by Ivy Nelson
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Patrick stared at the image on his screen. What the fuck was he supposed to make of this? The pumpkin diamond was staring him in the face, and it appeared to be sitting in his lab in New York City. How the hell had it gotten there?
He knew Austin was waiting on him to call her back, but he had been paralyzed with fear for the past three hours or so. He was in his office at Eastman Enterprises where he had spent most of the evening catching up on work until he got the unknown text message.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to dial Austin’s number.
“Patrick,” she answered groggily. “I was worried.”
“Hey, baby girl. I’m sorry to wake you. We have a problem.”
He heard her shifting around as she said, “I’m awake now. What’s going on?”
“I got a text from an unknown number. It included a photo of the pumpkin diamond.”
Austin sucked in a breath. “Holy shit.”
“That’s not the problem though. The picture appears to have been taken inside my lab in New York.”
“Jesus. What time is it? We need to come up with a game plan before the police or the prosecution get ahold of this.”
It’s three in the morning your time, just after midnight here.”
“When did you get the text?”
He winced but answered. “About eight-thirty my time, so eleven-thirty for you.”
“So why are you just now calling me? I got home at eleven-fifteen,” she said after a long moment of silence.
Patrick cleared his throat. “Honest truth?”
“I fucking hope so,” she bit out.
He deserved that. “I’m terrified,” he admitted. “I wasn’t sure what to do with the picture. I tried calling the number, but it didn’t go anywhere real.”
Austin swore. “I still have court in the morning. There’s nothing we can do, but finding the diamond on your property is not going to look good for you, though the text you got could help if I can find a computer expert to work with us to trace it. Let me make some phone calls and figure out what to do about this. Maybe talk to Jax and see if he can bring Lance in. Jesus, this is a mess.”
Patrick stood and stared out the window of the spacious office. “Baby girl,” he murmured. “Slow down. I’m sorry I waited so long to call you.”
Austin sighed. “It’s not OK, but I’ll get over it. We’re going to stick with our plan to meet in Colorado for now. We’ll come up with a game plan there. Talk to Jax.”
“I will. I’m sorry, Austin,” he said again.
When Patrick ended the call, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had harmed their relationship by not calling her sooner. He laid on the couch in his office and tossed and turned until it was considered reasonable to call Jax Fischer in Texas.
“It’s five in the damn morning,” the cowboy drawled.
“It’s only three here,” Patrick said. “I’ve got a bit of a problem and could use your advice. Austin asked me to call you.”
“Give me five minutes to wipe the cobwebs out of my eyes,” he muttered. “I’ll call you back.”
Patrick stood and paced as he waited for Jax to return his call.
“Talk to me,” he said five minutes later, sounding much more alert.
“Someone sent me a picture of one of the diamonds that went missing in the heist. I don’t know who sent it and all attempts to contact the number have failed.”
“Shit man. What does Austin say?”
“To call you. She says it’s a mess. To make things worse, it seems to be a picture from inside my New York lab.”
Jax whistled. “Yeah, no shit. Police see that and they’re going to think someone is confirming a job you hired them to do.”
Patrick closed his eyes. “Fuck. So, should I take the text to the police?”
“Fifth fuckin’ amendment man. Don’t incriminate yourself.”
“But it’s not incriminating myself. I didn’t ask for the text.”
Jax laughed. “You’re cute. The prosecutor and the police just want to close this thing. They don’t actually care if you’re guilty. They just need to convince a jury you are.”
“So… I don’t tell the police?”
Jax sighed. “I wouldn’t. On the other hand, if they find it and you didn’t tell them about it, it looks like you were hiding something. We definitely need to make a plan of attack before we do anything. Can you get Austin on the phone with us?”
Patrick sighed. “I think she’s pretty pissed at me right now but yeah, give me just a few. I know she has court this morning though so she might be working on other things.”
The signal for an incoming call beeped in his ear. “Hang on, I have another call.”
“This is Patrick,” he said, not checking the caller ID.
“Mr. Sutton, it’s Wayne Dorian, I work in your NYC lab. I tried to call Mr. Reyes first, but I know he’s at the hospital with his daughter. The police are at the lab with a search warrant.”
“Fuck. Ask to see the warrant. Take time to read it before you let them in. I’m calling my attorney, Austin Yates.”
He ended the call and took Jax off hold. “We’ve got bigger problems. Police just served a warrant on my lab in New York. How long before they come knocking on my door here? I need to get Austin on the line.”
“I’m here, Patrick. Jax patched me in while he was waiting for you to answer your other call. Who is at the lab?”
“Kid named Wayne Dorian, he’s another lab tech.”
“OK. Send me the address. I’ll head over there right now. I’ll do my best to find out if they have warrants for any of your other properties. If they find anything here, it won’t be long before they do.”
“I’m texting you now. What should I do from here?”
“Go about your business. I’m sure you’ll get calls from the police wanting to question you again.”
Patrick dragged a hand through his hair. So much for a weekend at Solitaire.
