AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She stood, anger flaring like a lit fuse in her chest. “That’s not fair. You’ve prosecuted dangerous cases since Leo was born. Did you drop any of them because you were worried about his safety? About mine?”
“Those were different,” he said. “We’re talking about Yakov Vitsin, about the Baranov bratva. Don’t try to tell me this is the same as some white collar Ponzi king or the leader of some street gang.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “You’ve worked mob cases before.”
“Not like this one.”
He didn’t have to elaborate. Mob cases were notoriously hard to try in court. The best they could usually do was bring in low-level guys, try to get them to flip on their captains, maybe a tax evasion or bribery charge.
This was murder, a chance to bring down the Chicago bratva in one fell swoop. They would reorganize — they always did — but it would take years for them to rebuild their reputation if a jury put Vitsin behind bars.
“Maybe,” she conceded. “But that’s exactly why it’s so important.”
“You’re not the only prosecutor who can try this case,” he said. “I can assign someone to replace you.”
“We both know what happens when prosecutors are reassigned,” she said.
Technicalities and minor inconsistencies exploited for mistrial, to name two. But she didn’t say the rest: that she wouldn’t quit on principle. That she’d worked her whole life to get to this place. That Nathan wasn’t the only one with big dreams.
Trying and winning a case like Vitsin’s would make her career. She could run for mayor herself, for Congress even. If she quit now, she wouldn’t even be the prosecutor who lost the biggest mob case in modern history.
She’d be nobody. Not even worth remembering. She wasn’t going to let some Russian thug derail her plans for the future.
She’d come too far.
“I’m going to finish what I started,” she said, heading for the door. “It’s what you would do and you know it.”
Nathan sighed. “Will you let me know when you hear back from Imperium? I need to know you and Leo are safe.”
“Of course,” she said, opening the door. The sounds of the office rushed in to fill the silence.
“Give Leo a kiss for me,” Nathan said. “Tell him I can’t wait for Saturday.”
She smiled, already eager to get home to their son. “I will.”
Marcus, her assistant, rushed her as soon as she hit the hall. It was nearly seven p.m. but his hair was still perfectly styled, his trim trousers and tailored jacket crisp as a new envelope.
He handed Gabriella a stack of folders, ticking off a list of items as he went. “Research from Olivia, the report from the IRS, and the case studies you asked Sam to compile.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking them from him.
“Want me to order dinner?” he asked.
She shook her head as they walked toward her office, dodging coworkers along the way. “I haven’t been home for bedtime once this week. I’ll tackle this with a glass of wine once Leo is asleep.” She smiled. “You should go home and order Thai with Arun.”
Thai takeout was one of Marcus’s favorite date nights with his husband, Arun.
He laughed and stopped walking when they came to her door. “Maybe I will. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do.”
Her colleagues had thought she was crazy when she hired him — they all had assistants with fancy degrees while Marcus had gotten his paralegal certificate online — but her gut had told her he was the right hire. In the year he’d worked as her assistant, she’d been continually impressed with his intelligence, instincts, and organizational skills.
He was smart enough to write up an astute analysis on the merits of potential arguments and a detailed review of cases for precedent and humble enough to order her lunch and get her coffee without acting put out.
They’d easily established professional respect, but beyond that, she thought of him as a friend, and she hoped he felt the same way.
She crossed the floor of her office and walked around her desk, then started packing her bag for home. The activity was soothing, pulling her back into the present.
