Chapter 24
Catherine
“Will you sign this, Ms. Devereaux?” my assistant asked as soon as I walked into my office.
Fashionably late.
As if that mattered.
Today was my last day, at least in this organization. “What’s this?”
“It’s just the acknowledgement of the upcoming trial against Mr. Prince.”
The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Mr. Bernat was trying to tie up loose ends as expected. “I’m going to take this into my office. I need to double check a couple things.”
“Sure. Just drop it off when you’re finished.”
“Will do.” I didn’t bother glancing at what I was holding, but I did scan the office to ensure no one was paying any extra attention to my presence.
I’d ensured Mr. Bernat would be in the office today.
If what Alexander said was true, time was of the essence.
Everything needed to be in place very quickly.
The swell of emotions had played itself out over the last two days. I was no longer numb but not necessarily angry. Granted, my fingers continued to tingle from slapping the Italian crime boss.
As I sat down behind my desk, I rolled the tip of my finger back and forth across my bottom lip. It had once been done out of nervousness. Now it was in remembrance of every kiss from Alexander.
Closing my eyes, I allowed his face and images of our passion to interfere with the moment. Sadly, I had a job to do and fulfilling the desire would need to wait.
I glanced through the paperwork, smirking. It would seem the DA had influenced the courts to move up the trial date to one month from the date of today. How interesting. Well, I was about to drop a bombshell into his world that might change everything.
Laughing, I grabbed my phone, smiling from seeing the reminder from my captor that time was precious. He was worried about me. How sweet. That’s why there were four men trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible while protecting me.
The truth was that I felt better with their presence.
With the paper in hand, I headed to Xander’s office. I couldn’t remember when I’d ever used his first name. Maybe at the Christmas party when he’d come onto me and I’d been forced to push him off.
Not something I could share with Alexander, or I’d read in the papers about a dead man’s body washing up on shore. I wasn’t sure I’d mind since learning Xander had helped railroad my involvement in the calculated ruse.
I lightly tapped on his door, opening it immediately. At first, he seemed surprised I was in the office, even though I’d been in and out over the last two days. My behavior had kept him guessing.
“Xander. Can I have a couple seconds?”
“Well, of course. What do you need?”
I closed the door behind me, moving toward his desk where I remained standing. “I wanted to talk to you about Alexander Prince.”
“The case? I was going to stop by your office later today and chat with you about—”
“You mean since you reassigned it to me completely.”
He was shocked I knew. I held out the papers, but not close enough he could grab them. “That was fast. I didn’t know the courts would get to it before I did.”
“Yes, I’m sure you didn’t. Then again, you needed to come up with a much better excuse than the last one for why you were dumping the case in my lap.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Oh, come on now, Xander. You must think me wet behind my ears. All I needed to do was to check with your assistant on your schedule for that day, discovering you had a golf game. Now, I don’t like to assume so correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe your game was held at the Stonebridge Golf Course.
Now, that’s notable because that’s the prime choice of the Russian Bratva.
The Pakhan does love his game of golf.” I waited to see his reaction.
His face turned red, fury growing.
“What are you insinuating, Ms. Devereaux?”
“Come now, Xander. Aren’t we on a first-name basis by now? I mean you did railroad me into taking the case against Mr. Prince based on the Pakhan’s strong suggestion. Or should I say bribe?”
“My fucking God. You think I would do something like that?”
“Yes, I do. You might as well admit it. My guess is that you did so to pad your bank account. But you also felt pressured since they were one of your largest contributors for your win as DA just a year ago. It was called payback.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, jerking to his feet.
“I can only imagine the threats they used.” I allowed the comment to hang in the air, watching as he struggled with the realization he’d been caught red-handed.
“Including hurting you.”
“How so?”
He slowly slid back into his seat, his expression one of defeat. After quickly looking toward the door, he shook his head. “You don’t know how powerful they are.”
“So you’re admitting you railroaded the case. You thought you could pressure me to have him convicted.”
“Why wouldn’t I do so myself?”
“Because you are well aware the Prince organization would realize you were in bed with the Russians. I’m not.
Unless you consider the fact they had me pegged to marry the Pakhan’s son in some deranged arrangement.
You knew that all along. Didn’t you? You also knew the Russians were responsible for Lorenzo Russo’s murder.
Didn’t you?” I had to be careful not to become too aggressive.
But at this point, I was furious. I’d trusted the man completely. “Didn’t you?”
“Yes,” he hissed. “I had no other choice.”
“You always have a choice, Xander. A man was murdered, another framed, and you were hoping I’d be the reason he’d spend the rest of his life behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit.
I can’t believe you’d stoop so low. What happened to you?
You once told me there was no gray in the law, only black and white. ”
“I learned I was wrong.”
“How interesting. So did I.” I tossed the paperwork on his desk, immediately pulling out my phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Just checking something on my calendar.” Which was a lie. “There we go. I wanted to let you know that today is my last day.”
“Because of a monster like Alexander Prince?”
“No, well, yes, because of Alexander Prince. However, not because he’s a monster, but because I’m getting married a week from Saturday.
I would invite you, but I can assure you that you won’t like the…
reception. That means you’ll need to handle Mr. Prince’s case yourself.
” I headed to the door, my nerves very much on edge.
“Is there anything I can say to stop you? You’re tossing your career away, Catherine. You’re so damn talented.”
“Don’t worry, Xander. My talents won’t go to waste.” Before I opened the door, I played the recording I’d just taken, smiling as I did.
His face paled.
“As you know in New Orleans, only one party is required to agree to a recording for it to be permissible in a court of law. I’m that one party.