“I’m going to let you two talk,” Jax said. “Patrick, call me back a little later and we’ll talk. I’ll work on getting Lance in on this.”
When Jax was off the line, Patrick breathed heavily. “I know you need to get going, baby girl.”
“Yeah. I’ll call you as soon as I’m done or know something else. Do you have an attorney you can call there? I can send Victoria if she’s available. She doesn’t have a California license, but this is still a New York case.”
“You do what you think is best, baby girl. I can find someone here or you can put her on the Eastman jet if you think she can handle it.”
“I’ll call her on my way to your lab.”
They ended the call and Patrick called Wayne back to let him know Austin was on her way. Next, he called David and Elijah on a video conference and filled them in.
“We’re here for you, Patrick,” David said. “I’m sorry this is happening to you. All of my resources are at your disposal to help put this behind you as quickly as possible.”
“Thank you, David.”
“Elijah, tell my sister not to worry about me. Austin assures me they won’t revoke bail over new evidence. This is just more fuel for the DA’s case when we go to trial. They’re going to come back with another plea deal, I’m sure.”
Elijah gave a mirthless laugh. “Telling Holly not to worry would be like telling water not to be wet, my friend. What do you want to do about Solitaire this weekend? You think you two will make it?”
Patrick cleared his throat. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to be very different between him and Austin, and he wasn’t sure how to answer that. “I’ll let you know as soon as I do. For now, let’s just plan on us not being there.”
Elijah agreed, and Patrick ended the call. He was once again alone in his office pacing. How long before he knew if the police found the diamond? Did they know about the text? There were so many unanswered questions.
Forty-five minutes l
ater, Austin called him.
“Victoria is on standby to fly to you if it looks like it’s needed. For now, I think you should head to Solitaire as planned. I can’t tell from the activity here whether or not they’ve found anything yet. Are you sure the picture was from inside your lab?”
Patrick chuckled at how fast she was talking. “It sure as hell looked that way. I can be on a plane to New York within the hour. You sure I shouldn’t come there?”
Austin blew out a breath. “It’s really hard to say, honestly. We’ll get copies of the police reports from the search in a week or two and you’ll get receipts for anything they take with them, but right now I’m just relying on what I can overhear. I have to get to court soon though, so I’m parking one of my new paralegals down here until they finish their search. I’ll still plan to get on the plane to Colorado after lunch.”
“I can’t wait to see you,” he whispered.
Austin cleared her throat. “I have to go. Don’t do anything stupid, please. I would like to keep you out of jail.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Austin closed her eyes and sank further into the comfortable leather seat in David Eastman’s private jet. She had been in the air for nearly three hours and they would soon be landing in Colorado. She felt wrong for leaving New York after everything that had happened, but she knew she needed to get away and spend some time with Patrick.
The fact that he didn’t call her right away when he got that text message, hurt. She understood being scared, but they were supposed to be partners. It felt like he didn’t trust her to take care of him. Hopefully, this weekend she could prove to him once and for all that she would always do her best to be there for him.
Her cell phone rang. It was James Saunders. He wasn’t supposed to start until Monday, but Austin had asked him to start early because of the search warrants being served on Patrick’s lab. When she left town, they still weren’t done searching the place. That told her they hadn’t found the diamond yet. On the one hand, that was good for Patrick’s defense. On the other hand, Patrick was in possession of a photograph that clearly looked like the diamond was in his lab, and that was terrible for his defense.
“James, hello,” she said, sitting up straighter in her seat.
“Sorry to bother you, Austin, but I have the prosecutor in Mr. Sutton’s case on the phone, and they want to talk to you.”
Austin felt a knot form in her stomach. What did they want on a Friday afternoon?
“Put them through please.”
When Greg came on the line, Austin did her best to steady her pulse and keep her tone calm and professional.
“What can I do for you?” she asked after the obligatory hellos were out of the way.
“I’m calling to let you know we have a new deal for your client. We’ll still reduce the charges, but not quite as much as the original offer. He’ll spend four years in prison and four years’ probation. But this offer is only good for twenty-four hours.”
Austin felt her heart begin to pound as if it were trying to escape. Either the search warrant turned something up or they had a witness willing to testify against Patrick. This was not good. The discovery period wasn’t over, and the prosecution still had a lot to turn over to Austin and her team.
“You haven’t finished turning over all your evidence, why would we accept a plea deal like that without knowing what you have?”
Greg chuckled. “Because you’re a smart girl, Austin, and it’s the kind of deal you would be offering if you were still on our side.”
“My client maintains his innocence, Greg. I’ll take him the deal, but until you turn over your witness list and the evidence you plan to present at trial, I can guarantee he won’t be accepting it.”
“Then I guess we get to face each other at trial. Won’t that be fun?”
Austin wanted to growl. There was nothing fun about this. Patrick’s freedom rested on her shoulders, and it was an incredible burden to bear.
“When are you sending me your evidence?” she asked, ignoring his question.
