Roman's Vow (Riley's Pride #4) - Sandra R Neeley Page 0,4

spend a little time with her, okay?” Roman asked.

“Okay,” Darcie finally said, but she wasn’t happy to have to stay behind.

Chapter 2

Talie sat on her bunk waiting to be called for her meeting with her lawyer. She was looking at the small photo printed on plain copy paper that had been taped to the wall near where her pillow lay. She had tears in her eyes when she smiled and reached out touching the image of Roman and Darcie in the photo. Whatever she had to go through, she’d be able to survive because she knew two things: Roman had Darcie and she was safe and happy, and they were waiting for her.

Her eyes strayed to the letters taped to the wall beside the photo. One was from Roman, telling her he loved her and not to worry because he was going to take care of Darcie, and he was going get her out and then she and Darcie would live with him and he’d never let her be unhappy again. The other was basically a Christmas card handmade by Darcie. She’d written the words, ‘I love you, Mama!’ and decorated it with little Christmas Trees between each word.

“Talie, you ready?” her guard asked from the door of her cell.

“Yes,” she answered, standing and walking toward the woman. The guard unlocked the door and Talie walked out toward her.

“Turn. I have to cuff you,” the guard said.

“But you never cuff me anymore, not since the first meeting with my lawyer,” Talie objected.

“You’re meeting away from the facility today. We’ll be escorting you there and back.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Apparently you got you some high-priced lawyers now. They’ve pulled some strings and have you coming to their offices to be deposed.”

“What about Ms. Autry?” Talie asked.

“You tell me,” the guard answered. “These are your lawyers, not mine.”

Confused and trying to figure out what was happening, Talie turned her back on the woman and held her wrists together at the small of her back so the guard could handcuff her. Then she waited while a thick leather belt was placed around her waist and a length of chain was strung from the belt to shackles that were placed on her ankles with another short length of chain between them.

“Come on,” the guard said, taking Talie by the upper arm and leading her out of the cell block. She waited while the first guard and her partner signed her out, then escorted her to a waiting van, where a heavily armed guard waited for them. “Climb up,” the female guard said, helping her get into the van. Talie remained quiet while the woman strapped her in, then while the armed guard got in and sat behind her.

Talie’s guard took a seat beside her while her driver started the van, and only a few minutes later, they drove away.

~~~

Roman checked his appearance in the mirror for about the tenth time. He straightened his tie, tweaked his collar and turned to face Riley. “Maybe I should wear the suit.”

“You look fine,” Riley said.

“You sure I don’t need the suit today?” Roman asked.

“No, it’s just a meeting. Save the suit for the hearing tomorrow,” Riley said.

“Okay,” Roman answered, nodding, though he looked at himself critically in the mirror again.

“You should go grab a bite to eat. They got waffles!” Riley said, trying to tempt Roman.

“Naw, I'm too nervous. I’ll wait ‘til later,” Roman said.

“Nothing to be nervous about, this is the first step to freeing your woman. Take a deep breath and think about how confident you are that she’s innocent. Exude that confidence with every step you take, with every handshake, with every expression on your face,” Riley said.

“You’re right,” Roman answered. Then he walked over and pulled aside the huge drapes covering the large double windows looking out over the parking lot.

“You heard from Laz? He come back last night?” Roman asked.

“Yeah, he called. He’s settled in across town,” Riley answered.

“I felt bad dropping him at the bus station,” Roman said.

“It was the plan all along. He needs to look like he arrived in town alone. The whole point was for him to blend into the seedier side of things and not have any interactions with us. There’s a reason he’s here instead of Lucas. Lucas couldn’t fade into the background if you painted him the same color as the damn walls. He’s huge and stands out. Laz… he’s used to dealing with the types of people we need to meet in order to track down