“Mrs. Linley. Until you are my client, I won't advise what I can and cannot do. It sounds as though Whitley prepared a document that has shocked you. Whether that’s from the legalese or the suddenness or the unfairness, I’m not sure. I need to see the document before I can provide any further advice. Now, I can request a copy of the contract on your behalf, but you will need to sign a contract with me to that effect. Can I email it to you now?”
“Yes. I’ll give you my details.”
It was dark by the time we got home, the house the one lone black spot on the street. I trudged up the steps, pulling Blake’s stroller up backward.
Using my phone as a flashlight, I unlocked the door.
“Zegas, huh?”
I jumped and slapped my hand over my heart.
“You shouldn’t make a habit of creeping around dark houses. It isn’t becoming.”
“I hardly think you’re the authority on behavior that’s becoming.” His voice held an edge to it I didn’t recognize. Infinitely colder. And I hated it.
I pushed Blake into the foyer where it was warm but couldn’t bring myself to turn on the light. I didn’t want to see him.
As I closed the door, a shadow darkened the entry, the progress halted. I shoved harder to no avail.
“We’re not doing this to Gummy Bear.” He was too calm. Too reasonable.
“You’re the one trying to define her life with a piece of paper.”
“I did it for you.” The calm snapped, his growl bouncing in the small space.
“Me?” I pushed at the dark form in front of me. “You do not get to use me as an excuse. You did it for you.”
“It’s my promise to both of you. Everything in that document is what we agreed on.”
“Your word was enough.”
He snorted. “For now. Who knows in a few months?”
“See. You did do it for you. You’re afraid I’ll change my mind. Go back on what I agreed to.”
“Based on this reaction, I’d say there’s a pretty good chance of that.”
“You just dropped the envelope on me like it was nothing,” I screamed as pain slashed through me. “We could have talked about it. Before you drew up the papers. You couldn’t even wait. Did you draft this while we were still at the cottage?”
“We did talk about it.”
“Not about making a legal document. Out of our daughter’s life.”
Blake’s cry pierced the dark. I fumbled around until I found him and held his shaking form to my chest. I bounced and shushed him, but he only cried harder.
Patrick’s expression was lethal.
Mine was equally so. “When you hit me with that bunch of crap, you told me exactly where you stand. It didn’t have to be this way with lawyers.” I didn’t want it to be this way, but he’d left me no choice. “From now on, all contact needs to be made through my attorney.”
I climbed the stairs to Blake’s room and started when the front door slammed. I slid down the wall and fell apart.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Patrick
I jammed my legal pad back into my briefcase.
“You don’t want to help me out, fine. Waste your father’s money.” I drilled my gaze into Abraham. “But my time is expensive. I get paid no matter what happens to you.”
I banged on the door with my fist. The bailiff cracked it open.
“I love her.”
I drew in a deep breath and turned. “Who?” He subtly shook his head, flicking his eyes to the officer. “I need more time,” I said.
He backed out of the room and closed the door.
“Both of them.” Would he ever give a straight answer I didn’t have to fight for? I scowled, and he seemed to get my frustration was reaching its limits. “Shel and Dara.”
I threw my case back on the metal table.
Fucking infidelity. Show me a murder case without one. I guessed Sidney didn’t know his son was a man in an affair with a married woman.
“I wouldn’t hurt her,” he insisted. “We talked about going away. Taking Dara and Christopher with us.”
That fact would’ve been nice to know before. I wasn’t pleased to hear Abraham had a relationship with Shel on the side.
“But her husband was your friend.”
He slumped forward. “He’s a good guy.”
“Not good enough for you to keep it in your pants.”
Ice eyes snapped to mine. “I. Love. Her.”
“But she’s married to another man. If Dara disappeared, that might be reason enough for Shel to leave Alex. Seek comfort in your arms.”
He tried to stand, the shackles clanging against the steel chair. “No.”
“That’s what the prosecution will say.”
“They don’t know anything.”
“It doesn’t matter if the jury believes them.”
The silence was long and thick between us, to the point I thought we’d hit a wall and he’d clam up. I remained in place, determined to wait him out.
“Did they reset the trial date?” he finally asked.
“Denied.” I carried on so he couldn’t focus on that. “Tell me everything you can think of about Alex.”
His face twisted in concentration. “He wouldn’t do this to Dara.”
“I’m trying to prove you didn’t.”
“I didn’t.”
Frustration with his unwillingness to cooperate rose to the surface, but I managed to keep it at bay. “Then stop letting whoever did get away with it. They’re free. You’re in here rotting.”
“He’s easygoing. I’ve only heard him raise his voice once.”
Maybe there was someone listening upstairs . . . even though I hadn’t exactly asked for help.
“To who?”
“Christopher.”
“Why?” He shrugged. I stared at him, unimpressed. “What did you hear?”
“None of this is admissible in court.”
“While you’ve become astute on the subject of the law, I don’t need you to tell me what is or isn’t relevant. Answer my questions.”
It was his turn to glare at me. I was beginning to wonder if he weren’t in shackles would we come to blows. We
