THIRTY-SEVEN
“THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH,” Brogan said, slamming a hand onto his desk at SG. “They won’t let her leave the goddamn house. They’ve taken her phone! She hasn’t been at work! She’s a prisoner!”
Julius tried to calm him, as he’d been trying to do since they’d returned from Gault’s last week. It pissed him off then and it pissed him off now.
“I know, son. If she had chosen to come with us, we’d be protecting her as thoroughly.”
“Protecting her?” Brogan dropped his weight onto his palms on the desk. “They don’t have to protect her from me!”
“Didn’t you go to the house on Tuesday?” Julius asked.
“Yes, but they wouldn’t let me see her. They called the cops, Julius. What the hell is going on? If she told me to go to hell, I’d listen, I’d stop. If I thought she wanted nothing to do with me—”
The office door opened and Jenna peeked inside. “Brogan, I…”
Straightening up, he examined his nervous assistant.
Before Gia, he’d never thought much about Jenna.
She’d been efficient and thorough, a good assistant, but he hadn’t thought much of her as a person.
Jenna would never have used his first name back then either.
Now it was normal. Gia had made Jenna a friend to herself and to him, the woman was a valuable part of the Spurn family.
One woman, his woman, had such a big impact in all their lives in such a short time.
“What’s wrong?”
“This has been a tough week and you haven’t wanted distractions…” or anything. Had he even been in a business meeting this week? “This might be nothing or… something, I…”
“What is it?”
“I might be out of line…”
He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Geez, I wish Gia was here,” he said and fixed on his assistant. “If you’d say it to Gia, say it to me.”
She smiled. “I don’t know about that, sir.”
Yeah, giving advice on sex or menstrual cycles might be a little much. He’d heard the women talk about both.
“What’s the problem?”
“It’s not a problem so much as an oddity. I got an invite to the Lawman’s Gala next Thursday night,” she said. “You know they invite a bunch of lawyers, prosecutors, cops to the—”
“Yes, I know what it is,” he said. “They invite us every year.”
“You. They invite you. I sent your rejection weeks ago.”
“And…?”
“My invite came just now.”
“Congratulations.”
Why, suddenly, did Jenna’s social life warrant interrupting his conversation?
“It might be a stupid thought, but the invitation was sent here. Not to my home. And you said the cops were called at Gia’s on Tuesday.”
“Yeah, I didn’t see them. I left.”
“Right, but if they showed up at the house afterward, they would’ve talked to everyone… that might have included Gia.”
Fuck, let’s leave it to the women.
Optimism spiked. “Do you usually get an invite?”
She shook her head. “No, definitely not, this is way above my pay grade.”
Jenna received an invitation at her workplace for a law enforcement event she’d never attended before? After there was a chance Gia had spoken to cops?
“Gia works with a lot of city personnel through her charity work, doesn’t she?” Julius asked, infused with his own renewed hope. “You think she’s trying to get a message to you?”
Jenna stepped forward to hold up a gold embossed card. “I have a plus one,” she said. “Would it hurt to check it out?” Brogan looked at Julius. “I mean, if you want, I’m not asking you out… I suppose I am, but…”
“I’ll pick you up at eight,” Brogan said.
“You were supposed to have the Excalibur—”
“Cancel it. If there’s even a chance Gia will be there, we’re going,” he said. “And Jenna, thank you. That was real good work.”
His assistant backed out and closed the door.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Julius said. “It could be a setup.”
Invigorated, Brogan loved a plan. “Jenna has instructions, if any Sear wants to see me any time, they’re welcome.
No appointment necessary. I’ll see her father, her mother, hell, I’ll see her brother.
I’ll even let them talk their shit about me.
I have to know she’s okay, that she’s not been made to do anything against her will. ”
“And if she is there at this event and tells you to go to hell?”
She wouldn’t. If she said that, she wouldn’t mean it and he’d know. They’d both know. Still, Julius didn’t need any excuses to keep on at him.
Brogan opened his arms. “I’ll never mention her name again.”
“Good,” Julius said, moving to the front of his seat to lay a hand on the desk. “That seems fair. You answered that one quickly, let’s see if you’re as quick on the next.”
Suspicion pierced him. “Which is what?”
“If she’s there and tells you they have been holding her or she needs help to get out?”
Anger and determination filled him. “Then Sear better bring a fucking tank if he wants to take her from me again.”
“Being with Gia will make life here hell,” Julius said. “The Sears will make a war of this. It will take time and money and—”
“You know what stuck in my mind after Gia walked out of that hotel room? Other than the fact that my girl would do whatever it takes to protect me?”
“Still think of her as your girl?”
“She is my girl,” Brogan said, pulling out his chair to sit down. “Do you know what stuck?”
Julius settled back. “What?”
A smirk twitched the edge of his mouth. “As long as you bear that name,” he quoted. Julius squinted. “That’s what Conway Sear said to her. He said as long as Gia bears that name, he’s responsible for her… Gives us an easy way to fix this.”
Julius crooked a brow. “It does?”
Opening his top drawer a fraction, Brogan produced the small silk-covered cube from inside and slapped it onto the desk. “We have to give her a new name.”