by Rachel Dylan
“Let me be clear. One more misstep from you, and you’re fired. My daughter is irreplaceable.”
He swallowed. “I won’t let you down, sir.”
“I’m counting on you. I’ll check in later to make sure you’ve developed a game plan.”
He heard the dial tone and knew he had been dismissed. He handed the phone back to Sophie.
“I’m sorry about my father,” she said. “I told him you saved me today.”
“There’s no need for you to apologize. You should get some rest. Once you’re feeling better, we’ll discuss how we’re going to move forward.”
“Okay. Thank you again. I hate to think of what would’ve happened if I had been on my own.”
That thought bothered him too. Because he wondered if she would even still be alive.
“Are you here to offer a deal?” Ashley asked.
Patrick took a deep breath and for a moment had second thoughts about going to Ashley’s office and confronting her directly. But what had happened to Sophie was unacceptable on every level. He wanted to make sure Ashley understood exactly what the stakes were here.
“No, Ashley. I’m not here to talk about that. I have something else on my mind.” He looked into her green eyes. She wore her brown hair down today and no glasses. She was a pretty woman, but that was all obscured by her personality and inner qualities, which he found completely unattractive.
She put down her pen. “Well, get on with it, then. I’ve got things to do.”
“Sophie Dawson was attacked yesterday.”
“Attacked? Is she all right?”
Either Ashley was a great actress, or she was in the dark. “She’s going to be okay, but she was injured. And because I don’t like to dance around the issue, I’ll just be blunt and put it all on the table. I believe that Juan Wade was directly responsible for the attack, and I came here to tell you to get him to back off.”
She laughed. “Do you seriously think I have that much control over Juan?”
He leaned forward in his seat. “This isn’t funny. Sophie could’ve been seriously injured or even killed. I don’t think you understand how serious this is. Do you want to be an accessory to this type of action?”
“You can’t be suggesting that I’m aiding Juan in any of this. And let’s back up for a minute. Do you have a shred of evidence that Juan is linked to what happened to Sophie? Atlanta isn’t the safest of cities. Assaults happen all the time.”
“You know I don’t have direct evidence because Juan wouldn’t actually get his hands dirty, but he has the resources to pay someone to do his bidding.”
“In other words, you have nothing. You just came in here hurling accusations. I think you should leave.” She rose from her seat.
He tried appealing to her very large ego. “Ashley, think about your career. You’re better than this.”
“Who do you think you are, trying to dictate what’s best for me? I make more money in this job than you’ll ever see, and I’m one of the most respected defense attorneys in the Southeast. One day that will be the whole nation. You don’t get to that place by cooperating with prosecutors and selling out your clients. It’s never going to happen, so you’re wasting your time and energy.”
“You’ve got this all wrong. I’m trying to help you. And warn you. Juan and his cohorts wouldn’t hesitate to turn on you in half a second if it benefited them. Also, if I find out that you were linked in any way, no matter how small, to Sophie’s attack, I will bring charges against you. This is your one and only chance to come clean.”
She smiled. “Bring it on.”
There was clearly no reasoning with this woman. Was she so power-and money-hungry that she’d take such risks? Maybe so.
“I’ve done all I can do, then.” He stood up and walked out of her office.
Ashley picked up the stapler on her desk and hurled it across the room. What nerve Patrick had, waltzing into her office and acting like he knew what was best for her. She dealt with far too many men like that in her life.
She waited until she was sure Patrick was out of the building, then she picked up the phone. But she got Juan’s voice mail. She never left details on voice mail, so she just told him to call her.
The thing was that Patrick was probably right. It was very likely that Juan was behind the attack on Sophie. It appeared Juan had become impatient. He hadn’t given her much time to deal with Sophie in a more diplomatic and legal way, like she’d asked.
While she’d never say it to Patrick, she did want to have more control over Juan. Client management was a key aspect of her job. Criminal defense attorneys had to have an additional skill set that prosecutors didn’t need.
Her phone rang a few minutes later, and she saw that it was Juan. “Juan,” she answered, “talk to me.”
“What’s going on?”
“You tell me. I just got a visit from Patrick Hunt, who tells me that Sophie Dawson was attacked yesterday. Didn’t we have this conversation already?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She hated that he was on the phone and she couldn’t read his facial expressions and call him out. “I have a sneaking suspicion that you are the one who targeted her. You didn’t even give me a chance yet to discredit her. I need time to do my job. If something happens to her, it will only make your baby brother look guiltier. Have you even thought this through?”
Silence.
Then Juan said, “I see your point. Theoretically, though, if something did happen to her, the intent was just to shake her up. I think you realize that if I’d wanted her out of the picture, that could easily be arranged.”
Ashley blew out a breath. She knew that all too well. “Yes. I think you’ve made your point to her loud and clear. Just give me some time to do it my way. Okay?”
“Fine. No need for you to get all up in arms. You work for me, remember?”
How could she forget? Before she could say anything else, he hung up. Typical.
