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“Got it,” Ollie said, motioning for me to move further inside.
When the door slammed, I jumped, glancing up front at the blonde now glaring at me. “Rule one, Ms. London—never, ever, talk to a police officer without your lawyer, especially in Chicago. You would think with the infinite number of cop and lawyer TV shows out there today, you wouldn’t have to tell people this.”
I looked to Ollie, waiting for him to explain who the hell she was.
“Amelia, meet Keri Shaughnessy, your new lawyer.”
“What happened to Old Man Epps?” Since the day I was born, Mr. Epps was my lawyer. He handled all of my contracts and lawsuits against some of the biggest newspapers and media sites across the country.
“He retired three months ago, and I took over his practice. He said you were a no-problem client, and of course the moment you come to me, you pick a fight with Ray fucking Mallory,” she cut in, pissing me off.
“I’m sorry, picking a fight?” She had to be kidding me. “I went to his house, and he tried to rape me! That fact that he got the shit knocked out of him was his fault, not mine.”
“He what?” Ollie grabbed my arm, pulling my attention back to him.
Keri took a deep breath, tilting her head to the side and looking me in the eye. “I’m sorry, Ms. London. I’ve been told I don’t have a filter. What I was trying to say is, Ray Mallory has his hands in a lot of pockets in this city.”
“So what’s going to happen to Noah?”
Neither of them answered my question, so I sat up straighter, looking between them both. “As the person who pays you, I will ask again: what will happen to Noah Sloan?”
“If he’s lucky,” Keri started, and I was getting the feeling that she and I had different definitions of the word ‘lucky,’ “Ray will only drag him through the mud for a little bit before dropping the charges.”
“Who is Noah’s lawyer?” I wondered, already reaching for my phone.
“It doesn’t matter,” Keri said.
“You know, I’m not liking you very much at this moment,” I shot back.
She smiled. “I get that a lot. Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter how good of a lawyer Noah gets. Within the Chicago court system, they’re useless. You thinking otherwise is just naïve.”
Leaning back against the seat, I rubbed the side of my head and tried to think of how the hell everything went so bad so fucking quickly. One moment, we were fine. The next, the world was opening up underneath me.
“Amelia?” Ollie handed me a bottle of water and two tablets of what I could only guess was Advil.
“Thank you,” I muttered, accepting them.
“Amelia, why were you in Mr. Mallory’s study anyway?” Keri questioned, and I froze, my head retracing the steps that had gotten me into this state in reverse.
I was in Ray Malloy’s study because I was looking for a bathroom. The bathroom on the first floor was occupied, just like my mother warned me about, and she told me where to go instead. Why the hell was I in Ray Mallory’s house? Because my mother invited me. And Noah.
No. It was just coincidence. It was all just a series of unfortunate events. I was getting ahead of myself, she wouldn’t…but what wouldn’t a murderer do?
“Amelia!” Ollie shouted as the water battle slipped through from my shaking hand.
Once again, I felt that tug on my heart like someone was trying to pull it from my chest, and my throat began to close.
No matter what, no mother would ever put her daughter in that position, right? She couldn’t be that diabolical…that cold-hearted. Even though I thought that, I still had to hug myself to keep from shaking.
It was her, my head kept saying, even though my heart refused to believe that. It felt like I was being split in half.
It was her. She wanted to separate Noah and I again. She pretended to be okay with it because she had this up her sleeve.
“Amelia, it’s okay,” Ollie whispered, wrapping his arm around me. I didn’t realize I was crying until that very moment. “You’re safe now. It’s okay.”
No, I wasn’t okay or safe.
Just then, it felt like the last thread that connected my mother to me was cut, and there was no mending it.
