Total pages in book: 224
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
“I don’t want you to make this happen,” she says vehemently. “I want to do it. I want to make this happen. This deal with Elijah does that for me and us.”
“It doesn’t. It’s a set-up. It’s certain destruction. And as for doing this yourself, if we both bring a deal to the table, we’ll win even bigger together. Set Elijah aside. Promise me.”
“Reid—”
“Promise me.”
“Okay. I promise. What about my father?”
“Yes. Set him aside, too.”
“So everything I ask you, you tell me to set aside. How is this proving you have no agenda, well, aside from secret agendas?”
“Ask me something else, Carrie.”
“Tell me about the case you’re handling against the DA.”
I don’t ask her why this matters to her. I know. It’s a character assessment after I just told her I have no heart. “That I can do. I don’t know what you’ve pieced together, so I’ll recap. There was a serial killer. The clients I represent, Cole and Lori, are the husband and wife team that represented the innocent man accused of the crimes. When he was found innocent, one of the victim’s family members attacked Lori in a public bathroom. Had the DA reopened the case, that might not have happened, nor would the real killer have killed again, but he did.”
“How did you end up with this case? I mean, I know you don’t like to be called a raider, but you operate in a similar zone. Civil actions again the DA don’t seem like your thing.”
“It’s more Gabe’s thing, but in my early days out of college, I played this field, and Gabe wasn’t available this go around.”
“And you’re waiving your fees?”
“Lori and Cole have money. They don’t need the sizable settlement they’ll receive, so they donated it to the victims’ families.”
“And out of the goodness of the heart you don’t have, you did the same with your fees?”
“Do you know the column Cat Does Crime?”
“Yes. I love that column. Why? What does that have to do with your fees?”
“Cat’s my sister, and her husband and Cole are partners. Our firms support each other through a business arrangement. And Lori is a close friend of Cat’s.”
“So did you do this for your sister, your friends or because you have a business obligation?”
“All of the above, Carrie. Not to mention our firm had a scandal a few years back and the good press from this case helps bury that for good.”
“Now you just want me to think you’re an ass with an agenda.”
“I’m speaking the truth, which is the only way to earn trust. My decisions are not one-dimensional any more than our relationship at this point. Your turn. Tell me something I don’t know about you.”
She cuts her stare. “I love Cat’s column and her books.” She reaches for her cup. “She wrote about a serial killer’s trial that had to be this case.” She sips her coffee but still, she doesn’t look at me beyond a cursory glance. “I can’t believe I didn’t connect the dots to your case. I mean, how many serial killers are there in our city?”
“You’re deflecting, talking about my sister. Tell me about you.”
She glances over at me. “I am. I follow her writing because I’m a crime buff. I almost went into criminal law. I loved the idea of being a part of real justice. I would have if not for the family business.”
“We have that in common.”
She gives me a curious, interested look, the kind of genuine interest most women only have for my money or how well I fuck them. “You wanted to go into criminal law?”
“I did.” I don’t explain to her why. I don’t tell her how the system once failed me. How much I wanted to prove it could work, that I could make it work. “The family business made it unfeasible.”
“And what made you decide to be an asshole?”
I laugh. “It works for me. It’s a profitable position to take.”
“It’s a good way to keep everyone at a distance,” she comments. “And people who do that, have baggage. You have baggage. I see in your eyes. I taste it when you kiss me.”
She was right when she said that she sees too much. She does, and this would be a good time to shove her in a corner and fuck her, but with that off the table, I shift the conversation back to her. “Why could Royce find no man in your life?”
“You do know it sucks that you investigated me this thoroughly, right? Why don’t you have a woman in your life?”
“I’m an asshole who never married and that won’t change. Back to you. Why is there no man in your life, Carrie?”
“It’s a choice, but like most of us, I was young and in love once way back as an undergraduate.”
“And?”
“And not only did he sleep with my roommate, I found out that I was pregnant three days after we broke up.”