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Totally agreeing, but realizing a headache the size of Lana Judge would follow, I sighed heavily before saying, “Well, in that case, would you mind giving me a ride to work?”
A grin spread across his face. “I would be honored,” he murmured, finally opening the back door, so I could slide my overnight bag inside.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of Judge Fashions Industry. My stomach instantly began to knot with tension, especially when he pulled into the VIP CEO parking spot next to Lana’s cherry-red Ferrari.
Oh, God. This was really happening. Not just Lana, but everyone in the office was going to see us together. They were going to see me getting out of Ezra’s car and walking side by side with him inside. How many people were going to gossip that I was sleeping with the boss to get an advance? Oh geesh, how many people wouldn’t?
Then, I blew out a breath and looked at the man beside me as he glanced in the rearview mirror to adjust his tie and wipe down the shoulders of his suit jacket, and I decided it was worth it. Whatever happened from here on out was totally worth it, because I had him now.
He blew out his own bolstering breath, as if he had his own nerves to work through, then he glanced my way. “Ready?”
I nodded. “Let’s do this.”
We opened our doors simultaneously like a pair of badasses and met at the hood of his car to link hands.
Then, together, we started around to the front of the building, only to round the corner and see three police cars with red and blue lights flashing above them, parked at the curb by the front entrance.
“Wha…?” Ezra and I jerked to a halt, gawking at the sight.
“Shit,” he muttered, letting go of my hand so he could hurry forward. I raced after him.
The first two police officers we saw stood at the front glass doors, as if barring the exit.
“What the hell is going on?” Ezra demanded, heading straight to them. A crowd of other employees had gathered to the side, watching and gossiping, looking as curious, concerned, and confused as I felt.
“Sir.” One of the officers stepped forward, lifting a hand. “If you’ll just step back, this is a police matter.”
“No, I will not,” Ezra told him as if he were crazy. “This is my building. I’m the CEO here. I need to know—”
“They’re coming,” the other officer cut in, suddenly pulling the door open. The second officer abandoned us and turned to assist the first.
I crowded close to Ezra and gripped his arm. He took my hand, waiting next to me to see who was coming.
We heard her first, that unmistakable highbrow voice dripping with condescension and fury.
“You did this to me?” Lana raged just as she appeared from the gloom from within the building flanked between two more officers as they escorted her outside.
I gasped and looked up at Ezra, but he appeared to be just as startled as I felt, shaking his head as he watched her.
Then I realized who she was talking to. Hayden strode just in front of them, marching outside, only to pause so he could watch his mother pass by in… Holy hell, her hands were cuffed behind her back.
Her eldest son seemed completely unaffected as he slid his hands into his pockets, rocked back onto the heels of his shoes, and watched without emotion.
Lana hissed at him. “I asked you a question, you bastard. How could you?”
He glanced away as if bored. “Maybe I wouldn’t have… If you hadn’t killed my father.”
I slapped my hands over my mouth, trying to hold in the shock but failing. It spilled out of me in waves.
At my gasp, Lana zipped her attention my way, and wow, she looked bad. Black trails of mascara seeped from each eye and down her cheeks. Her usually perfect hair was tousled as if she’d put up a struggle, and the wrinkles around her puckered mouth made her look older than she’d ever looked before.
“You,” she sneered, jerking against the hold the officers had on her, as if she wanted to charge at me. Then she focused on Ezra next to me and hissed. “I knew it. I knew you two were sneaking around behind my back. I knew it!”
Ezra stepped partially in front of me, but I was still able to keep eye contact with my stepmother as she sneered, “This is all your fault, you ungrateful little brat. You ruined everything. If you’d just died when you were supposed to, none of this ever would’ve happened.”
Say what now?
“Hey, hey, hey,” the officer holding her boomed, jerking her back under his control. “I think you need to watch what you say, lady, before you get another charge of attempted murder tacked onto your crimes.”
