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“You can’t show up early,” Moriah hissed. “They’ll be suspicious. ”
Jaci nodded at that. “I’ll drive around for a while. I’ll be right on time, Moriah. Make sure everything’s ready on your end, and I’ll do my part. ”
“Yes, you will. ” Moriah seemed to breathe in harshly. “I’ll call Annalee and let her know everything’s ready to go. She and Robert will be here a little early. I know them. ” Silence filled the line.
“It’s almost over, Moriah,” she promised.
“Yes, it is. ” Satisfaction filled Moriah’s voice now. “It’s finally almost over. ”
Jaci disconnected, gathered up her purse and the keys, and moved quickly from her office to the residential wing and out the door to the back parking area.
The BMW was sitting right where Matthew had promised it would be, waiting for her.
Five years of dodging the Robertses’ threats, their destructive stories, and the frustration of being unable to fight back, was over. Within a few hours, she and Moriah both would have what they needed to force the Robertses back, to end the subtle, destructive war they were waging.
And she would have done it on her own, without help. She would have protected herself, secured herself. That was important to her, to know she could do what she had to do alone, if necessary.
No doubt, Cam would have a fit when he found out what had been going on, what had happened, and what she had done to stop it. He would rage and probably end up hitting Richard next time he saw him.
Jaci could tolerate him hitting Richard, she decided with a smile. She’d cheer him on. Hell, she’d help him.
As she pulled out of the Sinclair estate, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief and headed to Moriah’s apartment on the other side of the city.
It was almost over. She should be relieved. Instead, she couldn’t seem to stamp back the heavy feeling of dread growing inside her gut. She had been poised on the edge of this for too long. She had fought for it for too long. Now that the end was so near, she couldn’t seem to convince herself it was going to work.
She had planned it meticulously. She had laid all the groundwork, she had made herself hold back, kept her silence when she wanted nothing more than to inform the world of the depravity of those two, each time they or one of their friends sliced at her.
She wasn’t a woman to sit back and take everything someone wanted to dish out to her. Doing so had torn at her pride more than once. But she’d had a plan. A plan that had formed the moment she realized the Robertses had managed to nearly destroy her reputation.
She could have told Cam. She probably should have told Cam. But she knew him. He would have insisted on handling it his way and taking over. He would have beat the hell out of Richard and probably terrified Annalee. He would have had the satisfaction, Jaci wouldn’t have. And she needed it.
She pulled her cell phone from the clip on her jeans and turned it off before placing it in her purse. Before she entered Moriah’s apartment, she’d set it to record. A backup. Insurance, just in case.
She trusted Moriah implicitly, but the other girl was too nervous, too shaky. There was always the chance that she could have miscued the video recorder, or that the Robertses were smart enough to find it.
Backup was always a good plan, her father had told her once. And on her desk was the letter she had left for Cam just before she left. Why the hell she had written it she couldn’t figure out. She had been compelled to leave something, though. To prove she trusted him? She wasn’t certain.
She gripped the steering wheel, breathed in slowly, and forced back that edge of panic. This was going to work. She had no choice but to make it work.
Cam charged into his office and faced his brother with an edge of irritation. Chase had demanded he drop the scheduled interview he and Ian had with the first line of the punitive committee for the club.
Even Ian was unaware of who the exact members of that committee were. Every three years the membership elected a prosecutor to the committee, as well as a defender. Those two would investigate the charges and take their findings to the committee.
He was neutralizing the Robertses one way or the other. He’d be damned, after last night, if he would allow anything else to hinder his and Jaci’s life. He’d take care of the Robertses’ threats to her reputation, then he would try, God help him, he would try to be honest with her. As much as he could be.
Losing her wasn’t an option. Something inside him unclenched a little more every day that she was back in his life. There was a sense of newness, of life now, and he wasn’t losing that.
And if that meant involving the club, then that was what the hell he would do. He couldn’t kill a congressman, no matter how much he wanted to; besides, that was guaranteed to piss Jaci off.
“What the hell is going on? We’ve been working for hours to get this meeting with Obermeyer, and you cancel at the last minute?”
“This is what the hell is going on. ”
Papers spilled from the printer as Chase jerked a small stack from the tray and slapped them on the table.
“I was looking in the wrong fucking place, Cam. Son of a bitch, I fucked up. ”
Cam took the sheaf of papers, gave his brother a long, hard look, and began to scan them. As he read, he felt his blood chill in his veins.
