Chapter 51
Cat is rattled and my wife doesn’t get rattled often, but something still isn’t right with her. Not that I would expect her to be anything but rattled. I just told her I had a crazy person in my life, that is now potentially in our lives. Which I won’t let happen. Life is too damn good with Cat for me to let anyone ruin that and no one will ever hurt her. I will hurt them first.
I return to the room where Dana’s boyfriend Reginald is waiting and stop beside the guard. “Anything I need to know?”
“He’s calm and quiet.”
“Reese.”
I look up to find Savage, a big bear of a man with a goatee, who works for Royce coming my way. “I’m your back up, man.” He stops beside me. “I can go in or stay out.”
“You’re intimidating as hell, Savage,” I say. “The idea isn’t to scare the man.”
“If you say so,” he murmurs, grinning. “If you change your mind, I’m right here.” He steps to the side of the door.
I knock and enter to find Reginald sitting behind a basic wooden desk. He stands up, his tall, but lanky build, bending over the desk, as he presses his fingers to the surface. “She has to know I wouldn’t release that call. I love her.”
He looks older than his forty years in this moment, the lines of his face, around his eyes, exaggerated. “Who else could have?” I ask.
“I didn’t record that call. Unless Dana did, someone tapped our phones.”
I have no idea why the suggestion that Dana released her own call bothers me, but it does.
“I’d say it was her father, but obviously that’s not possible.” He scrubs a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe she thinks I did this. Fuck. I didn’t do it. Why would I do that to her?”
I could go at him. I could tell him he benefits from inheriting the money, too, if he marries Dana, but I don’t. I can’t turn him on her. I can’t warn him. “Whoever killed her father obviously wanted to set her up. They most likely had that recording before they killed him and released it before trial to ensure the jury heard it.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Understand that she’s scared and her placing blame right now is just a product of a million emotions she’s fighting. She melted down when she heard you were here. Obviously, the idea of you betraying her rocked her.”
“And me. The idea that she believes that guts me.”
“Just—try to put yourself in her shoes, sitting on trial, and having the world cover it, on top of losing her father. Even when you hate a parent, having them die, shakes your world.”
He nods and swallows. “I know. I lost my asshole of a father two years ago.”
He says “asshole” so fiercely that I make a mental note to find out what happened to his father. “I need to get back. We’re headed into court in half an hour, but give her some space. I’m sure she’ll talk to you tonight.”
“She called me. Right before you walked in.”
“And?”
“She said she’d talk tonight. Did you tell her to talk to me?”
“I told her to pull herself together before court. Obviously to her, that translated to calling you.”
He breathes out as if my words are a relief. “I hope so. Okay. Go win. I need her back.”
He needs her back.
Or he needs her money?
I nod and exit the office, shutting the door behind me. I cut right and start walking, and as expected, Savage falls into place with me. “I take it I don’t need to intimidate the fuck out of him for you?”
“Not yet,” I say.
“Not yet. Interesting response.”
“His asshole father, as he called him, died two years ago. I need you to find out the details.”
“On it,” he says. “I’ll intimidate the fuck out of whoever I have to to get the facts.”
I cut him a look. “That doesn’t sound ethical and I am ethical.”
“Pretend you didn’t hear and murder isn’t exactly ethical though I must say, sometimes it’s necessary.”
Royce appears at the end of the hallway as we’re about to exit. “Who’s with Cat?” I ask.
“She’s in the courtroom and I have a man at the door. Debbie is nowhere to be found. We checked the cameras and she left right after you spotted her.”
“I’d like to say that means she didn’t expect me and headed out when she saw me, but this trial is big news, and she’s crazy, not stupid. I don’t feel good about it.”
“I would agree,” Royce says. “I did run her record and she’s had no activity to be concerned about. Additionally, we pulled her medical records, and there’s no indication of a psychological issue.”
I don’t even want to know how he got her medical records.
“But,” he adds, “that doesn’t mean much. Often people aren’t diagnosed with a mental health issue when they should be.”
“What now?” I ask.
“You go back to work and win your case,” Royce says. “We insulate you, protect you, and get you answers.”
It’s not the answer I want to hear, though aside from arresting Debbie, for basically nothing at this point, it’s the only one that works right now. I nod and step around Royce to head back toward my client and team. I need focus and the one thing that allows me to shift gears is knowing that Cat will be in the courtroom with me. She’ll be safe.
I sit in the courtroom, waiting for Reese to return and there is no question that I’m shaken. I need to talk to Lauren. I want to talk to Reese, but everything I’ve feared has happened. A pregnant woman is distracting him during his trial and she’s not me. It not only hurts him and his client, by way of the distraction, it shadows our baby news. This isn’t how I wanted us to be pregnant and for the first time since taking that test, I might regret it. I want a baby. I want to be a mother to Reese’s child but I want it to be a joy we celebrate. The action in the courtroom begins to kicks off again and I set aside the personal, to focus on the case. Besides, maybe Debbie Miller was here by coincidence. It could happen. It probably didn’t happen but Reese walks into the courtroom and I set that aside. I swear my stomach still flutters when that man claims a room.
The minute he’s behind his table he turns and looks for me, his eyes finding mine, the connection delivering a punch of awareness, that is so many things—attraction, friendship, love, a bond no one can break—and in Reese, I sense relief. He needed to know that I’m okay. He seemed to need to feel the connection between us that we’re in this together. I don’t know why he would doubt this and I won’t let him doubt it again. I can deal with whatever is thrown at me, as long as we’re in it together. I nod, letting him know that I’m fine, that I’m here for him. Whatever this Debbie Miller thing is, we’ll deal with it. I just wish it wasn’t happening now. Not now.
Reluctantly it seems, Reese turns back to the courtroom, and I hate the distraction that his actions spell. His distraction expands into concern in me and I find myself scanning the room, ensuring Debbie isn’t here and she’s not. She’s not here. I want to feel relief, but I don’t. She’s not gone. She’s going to stick around and muddy up my baby news. I don’t know why I know this, but I do. Debbie Miller is a problem that isn’t going to go away, but she doesn’t get to ruin our baby news. I’ll find a way to make it special and I’ll find the right time to tell him, that protects him and his client. I can ensure this part of the equation, but it’s up to Reese to find a way to focus on his case, to win, even when he’s mentally and emotionally split in different places.
The judge enters through the right far doorway and we all stand, but I know that my husband can and will own this courtroom. He is the one everyone will be watching. He is the one that will win this case. He has to. Dana’s life is on the line.