showed you how quickly life could change.
“Hang on,” she told him. “I’ll be right back.”
“You aren’t going to disappear out the back door, are you? If so, can I have dibs on the rug?”
She laughed despite herself. “No, I just want to put on a bra. You caught me by surprise. You can’t expect a girl to bare her secrets without some support.”
His lightning-fast glance at her chest gave her some satisfaction.
Once she’d put on a bra and brushed her hair into a more orderly ponytail, she felt more ready to deal with this situation. She poured another mug of coffee and brought it to Darius, who was standing at the sliding door again.
“Just so you know, that investigator won’t give up easily,” he told her. “I’m keeping an eye out for you.”
She nodded and handed him the coffee mug. Propping her butt on the arm of the couch, she picked up her own mug and took a long bracing gulp. “Where were we?”
He leaned against the wall and cupped the mug in both hands. She wished they were still next to each other, but knew it would be easier this way.
“Working at a law firm, following the straight and narrow?”
“Yes, exactly. It was everything I’d imagined. Everything I’d worked for. I was completely independent. I had a mortgage on a condo in Westwood. I had a red Miata that I drove to the office. I worked all the time. All the time. When I wasn’t working, I’d go to brunch or dancing with my girlfriends. I dated now and then but it was never my priority. I rarely heard from my parents. It was a completely selfish existence, exactly what I used to dream about. I was one of those kids who basically raised themselves because their parents had no clue and also didn’t care to learn. Emma was my only real ‘parent’ growing up. And I only saw her in the summers. Anyway—” She took a break for a sip of coffee. “Is this boring you?” she asked hopefully.
“Absolutely not,” came Darius’ firm answer.
She sighed. Of course not. Darius looked like he’d been permanently planted there next to her view of Misty Bay.
“So then one day my father surfaced. He was in trouble with a group of lowlife scammers who ran a fake supplement ring, among other things. They also sold fake timeshares and forged yacht titles and I don’t even know what all. He had a kind of salesman role with them—that’s his forte, he can talk anyone into anything.” She flashed a wry smile. “I may have inherited my ability to argue a case from him. He’s not all bad.”
Darius lifted an eyebrow, looking unconvinced about that. “Let me guess. He needed legal help.”
“Yeppers. The DA had started an investigation, and the others were trying to set him up as the ringleader. He was almost out of money and couldn’t get a lawyer to help him. So.” She hauled in a long breath. It still hurt to think about this part. “My law firm wanted nothing to do with it, so I left the firm and represented him myself. I got him a deal that allowed him to testify against the others in exchange for house arrest. Pretty fricking great deal. Apparently the DA found him ‘charming.’”
She put that last word in air quotes because she herself no longer found Frank Robinson at all charming.
“Do you have any idea how much I wish there was whisky in this coffee?” she quipped.
Darius gave her the most sympathetic smile she’d seen from him yet. “You’re doing great. But I have a feeling the worst is yet to come.”
“It is.” She hauled in another long breath. “After my father gave his testimony, scary things started happening. Death threats on my phone. Graffiti on the door of my condo. Tires slashed. I looked into hiring a bodyguard.”
“Didn’t the DA help?”
She shook her head impatiently. “It had nothing to do with them. I like to handle my own problems.”
“At least some things haven’t changed,” he said dryly.
Point taken.
“I knew it was the scammers. I kept hoping they’d forget about me. But then it escalated. Someone broke into my condo one night. I had already put a deadbolt on my bedroom door and mapped out an exit just in case. So I got out of there before they came in. But it was terrifying. They broke the door and ripped up my favorite pillow. Goose feathers everywhere.”
Weeks later, she could sort of