If you’re curious what I was just doing, I have no problem telling you.
I emailed it to several parties, including my attorney who will deliver this to the authorities if something should happen to me.
But that will be the least of your problems. My fiancé isn’t a very nice man. ”
“You can’t do that.”
“Oh, I can, and I will. However, I’ll give you an out.
You’re going to ensure that Mr. Prince is found innocent.
After that, well, my suggestion is that you turn in your notice and leave the state.
For your protection, of course. If you don’t do that, the file will be released and the case will be tossed out anyway.
You have one chance at doing the right thing. I suggest you take it.”
“Catherine, you don’t know who you’re messing with. They will hurt you.”
“I’m sure they’d like to try, but they’ll have to go through my new husband. The Don of the Prince Empire. Have a fabulous day.”
Ten days later
“Stop fidgeting,” Emmeline snarked as she tugged on the dress, yanking me back by a few inches.
“I can’t breathe.”
“Bullshit. You can breathe just fine,” she said, blowing hair from her face as she buttoned another one of a hundred tiny satin buttons. Why had I allowed her to talk me into this damn dress?
“You’re a brutal little thing.”
“Who are you calling little? And I am a Prince raised by four tough brothers. I not only know how to take a lick or two but also give them back.”
“Hey. I thought we were friends.”
She yanked again, laughing as she did. “We are, which is why you need to stop fidgeting. This needs to be perfect.”
“It is perfect.” I glanced into the mirror, taking a deep breath.
This was my wedding day. I wasn’t entirely certain how I felt about getting married to anyone, let alone a brute like Alexander Prince.
I should be happy, but there were so many reasons the joy was clouded.
For the obvious reasons of course, including that we weren’t a traditional couple.
The dress was exquisite, everything I’d hoped for as a little girl when dreaming about the perfect wedding.
“I hope he likes the way I look.”
“Give me a break. You know my brother. We’ll need to stop him from ripping it off before the ceremony ends.” Emmeline stopped fiddling with the back of my dress and headed toward the unopened bottle of champagne. “I think we both need something to calm our nerves.”
“Why are you nervous?”
We both knew why. We were doing our best to ignore the obvious.
“I’ve never been a bridesmaid before.” She grinned as she tore off the foil around the bottle of Kristal, giving me a little naughty look like she was going to shake the bottle. When the cork popped and liquid spewed out, we both laughed and grabbed our crystal flutes.
“Don’t worry. I’ve never been a bride before.”
“To firsts.” She held up her glass in a toast.
“To firsts.” We clinked glasses and I realized Alexander was never far from my mind. This was an important day on many levels. Yet, I was still uncertain of how I felt.
“You’re nervous.”
Sighing, I moved toward the window, staring out at the landscaping. “Isn’t every bride?”
“What’s wrong? This goes way beyond being nervous.”
The bubbly tasted delicious, reminding me of the bottle I’d shared with Alexander just the night before. When we’d discussed how the day would go. “You do know we aren’t a traditional couple. Right?”
“Oh, you mean because he saved your life then took you against your will. Something like that?” Her tone was filled with amusement.
Just one big, normal family.
“Well, yes, and the fact I was tasked to put him in prison.”
“Think of it this way. You’ll have something to talk about every anniversary and imagine the stories you can tell your kids.” When I didn’t laugh right away, she came to join me at the window. “Do you love my brother?”
“I don’t know how to answer that. We’ve known each other for less than three weeks. How can anyone love someone else that quickly?”
“Think Romeo and Juliet or the couple from Love Story.”
I gave her a hard look. “Not very comforting since one or more people in the relationship died.”
She giggled. “Semantics. Try it on for size. Tell me how you do feel about him.”
“That sounds like a test.” I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.
“Fine. He’s infuriating and maddening, which are entirely different.
He makes me angry and full of desire almost every time we’re in the same room.
Yet when we are, the way he can’t keep his eyes off me creates a wave of white-hot heat sweeping all throughout my body.
When he touches me, I tingle all over. He can simply walk into a room and he leaves me breathless.
Every kiss is as if he’s dying of thirst. Every time we make love it’s just… amazing.”
My voice was breathless, barely a whisper.
“Wow,” she said after a few seconds. “If that isn’t love then I don’t know what is.
Maybe you won’t have a traditional relationship, but what’s so wrong with that?
We aren’t a normal family, but we are. If that makes any sense.
We love and respect each other, and you bet my brother is an insufferable asshole at times.
And maybe you think he doesn’t love you, but I have never seen him so possessed and so concerned about anyone’s safety or simply needing to make them happy. ”
“Really?” Even her words were making me tingle all over.
“Really. He does love you. He’s just not adept at saying it.”
“Because of Sebastian.”
“The thought of losing someone else is too much for him. And don’t you dare confront him with that. He will deny it until the next century.”
“Which is why he’s so controlling.”
She nodded. “Yes, but I assure you that you won’t find a more doting, caring husband in the world. He’s different around you and I adore you for it. You’ve allowed him to feel joy, which none of us thought he could do.”
I thought about her words and sighed. “I’m glad.”
As soon as she checked her watch, she groaned. “I need to do your hair.”
“Okay. One question. This whole Hoodoo thing. Is it real?”
The wicked look on her face returned. “Yes, it is.”
“Maybe you need to teach me a few spells. You know, like keeping Alexander in line.”
Her beaming smile was another reminder that the Prince family was just like everyone else.
Just as he’d said.
Holidays.
Birthdays.
Deaths.
Everything came full circle.
Soon there would be a wedding, a coupling of two fractured souls who’d found each other through the guise of secrets and lies.
And maybe a little black magic.