Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 173733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 869(@200wpm)___ 695(@250wpm)___ 579(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 173733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 869(@200wpm)___ 695(@250wpm)___ 579(@300wpm)
“We both know they don’t want a scandal. That’s hard to get by.”
I’m done with this woman. I walk to the desk. “Thirty thousand. You sign a gag order. Take it or leave it.”
“I’m not taking that ridiculous offer.”
“Very well. This is goodbye then.” I head for the door and she shouts, “You’re such a dirty prick!”
I grab the door handle but don’t turn. “I am a dirty prick,” I say. “Tell my receptionist if you want to take the deal. Otherwise, leave or I’ll call the police and have you removed.” I open the door and exit it, shutting it behind me, but not before I hear her sob. That’s what happens when scam artists fail. They cry. And if she comes near my sister again. I’ll do far more than make her cry, but at least Cat’s husband is a damn good criminal attorney.
Chapter sixty-seven
Reese
Idon’t want to let Cat out of my sight, which is why when we arrive at the courthouse again, I keep her close. “Come back to our holding area with me,” I say, as we enter the side door.
“No,” she says, turning to face me. “I’m reminding you about another problem. You go focus on your case.” She motions to Savage. “I have a beast protecting me.”
“Indeed she does,” Savage assures him.
“And you have some problem to deal with or they wouldn’t have called you back early.”
I inhale and let it out, dragging her to me, and turning us away from Savage. “I’ll make this Debbie thing go away. I promise.” I cup her face and kiss her. “I’ll see you in court.”
“See you in court,” she says, and when I would move away, she catches my jacket lapel. “I didn’t get to tell you, but you were perfection this morning. You won every witness.”
I’ve never cared about anyone’s critique but that of the jury, simply because I can’t allow that kind of noise in my head, and still stay focused. But Cat is different. I care what she thinks. I kiss her again. “See you soon.” I release her and start walking, dialing Reid again as I do.
He answers on the first ring. “I just gave her the take it or leave it offer we discussed.”
“And?”
“She called me a dirty prick.” He laughs. “Usually women are naked when they use those particular words, but hey, I’ll take it. She was pissed. That’s when we get the emotional response that makes her dish out a threat I’ll record.”
“But she didn’t.”
“Not yet. But she will. I left her in the conference room and told her to leave. Thus far, she has not. I got this, man. Aren’t you supposed to be in court?”
“Soon. I’ll call you if we get a break, but Reid, I need this to be over. I don’t want this affecting me and Cat.”
“Trust me, I have it under control.”
Trust him. A man who has caused Cat all kinds of pain.
He seems to read my mind. “She’s my sister, Reese. I do love her.”
“Tell her that. It won’t matter coming from me. Do this for me for all the shit I’ve done for you.” I hang up and round the corner to our team’s private hallway. Elsa rushes toward me. “We have a problem. Dana had a fight with Reginald and ten minutes later, Richard saw the DA talking to him.”
“I’ve been gone half an hour. How did she have a fight with that man that pushed him to the DA that quickly?”
“Like you said, quickly,” she says. “She called him on her break and then she was shouting at him.”
“What did she say?”
“Name calling, but nothing of substance. It was fast.”
I rub the tension at the back of my neck. “Where is she?”
“Conference room.”
I cut around her and head down the hall, opening the door to find Dana pacing. “I failed miserably at being nice to him. I know he released that audio. I feel it. It’s eating at me. He’s the only one that gains from my father’s death directly if I inherit and he marries me,” she runs a hand through her hair. “I hate this money. I will never know if anyone wants me for me.”
This makes me think of Cat, and how much it meant to me that my money wasn’t a motivation to her. I didn’t have to wonder. She had her own money. “Marry a rich man. That’s not him.”
“I wanted to marry someone I loved but—did he kill my father and let me go through this hell?”
I walk to the conference table across from her but I don’t answer her question. “He was just talking to the prosecutor. What does he have on you?”
“He talked to the prosecutor?”
“Right after you fought.”
“I have not lied to you. There is nothing. That call was the only time I said anything like what I said and I was at my wit’s end. He knew it though. He didn’t want me to walk away from the money.”