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“I have a problem,” my mother declares, rushing into the room.
“Anotherproblem, you mean?” I ask.
“My God,” she breathes out, pressing her hand to her forehead. “There’s someone from the city here who says they’re going to shut us down.”
“Shut down?” I demand. “What? How? Why?”
“And here I thought I didn’t get to play attorney today,” Gabe says. “I got this.” He starts for the door.
My heart lurches and I grab his arm. “Gabe. I got this. I’m the attorney for the shelter.”
“And so am I. I hereby donate my services.”
I step closer to him. “Gabe,” I warn, eyeing my mother with a silent command for privacy. She nods and exits the room. “I don’t need you to protect me,” I say, my voice low as the door is still open.
He strokes my hair, tenderness in his touch. “I know. You’re a tough one, Abbie, and it’s sexy as hell.”
I’m warm and cold at the same time. That’s how crazy this man makes me. I want his help. I think I need it, too, but fear depending on him. I fear how damn vulnerable he’s making me. I want to heal with him, not hurt for him. “I need—”
He kisses me. “Me. You need me. Or you will if I get my way.” He turns and walks out the door and I know he doesn’t know what he said wrong. I know he doesn’t mean he wants me to need him and be captive to his money and power. I know that is not what Gabe means and I mentally kick myself. He just told me to get my ex out from in between us and he was right to make that request. I need my ex gone. I need him to stop making my decisions.
I follow Gabe through the doorway and he’s already facing off with two men in slacks and collared shirts, sans the ties. My mother turns to me, arching a brow. “What is he doing?”
I shove aside all those feelings of fear as they relate to the Gabe’s “need him” comments. We do need him right now. “Gabe and his brother run the firm I went to for help,” I explain as I’d told her about Reid Maxwell. “Reid’s his brother.”
“Shannon!” one of the staff yells, appearing at a doorway leading to the kennels, calling my mother. “We need you.”
“Go,” I say. “Gabe’s good. Really good. We’ve got this.”
Understanding fills her face as does relief. She feels like we have armor and I owe Gabe for this. She has been panicked and beside herself. “You’re just as good,” she says, being the great mom she is, never allowing me to forget I have skills, even when Kenneth did everything in his power to do the opposite. She held me up. She always holds me up.
I touch her arm. “Go, mom. Take care of the animals.”
She nods and rushes away while I join Gabe as he hands the two men each one of his cards. “Name is Gabe Maxwell, of the Maxwell firm. We’re representing the shelter as of today.”
One of the men takes the card but doesn’t look at it. “I know who you are. You’re expensive.”
“My services are free to the shelter,” Gabe says, and I know why. They’re basically assuming we can’t afford him for long. “Lucky for the shelter, I’m a sucker for a cute Golden Retriever and they happen to have a whole litter of those cute pups.”
“Cute pups and your name can’t save this place,” the older of the two men says, his gray hair slicked back. “The list of violations is too long and the fines are too big. Unless you plan to donate the fees.” He looks at me. “Who are you?”
I ignore his question. We both know he knows who I am. My ex sent him. “We’d like a full list of these violations in official format.”
“Of course,” he says. “All twenty-five thousand.”
It’s all that I can do not to gasp with the magnitude of that number and thank God Gabe steps in and takes control. “Do you have identification and cards, gentlemen?” Gabe asks. “Because I’d like to know whose ass I’m kicking in court, even before I kick it.”
Meanwhile, my mind is playing the number in my head: twenty-five thousand, twenty-five thousand.
“I don’t seem to have a card on me,” the man taking lead says, but he doesn’t even make an effort to look.
The other man, younger by about twenty years, with pitch-black hair, pats his shirt pocket. “Me either. I guess you’ll have to wait for the court filing Monday morning.” He glances at me. “Or wait. I think that’s when the documentation proving your mother’s been defrauding the non-profit system hits the DA’s office.”
My anger is instant, a charge in the air, I cannot contain. This is Kenneth’s doing. This is him setting us up, destroying us because I wouldn’t lay down for him. Because we didn’t just give him the property. I’m about to explode on these men when Gabe grabs my hand, a warning in his touch, a calming effect right along with it, that I don’t expect.
“Defrauding the non-profit system,” Gabe says slowly. “And you two bozos know about it before we do? Which department are you with, exactly?”
“Regulations and licensing department,” the younger of the men replies. “And the regulation abuses in this place are absolutely insane.”
