Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
I groan and feel like my stomach falls from my knees. “Cartel? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I know, but hey, they’re dead already so you don’t have to worry.”
“Carmine.”
He grins at me and stands. “You’ll be okay, don’t stress about it. I’m sending help. You’re not going through this on your own, but listen, Nicolas is innocent, and it’ll be on you to prove it.”
“I’m not a detective, I don’t do investigations. I’m an IP lawyer—”
“You’ll do great, and besides, Angelo will take care of everything.”
My jaw falls open and I stare at Carmine as he walks to the door of my office. That name echoes through my head—Angelo, Angelo, Angelo. This has to be a sick joke. I’ve thought about Angelo a thousand times since the wedding, but I swore I’d never see him again, never reach out to him again, no matter what.
Our last kiss still tingles on my lips.
But it was our last kiss.
I’m not breaking that promise to myself.
“Wait, hold on,” I say before Carmine can run off. “Angelo is helping me?”
“Nicolas is part of Angelo’s crew, so Angelo’s the one that feels responsible. He’ll do most of the investigating, all you have to do is steer him along and provide him all your legal expertise. You got it?”
“Carmine, this is wildly insane. Not to mention inappropriate and maybe not even legal, and you can’t just—”
“Yeah, yeah, shit’s complicated, I’m aware, and that’s why I’m paying you the big bucks.” He smiles at me sadly and shrugs. “But the kid’s innocent and I’m not about to let him go down for the rest of his life. Are you?”
I glare at him and cross my arms. “That’s not fair.”
“Nobody said any of this shit was fair.” He pulls his phone from his pocket and checks the screen. “I gotta go make some calls. How about you go meet Angelo at the Hilton downtown tomorrow night? Sometime around seven? Dress real conservative though, we don’t want a repeat of the wedding.”
I turn beet red and put my palms flat on the desk. “Please, don’t ever mention that again. If we’re going to do this, we’re keeping it professional.”
He laughs and holds up his hands. “Understood, and hey, all I know is you two danced a lot, that’s all.” I want to punch Carmine in the throat so badly it hurts, but I’m too knocked off balance to do anything but sit here and stare death at him. “Hilton, tomorrow, seven. Angelo will give you everything we know and he’ll run things from the ground. You tell him where to look and he’ll look. Good luck. You can do this.” Carmine disappears into the hall and is gone, leaving me alone.
I lean back in my chair, knock against the back wall, and slowly deflate, feeling like I was just run over by a truck.
How is my life taking a sudden turn for the worse?
Angelo’s here, in Dallas, and he’s going to work with me to solve a murder case, a crime I don’t even specialize in, and a crime that involves a freaking Mexican drug cartel. This is so beyond me and I feel like I can’t breathe. My head’s pounding and my hands are sweating, and I’m trembling as I stare down at my lap and both my hands press to my stomach.
Because none of that is the real problem.
I can handle a murder case and some cartel guys. It’s hard and dangerous but I have resources at the firm and a dozen decent lawyers that can help me out if I need it. No, the case is bad, but it’s not what’s killing me.
Angelo’s the problem.
That night is the problem.
His baby is the problem.
The baby I’m carrying.
I found out three weeks ago when I missed my period after the wedding. I took a test, and another test, and another, until I had a pharmacy’s worth of positive tests lined up on the rim of my bathtub like a chorus in a Greek tragedy all singing about how I’m doomed forever and ever and the gods are laughing at me.
I’m pregnant.
With a mobster’s baby.
And now that mobster is back in my life when I swore I’d never tell him about this child and never wanted to speak with him again.
One last kiss, that was all.
Except he left me with a parting gift.
Now we’re about to work together, and I don’t know if I can handle keeping this secret.
Because there’s no way in hell he’s ever finding out about my baby.
Chapter 3
Sara
I stand in the lobby of the Hilton at seven on the dot, adjust my knee-length skirt, check my flowy blouse in a mirror, and think about getting the hell out of there.
I’m not sure why I showed up. If I’m going to take on this case for Carmine, I’m going to do it my way, which means the official way. I’ll hire a couple defense attorneys for consultations, I’ll brush up on the pertinent laws, I’ll do deep, obsessive dives into the case itself and all the important witness testimonies and evidence, and I’ll crush this thing before it even goes to trial.