“We’ll send it when we’re damn good and ready.”
Austin sighed. “I guess I’ll have to file a motion to compel you to give us what you have. You’re hindering my ability to properly represent my client, and Judge Raynor tends to err on the side of the defense when it comes to discovery motions.”
Greg gave a short laugh. “Bring your best, Austin. I have no problem making sure Patrick Sutton rots in jail just like his father.”
Austin wrinkled her nose. Unfortunately, it looked like Nicholas Sutton wouldn’t be rotting in jail. If she lost this case, Patrick would be in jail longer than his father. That was unacceptable.
“My flight is landing, Greg. I have to put my phone away now. You can expect me to be filing a motion first thing Monday morning.”
“My offer expires on Sunday,” Greg said snidely.
When she ended the call, she immediately dialed Victoria Marche, her new associate.
“Victoria, looks like you get to put your law degree to work today,” she said when the woman answered. “I need you to get to the courthouse before closing and file a motion to force the state to turn over their witness list and any evidence they currently plan to present at trial. They’re offering a plea deal with a limited window of opportunity and are insisting that their evidence isn’t ready for discovery yet. I’m calling bullshit and I want to know what they have.”
“You got it, boss,” Victoria said when Austin finished.
By the time she finished her phone calls, the plane was touching down on the runway. Patrick was already on the ground and waiting for her. They were going to have to have a serious conversation about his trial before the weekend was up.
He was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs when she disembarked the plane. When he saw her, he pulled his sunglasses off and tucked them into his shirt pocket. As she reached the bottom step, he took her suitcase from her hand and passed it to the driver she’d failed to notice at first.
“Hi,” she said as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Hi. You seem tense.”
She let her shoulders sag as she rested her head against his shoulder. “It’s been a long day,” she murmured.
"That’s why we’re going to get back to Solitaire and take a nap,” he said, kissing her hair as he nudged her toward the car.
When they were in the backseat of the black SUV, Austin let her head fall against the dark leather headrest and closed her eyes. Sometime later, she woke as they began the ascent to the top of the road where Solitaire sat.
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “Didn’t mean to fall asleep on you. I needed to talk to you,” she said as she rubbed her eyes and hoped she hadn’t drooled on him.
He gave her a tender smile. “You needed the sleep. I dozed off too. We can talk inside.”
The SUV pulled up in front of the club and Patrick helped Austin from the car. As they stepped through the doors, a familiar voice called out from the conference room. “That you, Patrick?”
Jax Fischer stuck his head out the door and waved at Austin as they came into the lobby.
“Lance find anything?” Patrick asked, setting Austin’s suitcase on the ground.
Jax shook his head. “Not yet, and he put his headphones on so I can’t even talk to him while he works.”
Austin struggled not to smirk at the man’s thick drawl.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Jax has Lance trying to figure out where the text message came from.”
Austin nodded. “Ah. Speaking of the text message, the DA called me while I was on the plane. They want to offer you another plea deal and say you only…”
Patrick pressed a finger to her lips. “Shhh. We’ll talk about it later. We’re going to go upstairs and leave Lance and Jax to their work. You,” he said pointedly, “are going to forget about work for a little while.”
Austin sighed. It was important that she pass the information a
long but supposed it could wait a few hours. “Yes, Sir,” she murmured against the finger still pressed to her lips. When he moved his hand to cup her cheek, she nuzzled into his palm.
“I do have to take a call from Victoria when it comes in,” she said.
“That’s fine. Upstairs with you, baby girl.”
In Patrick’s suite, she hurried out of her clothes hoping he would want to play, but he was serious about the nap. “We’ve got a few hours until the party. Let’s get some rest,” he said as he pulled the blankets back.
They had both been up most of the night, and sleep didn’t take long to overtake them. Austin fell asleep praying for Lance to find something useful.
Chapter Thirty
Patrick laid on his side watching Austin sleep. A dim lamp lit the room since the sun had already set in Colorado. Since getting that text message the night before, his insides had been twisted in knots. He wanted nothing more than to hide away at the club with his girl and forget about everything, but he knew they couldn’t do that forever.
Sooner or later the real world was going to come knocking. Tonight, though, he had every intention of capturing her attention and bending her to his will. Everything else could wait.
She stirred beneath the blankets and he trailed a hand down her bare shoulder. “Hey, baby girl,” he murmured when she opened her eyes and blinked against the light.
“Hi,” she said, ducking her head. He thought it was cute that she still got shy around him sometimes. “What time is it?” She stretched and the blanket fell away from her naked breasts as she rolled onto her back. He hummed as he lowered his head and tugged one nipple into his mouth. He felt her tense as her breath caught.
“Almost seven,” he said when he pulled away from her again.
“Shit, we should get ready to go downstairs,” she said, bolting upright.
“Calm down. I told everyone we would be a little late getting down there tonight. You needed some sleep and so did I.”
She relaxed and propped pillows up behind her. “Do we have anything specific planned tonight?”
