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Chase releases a heavy breath. “I don’t, but I will.”
Placing me on a bench, Chase removes his suit jacket and wraps it carefully around my shoulders as he kneels before me. “You saved my life,” he says, cupping my face. “So now it’s yours. All yours. I belong to you, Alexis.”
I kiss him, deeply and tenderly. “We belong to each other.”
The chilly air outside greets us as Chase carries me toward the town car, where Jefferson opens the door. “I thought you might need my assistance, sir.”
Chase doesn’t acknowledge him as he seats me inside the car. I have to remember to get Jefferson off the hook later. He shouldn’t lose his job because of what I instructed him to do. For now, I let Chase hold me, and my thoughts struggle to make sense of everything that’s happened.
“You have to find a way to defend Malcolm,” I say. “It was all Mason. He stalked Malcolm…he stalked the women he met online—”
His arms tense around me. “Once I know you’re okay and I’ve tended to every bruise and cut—” he stops short, his gaze sweeping my face, and I realize what he suspects.
“Chase, he didn’t hurt me. Not like that. I promise.”
His eyes close, his jaw tight as he takes measured breaths. “Fuck, you should’ve let me kill him.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, pure fatigue taking hold. “I should’ve listened – I never should’ve—” His lips seal over mine, taking the rest of my desperate admission within himself.
Then I feel his hand slipping a chain around my neck. I pull back and touch the skylark pendant as he clasps the backing together.
“You got it back.” My relief at feeling complete again, wholly belonging to Chase, sweeps through me. I press my palm to his cheek, letting my eyes plead my case. Conveying it will never leave my neck again.
“The next man who dares to remove it won’t get off so mercifully,” he says, wiping the wet streaks from my face. “Now, I’m not always going to do the right thing, but I can promise I’ll always try.”
“Just kiss me.”
“A command I’ll willingly obey, temptress.”
Epilogue
Adulation
Chase
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I hang the framed quote by Lord Acton on my office wall. I’ve positioned it above my prized chessboard. It’s the first thing seen when entering my office.
I’ve thought about that quote often enough, but for the most part, considered it false. Having been in power for years, overseeing not only my practice but a thriving society of the elite, I assumed I was above corruption.
Only the weak are susceptible.
Now, I have a new perspective on the matter.
Without Alexis, had she never entered my law firm, I’m convinced I may’ve fallen victim to the same tactics and ploys my partners did. Their greed. Their willingness to tear down anyone who stands in their way. Mason, although a rare case, set the bar for what power is capable of. He suffered a kind of god complex, which he abused greatly with our clients.
Fortunately, Bates was an easy enough remedy. I say easy, but really, letting the ACA know the DNA was discovered with a faulty warrant wasn’t all smiles and pleasantries. The law is the law, however, and the Commonwealth had no other evidence to tie my client to the scene.
It was rather fortuities, saving everyone the expense and energy of a lengthy trial. I have a feeling that it wasn’t fortuities at all—rather my anonymous friend had some say over that warrant. The only fallout was the career of the inexperienced ACA.
I’m sti
ll neck deep in Mason’s cases, combing through each one to gather any evidence that he framed other clients for his illicit activities. So far, I’ve only uncovered two: Bates and one other client who was convicted of rape. I’m in the process of working with a judge to get his sentenced overturned.
Damage control. Once Mason submitted his formal resignation—generated, administered, and overseen by Gannet and myself—there was the matter of damage control to address. How much of what transpired was to be shared with the members of The Firm.
In the end, knowledge is the ultimate power. Mason’s…activities are best kept in secret with those I trust. Besides, the simple truth is I don’t know what happened to him. Not with any certainty. Not yet.