She’d warned Juan, and it appeared that he had deliberately ignored her advice. The last thing she needed was for Sophie Dawson to turn up dead.
Chapter
Eight
Sophie walked down the hallway and pushed aside the fact that she still had a pounding headache and a killer black eye. She’d done the best she could to cover it with makeup, but anyone paying attention could see it.
“Sophie, heard about what happened to you.” Harrison Westgate popped up out of nowhere and blocked her way. She was a couple of inches taller than him, and she thought it drove him crazy that she could literally look down at him.
“I guess word travels.”
He looked at her closely. “You look awful. Why are you even here?”
Harrison wasn’t one to mince words. She didn’t trust him, though. Harrison was all about Harrison. “I have a meeting on the Shelton case.”
He placed his hand on her arm. “You know I can cover for you if you need me to. You were just physically attacked.”
Wouldn’t that be perfect? Harrison swooping in on her case. “You’re not even in my division.”
“We’re a team here, right?” His blue eyes glistened. “I’m more than happy to pinch-hit. You know I can handle it.”
There was no way she was going to fall for his teamwork act, but she forced herself to be cordial. “Thank you for the offer. I’ll be fine today, but I’ll keep you in mind for help in the future.”
“Perfect.” He took a step closer. Way too close for her liking. “One day I’ll be running this place,” he said softly. “Always good to get in with the boss early.” He winked and then turned away.
She felt like she needed a shower to wash off the sleaze, but she put Harrison out of her mind and focused on the meeting. She grabbed Monica from her office so she could be kept totally up to speed. Sophie had insinuated that Monica wasn’t to have a speaking role at the meeting. She’d see if Monica had gotten the subtle point. Being able to pick up on cues like that c
ould be very useful.
She could’ve gotten Monica to take the meeting in her place, given what had happened to her, but a face-to-face with the CEO of SIB and Keith was too important to miss. And she would never pass it off to Harrison.
She’d insisted to Keith that she was up for it. The last thing she wanted to do was give him a reason to reschedule. That would only delay things, and she wanted to continue her pursuit against Shelton.
Monica looked down at her watch. “They’re running late.”
The young attorney had a lot to learn. “Lesson number one. Be prepared for important people to always run late. It’s the nature of the game.”
Monica smiled. “I need to work on my patience. It’s just one of my many shortcomings.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Put yourself down. Your male counterparts would never sit here and say those things, even if they had a million more flaws than you. It’s good to be self-aware and not develop too big of an ego, but keep thoughts about self-doubt to yourself or those you can truly trust.”
“I’m going to learn so much from working with you, Sophie. I’ll try to soak everything in.”
“Good. Just stay focused on the task at hand, and everything will be fine.”
She drummed her fingers on the table as she waited a couple more minutes, and then Keith entered the room with Whitney Bowman, the CEO of SIB. Whitney was a tall woman, close to Sophie’s height. She was very thin and wore a stylish gray pantsuit that Sophie assumed was professionally tailored and a strand of pearls, which seemed perfectly southern.
“I’m Sophie Dawson.” She extended her hand to Whitney.
“Nice to meet you, Sophie.” Whitney’s drawl was thick. “Keith has only had amazing things to say about you.” She flashed Sophie an award-winning smile, showing perfectly polished teeth.
“Thank you so much for taking the time for this meeting.” Sophie’s heartbeat started to thump as her nerves kicked in. This was a delicate dance she was about to engage in. Playing politics was not her strong suit. She could do it, but she preferred a more straightforward approach.
Keith introduced Monica to Whitney. “Let’s have a seat.” He pulled out a chair for Whitney, and they all sat down around the circular table.
Whitney looked directly at Sophie. “I want you to know how seriously I take these allegations against Glen, and I’m willing to do whatever is necessary here. I’m still appalled that one of my employees, especially a senior manager, would stoop to this level.”
Was Whitney just feeding Sophie what she wanted to hear? “I appreciate that. I think this is a situation of an employee going off the grid.”
“I’m glad you said that,” Keith said. “I agree with the assessment that Shelton was acting alone, and I think that’s one of the reasons we’re having this meeting.”
Sophie wasn’t sure where Keith was going. “Did you have something specific in mind?”
Whitney cleared her throat. “I know we’re all friends here, trying to do what’s right, so I’ll put my request out for you to consider. Given that this is all based on the action of one rogue employee, would it be possible to resolve this situation through some sort of plea deal? A trial will add work for you, and frankly, provide a lot of negative publicity for SIB when the company did nothing wrong. In fact, we’ve been one hundred percent cooperative with law enforcement and this office.”
Sophie’s mind went into overdrive. It was now clear why Keith had set up this meeting—to get her to strike a deal with SIB to only go after Glen Shelton, and on top of that, to negotiate a deal with him. She needed to buy some time. “I completely understand your perspective, Ms. Bowman, but I’m not at a point now in building the case where I can commit to only going down that one path. I’m happy to keep you updated on my progress, however.”
