Chapter 4
Chapter Four
I don’t know why I feel so fucking protective over Cassidy Caruthers, but the sight of those bruises on her wrists has me itching for violence. Whoever did that to her needs to rethink their next steps because I’m right around the corner.
“Are you going to continue glaring at me or should we get started?” Cassidy queries, pulling out her pad and paper.
I raise an inquisitive brow. She still fucking astounds me with that quick wit and no nonsense attitude. She doesn’t seem to care what my reputation could mean for her. If she does, she conceals it well. I’m impressed.
“Mr. Bonanno,” she huffs when I don’t answer. “I have somewhere I need to be. So if you’re not going to cooperate, I suggest you find someone else to handle your?—”
“Handle my what?” I cut in, tilting his head in question. Whatever she was about to say is quickly snuffed out when she clears her throat and glowers those sinful green eyes at me.
“Your mess,” she replies without attempting to conceal her bitterness.
“Hmm…” I trace two fingers across his bottom lip in thought, surveying the blonde beauty sitting across from me .
Her breath seems to catch in her throat as she tracks the motion. It’s only slight, but enough to tell me that she’s got some dirty thoughts rolling around in that beautiful head of hers. For someone with a boyfriend, she’s sitting pretty close to the edge of infidelity.
“I need bail,” I mutter, attempting to push my own thoughts of having her on this table aside.
It’d be so easy to demolish that boundary, step over the line that separates us as client and attorney.
But the true test of strength is ignoring my urges for something bigger.
I need to get out of here so I can find out who was behind this.
Whoever is starting a war with The Five won’t see it through, I’ll make sure of that.
I just need to get out of here to do that.
“Okay…” she nods. “But it’s not really that simple.”
Her words do nothing to appease me. I lean forward, steepling my hands above the table. “Make it simple, then.”
“You committed a murder, Mr. Bonanno,” she replies, mirroring my own blunt tone. “You won’t get bail unless the judge approves it at a preliminary hearing.”
For fucks sake. This shit just gets better. “Fine,” I relent, trying to calm myself down. “When will that be?”
“Your lawyer should schedule it with the D.A. and?—”
“ You’re my lawyer,” I snap, frustration pouring into my voice.
The sudden change in Cassie’s demeanor makes me even more agitated. I hired her because she was the best. I wanted her because she didn’t take shit. She got the job done and I like that. She cuts to the chase when other’s beat around the fucking bush.
Her green eyes harden, catching me a little off guard. But it’s her words that do the damage. “I can’t be your lawyer, Axel.”
I scoff at those words. It’s almost laughable that she thinks she has a choice. Those words mean nothing and she doesn’t realize that there’s no going back. Still, I can’t help myself.
“And why is that?” I ask with wide intrigue.
“Because it goes against everything I stand for.”
My gaze remains focused on her. I roll her words around my mouth for a moment, tasting them and not liking it one bit.
She’s lying to my face and I don’t like that at all.
I lean back and survey her harder. She can’t use the moral card with me, because we both know the lengths she’ll go to ensure her gleaming record.
Which means that having me as a client isn’t the reason she’s refusing me. It’s something else.
“You’re really going to sit there and tell me your morals are what’s holding you back?” I quirk a brow, the disbelief written all over my face.
“Yes,” she replies defiantly.
Okay. I'll bite. “What are they?”
“Justice, integrity,” she begins, but I cut her off short, chuckling at the list she reels off.
I trace two fingers across the seam of my lips again. “Can I ask you a question?”
She swallows thickly, and for the first time I see the glimpse of uncertainty rimming those beautiful green eyes.
“If integrity is so important to you, why did you represent your last client?”
She blinks back at my question. “What do you mean?”
I exhale as I stand up, leaning over the desk to close the distance between us. Though it’s not to intimidate her. I just use the moment to get a few inches from her face, so close I can smell her perfume. “You and I both know the truth, so let’s not play games,” I growl.
I can practically taste her defiance as she realizes what I mean.
Because I know how guilty her last client was.
She might have the judge and jury fooled on that one, but it didn’t take much digging from Max Lucchese to discover that Mr. Stetson was involved in stealing hundreds of thousands from his own company.
We only had to check a few bank statements and bingo!
