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Bane was usually the optimistic one.
5
Gabriella was up at five a.m. the next morning as usual. She wouldn’t lie — at least to herself. She was a bit rattled by the escalation of her situation. It had been unsettling to realize she was being followed, to find the dead bird on her doorstep. And she’d had to remind herself to breathe when Leo mentioned “the man with the phone” watching him through the fence at school.
But she wasn’t going to let a bunch of Russian thugs scare her into changing her routine or hiding out in her house.
She got up, made a smoothie to go while chatting with Bea, who arrived every day at five-thirty, and went to the gym. She was relieved the burgundy Expedition followed her while the cruiser remained in front of her house. If the Lake Forest P.D. could only spare one officer, she’d rather that officer be at the house with Leo and Bea.
She tried not think of the man sitting outside the gym while she did her workout. When she left, he was still parked in the lot, and she resisted the urge to wave. These weren’t the kind of people to bait or mock.
She wasn’t looking to prove anything. She just wanted to get to trial in one piece, with Leo and Bea and everyone else in her life safe and sound.
She thought about her parents while she drove to the office. She was glad they were in Florida with her sisters. She just hoped that was far enough to prevent them being sucked into the mess that was her life at the moment.
It was no comfort to realize the Baranov bratva didn’t need to go after her parents and sisters in other states when they had Gabriella’s son as leverage right here in the good state of Illinois.
The smoothie turned sour in her stomach.
She pulled into her reserved parking spot and looked around, even though she’d seen the Expedition park alongside the curb as she entered the underground garage.
It hadn’t surprised her. Baranov’s men were too smart to enter the D.A.’s garage where there were security cameras, where they’d be forced to take a ticket from the booth at the entrance. Both things meant a record of the Baranov organization trying to intimidate a prosecutor.
Stalking her house and her son’s school was one thing, but hanging around the D.A.’s office was a bridge too far, even for them.
She pulled her pepper spray out of her purse and exited the car, then walked quickly to the vestibule with the elevator, keeping her eyes peeled for anything unusual along the way.
Once in the elevator, she breathed a sigh of relief and slipped her pepper spray back in her bag. As much as she’d hated calling Hawk, she had to admit she’d be glad when the Imperium bodyguard made an appearance. It was exhausting being hyper-vigilant every minute of every day, worrying about her own safety and the safety of her son.
She hadn’t heard back from Hawk, but knowing him, he’d moved into action right after her call. Who knew? Maybe one of the Imperium guards would show up today.
The elevator dinged her arrival on the sixth floor. She stepped from the car and was immediately soothed. The D.A.’s office had been her second home — and sometimes her first — for more than a decade. Someone else might need a lullaby to sleep, or a guided meditation, but if Gabriella needed to be comforted, all she needed were the sounds of the Cook County Prosecutor’s office.
Muriel, the front office administrator, smiled as Gabriella strode through the lobby. “Morning, Ms. Perez.”
“Morning, Muriel. Anything I need to know?”
“Not from me.” She touched the headset tucked onto her ear under a stylish cap of silver hair. “Cook County District Attorney’s Office, how may I direct you?”
Gabriella made her way down the hall, smiling and waving at her coworkers as she passed. She entered her office and left the door open, then started unpacking her bag. She hadn’t even gotten her laptop out when Marcus entered carrying a steaming mug and a stack of files.
“Morning,” he said, setting the cup and files on her desk.
“Good morning.” She took a drink of coffee and sighed with pleasure. Was there anything better than a good, strong cup of black coffee in the morning? “How was your night?”
“Pad Thai and Benedict Cumberbatch. How can I complain?”
She laughed. “It’s a winning combo.”
“Need anything else?” Marcus asked.
She shook her head. “I’m good.”
He left and she sat and tabbed to her email, sipping the coffee while she scanned her new messages. She was halfway through answering them when the phone on her desk buzzed.
“Yes?”
“Agent Garcia is on line four,” Marcus said through the speaker.
