Pri will too. She’s brave.”
“She also has something to prove—that she’s not her parents. I’ve been there in my own way, done that, and I’m living in the aftermath. I know how dangerous that can get.”
“As do I,” he says. “But there’s no way to change her role in this. She’s deeply involved, her family is deeply involved. This won’t go away because she hides from it.”
He’s right but the problem is that it won’t go away as long as Waters is alive. Why the hell I didn’t see that in the past, why I thought the legal system worked with guys like Waters, I don’t know.
The computer starts to buzz, telling me it’s time for my Zoom call. Blake knocks on the desk. “I’ll leave you to your meeting.”
“You don’t want to know what I’m going to say?”
“You said you’ve never been to Illinois. I believe you, therefore I’ve heard enough.” He stands up and heads to the door, then glances back at me. “If you marry her, you know your in-laws hate you. The good news is that sounds rather normal to me.”
He exits the office and shuts the door.
Married.
Me.
To Pri.
I wait for the rejection to follow, but it doesn’t come. For the first time in my life, I’ve met someone who makes me want something lasting. But as long as Waters lives, I’ll be hunted. That means she’ll be hunted. And her family might not care about the danger they place her under, but I do.
I hit the answer button and bring Royce and Lauren into view. “Go ahead,” Lauren, a pretty brunette, as feisty and strong-willed as Pri, says. “Tell us a joke to get this started. You know you want to.”
Royce, a broody, bigger version of Blake, grumbles. “Yes. Get it over with.”
And so, I do. “A penguin walks into a bar and asks the bartender. ‘Have you seen my brother?’ The bartender says, ‘What’s he look like?’”
I watch them stare at me for a moment while they catch on to the punchline—all penguins look alike. But all monsters do not, I think. All monsters do, however, die. In other words, maybe my version of being bad isn’t bad enough.
Chapter Twenty-Five
PRI
Fifteen minutes after Adrian leaves me in the room alone, I’m dressed in battle gear. For me, that means a blue skirt and matching silk blouse, with a jacket and heels to complete the look. I’m driven. I have a purpose. I will win this war against Waters. We will win this war against Waters.
First things first, I grab my phone and listen to Logan’s message again. “We need to talk. In person. It’s urgent. Call me.” His dogmatic insistence we meet doesn’t feel off considering his personality, but something else does. I need to know what he knows, but a callback or my easy agreement to meet on my part would be what would be off. And it’s late. I really don’t have time to meet him today anyway, not if I plan to have dinner with my mother.
I shoot off a text: We already talked. We don’t need a repeat. And even if I wanted to meet, I can’t tonight.
Once I’m done with that, I call the judge’s office and leave him an urgent message, during which Logan tries to call me. I don’t take the call. I need him to work for this. I need him to react with agitation, which might make him say something he will regret and I can use it to help us in some way.
My phone rings again and it’s the judge’s office. I sit down at the desk and answer the line, “Ms. Miller?” a woman queries.
“Yes,” I confirm. “This is her.”
“I have Judge Nichols for you. Can I patch him through?”
“You can,” I confirm. “Please do.”
“Ms. Miller,” Judge Nichols greets. “What can I do for you?”
“This is highly unusual and I recognize we’ll need to schedule a time with opposing council—”
“But you’re going to continue on anyway,” he concludes.
“Considering I just spent the night hiding in a cave from an assassin, after watching an FBI agent get stabbed to death in front of me, yes sir, I am.”
“I heard about your situation,” he states grimly. “And I’m certainly enjoying, and I say that sarcastically, the unnerving need for security myself, which is why I returned your call promptly. Go on.”
“Thank you, your honor. Our star witness is Adrian Mack, otherwise known as Adrian Ramos.”
“Who I now understand has an arrest warrant in Chicago.”
“Which is ridiculous,”