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Or…she could call Jude.
And invite him to the party.
A monumental Option B to deliberate over. Because, good Lord… How much trouble would that decision bring into her life?
Then again… Now that Jude had cornered her—physically as well as mentally—was a fiery collision of lust and longing completely inescapable?
What to do?
Kate took a few more moments to decide.
Then tapped Jude’s number…
3
Jude entered the courtroom wishing like hell the plaintiff had taken the astronomical settlement offered him. There was no valid reason this case should be tried. And Jude wasn’t the least bit interested in rehashing, over and over, the grisly details of a catastrophic explosion that had decimated an entire building, had caused numerous severe injuries—and had killed a woman.
Yet, here he was. Defending a top-tier industrial-risk client, with a co-counsel who represented the owner of the business that had gone up in flames.
The proceedings got underway and Jude made his opening remarks, contending, “My client provided Higgins & Dobbs Industries with quarterly engineering reports, following comprehensive inspections, which outlined standard recommendations for improvements and necessary requirements to meet all Osha and other safety guidelines. These field reports are on-file not only with the applicable environmental agencies and my client’s organization, but they were also provided, in their entirety, to Higgins & Dobbs.”
He continued to pontificate the merits of the standard recs and industry coding presented by the insurance company, and to which the insured had strictly adhered. It was, quite frankly, a paint-by-numbers scenario, systemically executed.
“What happened on December third of last year is the result of normal wear and tear on a valve that was neither deemed faulty nor past its prime. This was, for all intents and purposes, a freak accident.”
Jude turned his attention to the plaintiff, Nathanial Stevens, a man who wore a stark and vacant expression Jude had seen one too many times before—in his own mirror.
However, Jude managed to keep from his voice the true extent of the emotion this case stirred within him. He said, “There was an explosion. There was a fatality. My client is grieved by this—and remorseful. As is my co-counsel’s client. I’m sorry as well.”
He paused a moment not just for dramatic effect, but because Jude had to take a breath to regroup, to fight the images that had been threatening to infiltrate his mind since he’d started this case.
Continuing, he said, “The results are grim, yes. Devastating. But the facts are indisputable. Higgins & Dobbs was in no way out of compliance with any requirements at the time of the explosion, therefore bearing no legitimate responsibility on the part of its insurance carrier. This is an incredibly unfortunate situation, without doubt. But there is no blame to be placed on either organization brought into this courtroom today. And substantiating documentation and expert testimony will prove—”
“My wife is dead!” Stevens bellowed as he jumped to his feet—and glared at Jude. “Doesn’t anyone give a damn about that? She went to work one morning, in this supposedly safe environment, and never came home!”
The usual mayhem accompanying an outburst of this nature ensued. Pulling those triggers Kate wanted to know so much about and putting Jude on-edge before the day was out.
He left the courthouse and stewed over the tumultuous and potentially volatile emotions coursing through him. He needed an outlet again, but another fight wasn’t the answer. Though he did hit the gym to pound a bag for an hour. Then he showered and had his car service deliver him to his Tribeca apartment, a stately, two-story, six-bedroom residence in an exclusive building.
Entirely too much space for him, but Jude had recently purchased it. For reasons that had yet to gel in his mind, but the location was excellent and the price had been right because the owner was highly motivated to sell and…
Jesus.
Yes.
Entirely too much space.
He liked being able to spread out, though. He put his laptop bag in his office and then went into the largest of the three living rooms and poured himself a stiff drink. He needed it after today’s shitstorm.
He shrugged out of his suit jacket and loosened his tie. Settling on a sofa with his scotch and cell phone, he pressed the number for his voicemail and listened to his assistant run down a series of urgent calls for him to return.
Jude sipped, knowing Gwen would have also sent him a brief note per prioritized issue with a phone number all he had to do was click on and be connected to whomever needed to speak with him.
He went onto the next message. And the next. A half-dozen into it, his gut clenched.
“Jude, it’s Kate.”
He set aside his scotch.
