security.”
“I don’t want the FBI thinking you know something that makes you a problem.”
“But you can know?”
“I’m her attorney.”
“I’m your co-counsel.” She takes my hand. “Let me talk to her. I’m a woman. I’m the closest thing to a friend here she has.”
My cellphone rings and I pull it from my pocket. “Royce,” I answer. “What do you have for me?”
“The FBI can do five o’clock. Can you?”
“Yes. We can. I’ll be there at three.” I glance at Lori and reluctantly add, “Lori wants to come over and try to get her to talk.”
“She has a connection with Smith. I told him she needs to talk to us before the FBI. Let him try to work his magic.”
“I’ll tell Lori.” I disconnect.
“You’ll tell me what?”
“There’s a little bit of a connection between her and Smith, which I sensed as well when he just picked her up. Royce is having him talk to her. Let’s see how that goes.”
“I don’t think she needs a man trying to influence her when a man got her into this,” Lori says. “I’m going with you to the meeting and I’m talking to her myself.”
I reach for her hand and kiss it. “Yes, my queen.”
She laughs. “If only that was how you replied to everything.”
A few hours later, Lori and I are about to leave for Walker Security when Reid calls. I wave for Lori to shut my door and place him on speaker phone. “Lori and I are both here, Reid.”
“Of course you are,” he says. “You’re like one person. I set the groundwork. The DA is ‘thinking’ about my offer and he wants to close. The sooner Lori goes there and convinces him that’s what she wants, the better. As in now.”
I glance at my watch. “It’s two o’clock. We have a meeting at five. We can do it now.”
“I need to talk to Ashley,” Lori insists.
“I’ll see if Royce can push back our meeting an hour,” I say. “We’ll try to work it out for this afternoon,” I then tell Reid. “Otherwise it will be morning. I’ll text you. Anything else I need to know?”
“No. Text me.” He hangs up.
I dial Royce and get the FBI meeting moved back an hour and then he works some kind of five-minute magic to confirm the DA is in his own office. “I want you to go first,” I tell Lori, right after texting Reid. “Take a taxi. I’ll arrive right after you. We need to make this look like you snuck out to see the DA and I found out. Then, of course, I charge in to save you from him.”
“That works,” she says. “I’ll head out now.”
“Make sure I’m in the building before you go in to see him.”
“Got it.”
“If we’re lucky, this is the beginning of the end of this for us. Then we let Royce and his team do their real magic and get rid of this DA before he hurts someone else.”
“The beginning of the end is a new beginning,” Lori says. “I like how that sounds.” She heads for the door, and those words replay in mind: The beginning of the end is a new beginning.
That statement works only if the end is the end of our choosing. For us and Ashley, we need to ensure that’s what happens. And we need to do it now, today.
I am remarkably calm as I step into the building where the District Attorney, Tom Milner, works. I text Cole before I work through the security process. By the time the security guard calls up to the DA’s office to announce my presence, Cole has confirmed he’s outside waiting for me to head upstairs before coming inside. I wait a full fifteen minutes before I’m cleared.
Nerves set in once I’m in the elevator, but I decide to use them in my favor. I want exactly what I’m going to say I want. I have no lie to tell this man. I tug on the jacket of my navy suit and smooth my skirt for no good reason. It’s just a thing I do when I prepare for a confrontation, though this doesn’t have to be that. The elevator dings and I exit to the lobby and the secretary is quick to greet me. “Mrs. Brooks, the District Attorney is waiting on you in his office.” She motions to a door.
“Thank you.” I quickly move forward and step inside a large office with heavy mahogany furnishings.
The man behind the desk is dark-haired, with a goatee and strong features, a spray of lines by his eyes. “Mrs. Brooks.”
“Lori,” I say. “And thank you for seeing me, Mr. District Attorney.”
“Shut the door. Have a seat.”
“Of course.” I shut the door and claim one of two visitors’ chairs in front of his desk.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“I’m sure it’s not a pleasure, but I do appreciate you indicating it as such. My husband is quite worried about me.”
“As expected.”
“He and my friends love me. I’ve had a bad few years. My father died. I dropped out of law school because my mother had a stroke. Life is good now and that means I have people who love me. That also makes them passionate about protecting me and attacking on my behalf. I need normal though. I just want to practice and fight the good fight. I’m asking them to back off.”
He arches a brow. “Meaning what?”
“Meaning they were angry with you. I’m not. I mean, I can’t dismiss the lawsuit. We’re donating that money to the victims’ families, but when that’s done, I want it to just be done. No more fighting with you.”
“What are you asking for?”
“Peace. I don’t want us fighting with you over me. I want this over. I need it to be over. Please help this end. I can’t settle for less than what is fair but let’s just settle. We can hold a press conference and tell the world we’re all going to fight the bad guys, not each other.”
His line buzzes. “Mr. Brooks is here.”
I sigh and press my hands to my face before looking at him. “I didn’t want him here. I didn’t tell him I was coming.”
“Well, let’s see if he’s on the same page with you, because if he’s not, what good is this conversation?” He punches the button on his phone. “Send Mr. Books in.”
I stand up and in a few beats, Cole is in the door. “What the hell is this?” he demands.
I whirl around to face him and grab his arms. “I need us all to just end this, Cole. Please. If you love me, just let the lawsuit be it.”
“He let Roger out without telling us.”
“That was a clerical error,” Tom replies.
“Bullshit,” Cole growls and looks at me. “Leave us.”
“Cole—”
“I need to speak to the DA alone.”
“No,” I say. “No, I won’t leave. End this. End it for me.”
“What do you want from me, Lori?”
“When we settle, we call a truce. We hold a press conference. We all support the victims of the murderer and their families. Then it’s over. We live happily ever after and so does our District Attorney.”
He stares at me long and hard with so much anger in his eyes that I know he wants to deny me this request, despite knowing that Royce is still going after him. Finally, though, he turns to the DA. “I’ll agree if I’m happy with the settlement.”
“You will praise me in the press conference,” Tom says. “Do you understand?”
“I will not praise you,” Cole says. “But I won’t punch you now or ever.” He takes my arm and leads me to the door.
A few minutes later we’re on the street where we pause to talk, only to have Cole’s cellphone ring. “Reid,” he says answering the line, and in a matter of thirty seconds, he disconnects. “The DA agreed to four times his initial offer. He believes we’ve backed off. It’s done. Or we’re done. Now it’s in Royce’s hands.” His cellphone rings again and he glances at the number. “Speaking of Royce.” He answers the line and shock registers on his face. “When?” He pauses. “We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” He disconnects. “The CIA just showed up at Royce’s office and took Ashley.”