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She was going to nail Vitsin Gotti-style — for murder.
“The first of many,” Nathan said, “and that’s if we’re lucky.”
“I’m not dropping the case,” she said. “So we should switch gears here and talk about what to do until we go to trial. I want to be home before Leo goes to bed.”
Nathan touched his fingers to his forehead, something he did when he was out of arguments with her. It always made her feel slightly victorious. He was one of the finest prosecutors in Chicago’s history. That she could stump him was a badge of honor, even if it was personal.
“What do you propose?” he asked.
A police cruiser was parked across the street from her house in Lake Forest at that very minute, keeping an eye on Leo and his nanny, Beatrice. But Gabriella knew that couldn’t continue. The city couldn’t afford to spend its resources protecting one of its prosecutors for the next two months, and Nathan had his eye on the mayorship.
He hadn’t said it, but he didn’t have to: using city resources to protect his family wasn’t a good look, even if it was warranted.
“I’m working on a plan,” she said.
He walked around the desk and leaned against it, his body only a couple feet from hers, and she had a memory of her first few years at the DA’s office. Back then, Nathan had been undeniably compelling: ambitious, older, established. Discussing a case with him had been like foreplay, and she’d fallen happily and easily into his bed.
It had taken three years of marriage to realize she’d been attracted to the security a man like Nathan offered, security she’d had to fight and sacrifice for her whole life.
It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t love, not the kind she wanted.
Not the kind she’d had once upon a time.
Nathan was a good man. He deserved more, and so did she. Luckily, they’d been able to remain friends. And at least they’d gotten Emilio, beautiful Leo, their perfect boy, out of the bargain.
“Enlighten me.” He reached down for her hand. “Please. I’m about ready to come camp out on your sofa.”
She hesitated. “I called Hawk. He’s going to get back to me.”
A flicker of pain passed over Nathan’s features in the moment before he got it under control. Hawk was a sore spot only because of his proximity to Logan, and only because Nathan knew Gabriella had never really gotten over her first love.
Did anyone?
“I could hire someone,” he said. “There are plenty of security firms right here in Chicago.”
She smiled sadly. “None of them are half as good as Imperium and we both know it.”
It hadn’t been hard to keep up with news about Imperium. Catering to the rich and famous meant free publicity, and Hawk’s brash confidence had been blood in the water for Hollywood’s media machine.
For years it had been all Hawk, all the time. Hawk breaking some guy’s wrist outside the Golden Globes. Hawk dating a bevy of gorgeous Hollywood actresses and executives (and one politician’s daughter). Hawk making Fortune magazine’s Forty under Forty list.
Then, recently, stories about Hawk and some heiress getting serious, stories she now knew were true thanks to their conversation.
It had been harder to keep tabs on Logan, but she’d felt him lingering like a shadow over Imperium’s success, had felt his steady presence behind Hawk’s controlled anarchy.
“So… what?” Nathan asked. “Your old boyfriend comes to stand guard over you and Leo? Over my wife and son?”
“Ex-wife.” She immediately regretted the words, not because they weren’t true, but because the divorce had been her idea. Nathan had fought her tooth and nail until he’d realized it was no use.
“I’m aware,” he said tightly.
She sighed. “It’s been almost twenty years.” She said it like it mattered, like the time between then and now made what she’d shared with Logan less meaningful, like she didn’t still dream about him. “And Logan is a partner at Imperium. He probably doesn’t even do fieldwork anymore. They have an entire roster of big, bad men trained to protect people in situations like this one. I’m sure Hawk will send a couple of them.”
Nathan didn’t look comforted by the idea.
“They’re the best,” she continued. “Isn’t that what matters? That Leo and I are safe?”
“If that was all that mattered you’d drop the case,” he said.
