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I sign my credit card slip, and Logan walks in, eyeing me and Susan. I cut my stare, and Susan lowers her voice. “Are you ever going to give him another chance?”
“Never,” I say, putting away my card. “I need to get upstairs for a meeting.”
“I know he screwed up,” she says. “But you haven’t been happy since the break-up.”
“I wasn’t happy before the break-up.” I stand up and she does the same.
“I’m headed to the courthouse. Let me know if you want to talk.”
“Thanks,” I say, but I don’t really know her that well and I’m still living in the aftermath of my ex cheating on me with my long-term secretary. I’m not going to talk to her. I’m not in the right headspace to start trusting new people.
I hurry out of the restaurant and ride the elevator upstairs. Once I’m there, I stop by the outrageously fancy break room for a bottle of water, when the news on the big screen television by the seating area catches my attention.
“I repeat,” the male newscaster states, “Richard Caine, who was found not guilty of the murder of his business partner just one week ago, has shot and killed his family. He is considered armed and dangerous.”
My client, who I thought was innocent. The room spins and I whirl around and start walking. I hurry down the hallway and into my office, slamming the door shut and leaning on the wooden surface. I can barely stand for my trembling legs. My purse falls from my arm and tears burst from me as I sink to the ground. “I’m done,” I whisper. “I’m done with this job.”
“Pri.”
At Adrian’s voice, I snap back to the present. “Lucifer wants to talk to you.”
I nod and accept his phone, eager to help, that memory spurring my need for action, my determination to make a difference in the right ways, no matter the cost to me. I end up talking to Lucifer for a few minutes, helping him with what he might dig for with Logan and Ed. We disconnect as we reach the security post for the prison and it’s not long before Adam pulls us into a parking spot, even less before Adrian and I exit the vehicle and he turns me to face him.
His hand slides under my hair to my neck and he tilts my face to his. “You don’t have to do this.”
“And yet, I do. I really do, Adrian. And I want to. Besides, I’m going to face him in court and I’m going to destroy him. Better I warm up here and we catch Deleon.”
He studies me, his gaze probing, and I don’t know what he’s looking for, but I know what he finds.
It’s not fear. It’s determination. And certainty. This is where I belong, and I belong here with him.Chapter Thirty-ThreeADRIAN
The past…
There are twelve of us, all in Devil jackets around the club table, a devil that matches the one on my arm carved in the wood. Waters, the King Devil, is at the head of the table, ruler of this land, in this world. He’s forty-two, brutally vicious, sporting a dark beard with hints of gray, but doesn’t drink or do drugs. He just peddles drugs, weapons, and women, while pumping iron, and adding new tattoos.
And after two years of hell undercover, I’m now one of his two most trusted men.
I’m to his right. Jose Deleon is to his left. I’m his strategist. Deleon is his fixer, a man who kills for sport.
“We have a new opportunity,” Waters says to the table. “Our Dark Knight has a new opportunity. Lots of money and women.”
After two years undercover for the Feds with this shit show, the Dark Knight, as Waters calls him, is the only reason I haven’t taken them all down for a deluge of crimes, including murder. We know who he is—John Jacobs, the CEO of Mega, the first real competitor to Facebook—but he remains untouchable. He uses Waters for cover. And John Jacobs is my mission, even beyond Waters.
The door burst open and Devon, one of our newer members, appears holding Sheila, a pretty blonde who runs around with no clothes kissing the King Devil’s ass, and anything else he wants, daily. “She’s been stealing from you, King Devil. I found her digging around in your office.”
Sheila starts screaming. “I wanted to surprise you with a gift. I was looking for ideas. I swear. It’s almost your birthday.”
Which is true, but I glance at Waters and he’s not buying it. Evil hums from him. Deleon meets my stare and smirks with amusement. He’s already enjoying her certain demise. My fingers curl by my sides and I know, I know, this is one of those times I’ll be forced to walk away, forced to endure what I cannot stop.
