“I don’t like how that sounds.”
“I need to protect you. I need to protect Walker, which may require some distance.”
“No,” I say. “Absolutely not. Safety in numbers.” I twist around to face him. “Lauren and Royce are on their way to Chicago, Blake is working on a federal immunity agreement, and I know Logan is behind this Chicago situation. I gave Blake three names to connect to my father. Once he hands me all the dirt on them, I can force my father to step in.”
He tilts his head slightly, a pinch appearing between his brows. “Pri. Sweetheart. If this is that close to your family—”
“Then I have leverage.”
“It’s your family. Good or bad, family is family.”
“Bad is the appropriate word and you know that by now. I know very well, and that’s, as I said, leverage. I have it. And I’m going to talk to the judge and ask him to allow you to testify in private and early, for your protection.”
“That won’t be as effective.”
“I have a strong case, just not strong enough without you. It’ll be enough.” My cellphone rings and I stand up. “It could be Ed. He was calling Chicago.” I rush to the end of the bed where my phone seems to be, judging by the location of the ringing. Locating it, I quickly scoop it up, and frown as I spy my mother’s number, though I’m not sure why. She calls. Not often, but she calls. The timing just feels off. A punch of unease follows that though, a very definitive punch of unease and I answer the call.
“Mom?”
“Pri, honey. Are you free for dinner?”
I glance over at Adrian. “Dinner? Tonight?”
Adrian stands and faces me, giving a shake of his head, as my mother says, “Yes. I was thinking of that little Italian place we both love. Just you and me. Your father’s out of town.”
That unease is back, nagging this time. “Where is he?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she says, all nonchalant. “What did he say? Hmmm. Washington, maybe?”
“You don’t know where Dad went?” I ask, and Adrian arches an eyebrow at that, confirming this sounds as ridiculous to him as it does to me. I grimace and add, “You are still married, Mom, right?”
“Oh, don’t be dramatic,” she snaps. “I trust him. We’ve been married a lifetime. And it’s business. He travels often. Back to our dinner.”
“I’m in the middle of a big trial,” I say. “And in case you’ve forgotten, it’s a dangerous trial. I have private security right now.”
“Security is good. Bring them along.”
My lips press together. She’s stubborn, but that’s nothing new. “Does this have anything to do with why Logan wants me to meet him?”
There’s a dead, three-beat silence she ends by saying, “Dinner tonight, Pri.” Her phone conveniently beeps, and she adds, “I need to go. I’ll see you there at seven.” She hangs up.Chapter Twenty-ThreePRI
The minute that call with my mother ends, I’m walking toward the bedroom door. Or I try. Adrian catches my hand and steps into me. “What just happened and where are you going?”
“My mother wants to meet. And my father is out of town. I’m assuming in Chicago. That means he’s a part of what’s happening to you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Oh, but I do,” I say, and I can feel my heart thundering in my chest. And my chest is tight. The way it was when I was in that tunnel. I’m suffocating and this time in betrayal. “I feel it in my gut, Adrian, and my gut is never wrong. He recruited Logan out of Chicago. He’s well-connected there. Logan wants to meet tonight, so he must be here, not in Chicago. I don’t know why I didn’t think of my father in the first place. And my God, how could you even consider falling in love with a woman whose father is trying to destroy you?”
He cups my head and presses his forehead to mine. “You are not your father.” His hand settles on my face and he tilts my gaze to his. “And this Chicago thing is going nowhere. They have no evidence. I was never in Illinois. I know that. I stepped away from the kitchen just to take a moment to reason with myself. This is how this went. Deleon told whoever is behind this to use my brother against me because he knew it would rattle me. And it almost worked, but even if I had to defend myself over my brother—”
“Stop,” I order swiftly. “Stop before you say something you can’t take back.”
“You need to hear this,” he insists. “I’ve never killed anyone that wasn’t in self-defense, Pri. No one. That’s not who I am. I don’t know how the fuck I even forgot that fact. That’s why I didn’t kill Waters. And that’s why, even when I could have claimed self-defense, I didn’t kill Deleon.”