“Is that why you’re not taking me on as a client? Because you’ve got money already?” He takes a step closer to me. “Or is it because you’re representing my wife and now you’ve got my money?” Another smile that holds no amusement. “Two million dollars of it, in fact.”
I stumble over how to respond. Over what to say. Over how to justify. Christ. Talk about being blindsided. “She came to me before you did.”
A tense silence fills the room. Sounds from the poolside activities filter in through the open windows but feel out of place in our silent standoff.
His arms are crossed now. His shoulder is leaning against the wall. His eyes are locked and loaded with an emotion I can’t decipher. Fury? Admiration? Disbelief? Nothing about it makes sense to me.
“And yet the check was written and cashed after I approached you about representation.”
“We were in negotiations.”
“I guess so long as one of us gets you.” His snort of a chuckle resonates through the space, and the sarcasm in it contradicts his words. “Too bad now I’ll have to find another attorney who will rip you to shreds.” Satisfaction blankets his expression.
Call it a hunch, call it a gut instinct, but there’s something else going on here. Something else I can’t put my finger on that has to do with so much more than my representing his wife, Bianca.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to figure things out without anyone being ripped to shreds.”
His laugh is rich and even, and in a matter of seconds it goes from reverberating off the walls of the small space to silent. “What? No Roxanne?”
His comment about the relationship I had with a married woman is like whiplash to my brain, the implied threat behind it even more so, but I try to hide it with a knowing chuckle. “Roxanne?”
“Ah, come on, Lockhart. Chuck was running his mouth at The Club again. Everyone knows you were fucking her.”
Goddamn Chuck.
“That was over before it began.”
Carter runs the length of his unlit Cuban cigar beneath his nose and inhales its rich scent. “That’s not exactly how the rumor mill is spinning it. She was at your place not too long ago.”
“In the lobby, but no farther.” How the hell does he know this?
“I have eyes everywhere, my friend,” he says, answering my unspoken question and loving every moment of my reaction.
“Then your eyes should know she was begging and I was walking the other way.” The questions is, Did his eyes see Vaughn there too? Did they see us go into the bathroom where we argued and then she left alone?
“Could you imagine if it got out that you were sleeping with your client’s wife? Representing a man who thinks you have his best interests in mind when in reality you’re betraying his trust? Your word is everything in this business, isn’t it?”
There goes the warning shot over the bow. The man is known for toying with his prey before he goes in for the kill.
“Your point, Senator?”
“You want to explain to me why I see a high-dollar madam here? Why I’ve seen you with her before?”
I fight every immediate reaction I have. The What the fuck are you talking about? The What do you mean there is a high-dollar madam here? All of them, because he just made the connection that Vee is Vaughn, and what the hell am I supposed to do now? How am I supposed to play this other than to act like it’s no big deal when he’s staring at me, wanting a reaction?
I refuse to give him the fight he’s looking for.
“What’s it to you?”
“I believe paying for sex is illegal, Counselor.” His scoff fills the small room and drowns out the sounds of my guests outside.
“Says a man who has no problem breaking the law himself,” I say to neutralize his thinly veiled threat and to let him know I’ve heard the rumors about his dealings. About lobbyists and greased palms. About him using an escort service and paying for sex himself.
Something’s off, though. He’s on edge beneath the designer threads and practiced politician’s smile, regardless of how relaxed he pretends to be.
Bianca’s words from our conversation earlier this week ghost through my mind. My husband is struggling right now. It’s difficult for a man who’s always in control to feel that he’s losing it when it comes to me. I think of her tight smile and the unforgiving look in her eyes. I will take so much