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“Which is worrying.”
“Agree.”
“And she still doesn’t know about him?”
“I haven’t told her. I thought it would be best.”
“And this Ezra Moore, you trust him?”
“I do. He’ll find him. He has resources and will use them.”
“Good.”
“How is your brother?” I told Santiago about the attack on him but left out the part where Mercedes was concerned.
“Recovering, according to Ezra. I will pay him a visit soon.”
“And he’ll return to the house?”
“We’ll see.”
“What happened between you two? There’s bad blood. I can smell it, Judge.”
“It’s hardly worth discussing. Not when Hildebrand is looking for blood himself.”
“Fucking asshole.”
“I’ve put him off for a few weeks, but I will pay him a visit once I leave here. I want to talk to him privately. See what he knows and if I can influence the consequence.” Consequence. Mercedes’s punishment. Hildebrand, much like my grandfather, is a stickler for the rules. A crime must be punished. Balance restored.
“What will he demand?” In Santiago’s voice, I hear his concern for his sister. She’d be comforted to know it.
“I don’t know,” I tell Santiago. “She was deceived. I can’t imagine more than community service.”
“Which will humiliate her.”
“But it’s better than a harsher sentence.” Payment in flesh.
Santiago nods because he understands. “She doesn’t go into The Tribunal building without you or me at her side. She doesn’t set foot on the compound without us. I don’t trust him not to take her into custody.”
“We’re on the same page. I will protect your sister, Santiago. I won’t let them lay a finger on her.”
His head tilts just a little, such an infinitesimal movement it’s almost imperceptible.
I clear my throat. “As your sister, I care for her, much the same as I do you, Ivy, and your child. I wouldn’t let anything happen to any of you if I could help it.”
“Thank you, Judge.”
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I ignore it, and we fall into a different conversation. But whoever it is is insistent.
“You’d better answer,” Santiago says, hearing the buzzing.
I reach into my pocket and see it’s Ezra, so I do because he’d leave a message unless it was urgent.
“Ezra?” Santiago drinks his scotch as he watches me.
“Judge. We’ve located the maid.”
“Miriam?”