Realizing I’ve got her right where I want her, I move away and take my seat again .
She crosses her arms firmly over her chest, her glare shooting daggers if it could. “Fine. No games.”
“No games,” I repeat calmly. A smirk creeps across my lips, amused that she recognizes the shift in power. I might rely on her to get me out of here, but I don’t have to play by her rules. I’ve spent years running the city. One false accusation isn’t going to be my undoing.
Cassidy on the other hand. She might just be the kryptonite I didn’t know about.
It’s been…well, it’s never been possible for someone to captivate me the way Cassidy does.
There’s something untouchable about her demeanor.
Something, I want to get a hold of. But I don’t trust easily and Cassidy Caruthers has a little ways to go before she gets a glimpse at the real me.
I can tell that’s what she’s eager for, even if she’s playing it strictly professional.
“If you want my help, then you need to help me, too.” Cassidy clicks her pen in the air, ready to take notes.
“You’re bargaining with me ?” I bristle, leaning back ever so casually in his chair.
“No.” She attempts to tone down the shock in her voice, maintaining whatever authority she thinks she can hold on to. “I’m helping you. You want bail? I need information.”
“That’s not how this works,” I reply through gritted teeth, stabbing a finger to the table. If she thinks she gets something in return, then I need to make a few things clear. I didn’t run this city by owing anyone any favors. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
“I’m afraid, that is exactly how this works, Mr. Bonanno.”
Fuck.
I card my fingers through the messy strands of my hair. My face itches from the stubble forming along my jaw, but even my sway on the cops here couldn’t get me a razor.
“So…” Cassidy Caruthers taps her pen against the notepad in front of her. “Shall we get started?”
With a nod of reluctant affirmation, I prepare myself for the interrogation .
I know what to expect. It’s not my first rodeo, but Cassidy is brutal with her questions, pinpointing weaknesses that I overlooked, even when I gave her the bare minimum. All she knows is I was out of the city—details obscured for obvious reasons—but it’s enough for her to get a handle on things.
She’s the epitome of everything I need in a lawyer; someone who won’t back down. Who sees the truth for what it is. The idea of being stuck here another night is no longer an option for me because I have to get out. I have to find out who fucked me over, and then I’m going to make them pay.
“You need to tell me where you were, or who you were with.” She glances at me for an answer but I keep my expression indiscernible.
I know I should put more trust in the woman, but I’m reluctant to share anything more.
I imagine this whole situation is frustrating and impossible for her, but that’s exactly what I’m paying her for: to achieve the impossible.
I can’t use money to get me out this time because I actually did nothing wrong.
I can’t pull favors when there is nothing to hold over my head.
And I sure as shit can’t tell her I was meeting with another organization in Europe, setting up one of the biggest deals to date.
I’m relying on Cassidy Caruthers, more than she realizes. This is a job for her, but for me, this is life or death.
“If you can’t tell me, then you have no witnesses.
” She strikes that off her list. “No alibi,” another strike.
“No information that can help grant you bail.” Her long hair hangs over one shoulder in golden waves.
There’s exhaustion rounding her features, telling me she’s had just as much sleep as I have.
Though, I bet her bed is comfier than mine right now.
The truth is I do have witnesses, four of them. I do have an alibi, a tight one. And I have all the information she needs to make my bail fluid, but I can’t give her any of that. If I do, I’m not only incriminating myself all over again, but I’m selling out the guys .
I shake my head, refusing to even acknowledge those three questions.
“Have you got any priors?” She rolls her eyes as soon as the question leaves her lips. She doesn’t wait for my response. “Of course you do.”
I wouldn’t call it a stupid question, but common sense would tell you that you don’t get by in this life without getting your hands dirty. Hell, from the age of eight I was already running jobs under my uncle’s command.
At the age of twenty, I’d already spent two years in Ryker’s Island.
On that occasion, I was guilty. But this, I was otherwise indisposed with something far more important than murdering the Mayor.
Plus, I’d have no reason to take out a man on my payroll.
Hell, I wouldn’t even be in this mess at all if he was alive!
“Ok,” Cassidy murmurs. “Have you knowingly lied to a police officer or any other law enforcement?” She locks eyes with me, but I remain silent, contemplating whether to share information with her.