Whitney bit her bottom lip before giving a weak smile. “Yes, that makes perfect sense. The last thing I’d want you to do is rush through your work purely on my account. But I wanted you and Keith to understand my position and that of SIB. You have plenty of other things that you can spend your time on that in my opinion would be much more important and impactful than this case.”
Whitney might have been smiling, but suddenly something about this meeting felt off to Sophie. Of course Whitney didn’t want the bad PR and media circus, but could there be something deeper going on? Whitney was coming on much stronger than Sophie felt appropriate, given all the circumstances.
“Shelton has hired a new aggressive counsel, who has started filing motions. I have a hearing tomorrow on his motion to change venue.”
“Shelton wants the case taken out of Atlanta?” Whitney asked.
“Yes, he’s arguing that the jury would be biased against him.”
“Well, good luck at the hearing,” Whitney said. “And if this does go to trial, there’s no one else I’d want to take the case. I have faith in your abilities, Sophie. Keith has told me how gifted you are.”
Sophie wasn’t sure if Whitney was being sincere, but right now she needed to keep Whitney close and use the cooperation to her advantage. “Thank you. I appreciate your time. And like I said, I’ll keep you in the loop, and I really thank you for your continued assistance.”
Whitney stood and buttoned her suit jacket. “Of course. Anything that I can do—just give me a call, and I will make it my top priority.”
“I’ll walk you out.” Keith left the room with Whitney by his side.
Once the door shut, Monica put down her pen. “She seems nice.”
“Yes, she does. I’m hopeful we can all work together on this.”
Sophie didn’t want to speak prematurely to Monica, but this meeting had told her one very important thing. She needed to dig deeper into this case. Because she couldn’t help the nagging feeling that Whitney Bowman was hiding something.
Cooper waited patiently outside Sophie’s building, right by the door. She’d insisted that she was well enough to go into the office for an important meeting. He’d tried to convince her to stay home and rest, but he was quickly learning that when Sophie set her mind on something, she wasn’t going to budge.
If anything, the attack seemed to make her even more determined to do her work. It made him more determined too. But he had a sinking feeling in his gut that this was going to be his toughest personal security assignment to date. Juan Wade not only had the resources to harm Sophie, he had a strong personal motivation for revenge. And that fact bothered Cooper most of all. Family made it personal, which amped up the threat tenfold.
Not to mention the fact that he didn’t like loose ends—and that included the random guy he’d encountered at Sophie’s house. It still didn’t add up to him that the guy was sent by Wade. And if that was true, could he have been sent by someone connected to Glen Shelton and the SIB case?
Cooper hadn’t wanted to scare Sophie half to death, so he’d tried to be balanced with her in his approach about the new security parameters, but the simple truth was that she wasn’t safe. As long as she was the possible star witness against Juan’s brother, she was in the crosshairs.
Lord, give me the strength to face this challenge. Please protect Sophie and help me do my job. I don’t want to let her down.
He saw Sophie opening the door to exit the building and didn’t waste any time joining her.
She frowned slightly. “You weren’t kidding about sticking close, were you?”
“No. I realize this isn’t how you want to work, but the situation has escalated, and we have to adapt to those threats.”
Her eyes softened. “I know you’re just doing the job my father hired you to do. I’m just grumpy because my head still hurts.”
“That’s one of the reasons I didn’t want you to get out and about so soon. Rest is so important to recovery.”
“I know,” she said softly.
“Let’s get you home.” He placed his hand on her back and guided her down the sidewalk.
&nbs
p; They were about to cross the street when a loud bang pierced the air.
He knew instantly what it was, but Sophie shrieked, and without hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her. She shook as he held her.
“Sophie, it’s okay. It was just a car backfiring.” Having her this close to him set off a wave of emotions. Not only his protective instincts, but what he feared could be something more as well.
“Are you sure?” Her eyes were wide with fear.
“Yes, are you all right?” He looked down at her, feeling a stronger connection forming between them.
“Yes.” She broke contact with him and took a step back. “Sorry, I feel stupid for being so jumpy.” She brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes.
“Don’t apologize. It was just a natural instinct. C’mon, let’s get out of here.”
He quickly walked her to his SUV and got her inside. He surveyed his surroundings before getting into his car, not taking any chances. Even though Sophie was putting up a tough front, she was afraid. And while the last thing he wanted was for her to live that way, a healthy dose of fear was probably just what she needed to keep her safe.
Cooper gave her space on the drive to her house to decompress. They’d have plenty of time to talk once he got her home.
When he pulled up into her long driveway, he stopped the car and looked over at her. “Come in with me, but stay just inside the main entrance while I check everything out.”
“My security system is working. There’s no way anyone is in my house.”
“It would make me feel better to check.”
She nodded and did as he instructed. Once he’d cleared the house, he sat with her at the kitchen table. Maybe it would be good to keep her mind on something else for a while.
“How did your meeting go?”
“Strange, actually.” She took a sip of water.
“Who all was there?”
“My boss, District Attorney Keith Todd; the CEO of SIB, Whitney Bowman; and I brought along Monica Lacey—she’s a rookie who’s been assigned as my mentee.”
