He held up his hands. “Sorry, Sage, but I’m gonna find a nice, simple woman. Date for a long time. Make sure she’s not connected to organized crime before I seal the deal.”
“I’m not connected to the mob,” Sage repeated. “They weren’tmyclient. Again, I worked with the underserved and charities in the community.”
“Okay, not your client. Your father’s then. Your ex’s. Jackson, right?”
She nodded at Hayes’ question. “Yes. Both of them.”
“Why didn’t you tell me your father’s law firmdealt with the mob?” I asked. “It’s not like he could keep his hands from getting dirty. And your ex? He stole documents from them.”
Sage looked up at me. “That’s on them, not me. I didn’t tell you about it because I quit, remember? When I said yes to you last night, that meant I wasn’t going back. I emailed my father a resignation letter from the airport on the way here. That was before I even met you.”
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “I thought you didn’t want to keep working there because your ex and his baby mama worked there, not…this.”
I waved my hand toward her open laptop that was now in front of Hayes on my kitchen table.
“Your ex and the woman who’s having his baby work with you?” Hayes asked, his eyes wide. It seemed Sage kept surprising him.
“Worked,” she said. “Again, past tense. As soon as I found out about it–a few months after everyone else at the firm–I quit and came to stay with Aunt Mabel.”
“Without knowing you had evidence proving the Mancusos are laundering money through strip joints, laundromats, car washes, and other legitenterprises in the tri-state area,” Hayes said. “Jesus. This is a problem.”
All I wanted to do was fuck a baby into my woman, not deal with the mob.
“I didn’tmeanto take the evidence.”
Hayes shrugged, reached out and patted her hand. “You’re bound by attorney-client privilege for any client your father’s company has, even after you end employment.”
She nodded. “Yes. That’s true.”
“Except because of your ex’s incompetence, you’re in danger,” I said.
“I’m not in danger,” Sage said. “I’m not the one who had a thumb drive with incriminating evidence.”
“You need to call your ex,” Hayes told Sage. “Figure out what the fuck is going on.”
I nodded at the suggestion.
“After this morning, I’m not sure if he’s going to take the call.”
“He’ll take the call,” I added.
“What happened this morning?” Hayes asked, one blond brow raised.
Sage rolled her eyes as I smirked.
“Gotcha,” Hayes said, figuring out that we’d had sex, but I wasn’t going to clarify that we’d done itwhile Jackson listened in. That I all but taunted the fucker with it.
She picked up her cell and got Jackson on the line. I signaled with my finger to put it on speaker.
“Sage. What the fuck?” Jackson shouted from the phone she set on the table. “I can’t believe you had sex while–”
“Jackson, why do you have Mancuso files on a thumb drive? Are you insane?” Sage yelled, cutting him off.
“Fuck, you found it? And looked at what’s on it?”
“You’ve been harassing me for two weeks. Of course, I looked at it. Why do you have those files?”
Jackson was quiet for a second. “Protection.”
