Page 36 of The Silent Hour

She paused. "She's exactly the type of associate the firm needs. Every employee knows what's really going on here. Nobody signs on at The Marcelli Group thinking they're representing saints. From the file clerks to Rafa, Knox, and Ethan themselves, everyone walks in knowing they're taking on some of the worst of the worst. They still line up for a shot because they know what proving themselves here can get them."

She glanced at me.

"Lila included."

"Now who's hyping her up?" I teased. "You do realize other beautiful, intelligent women work here, right?"

"None this close to our husbands," she countered without hesitation.

I hummed. "Hmm. I don't feel threatened by any of that."

She looked at me like I'd just grown a second head. "As you shouldn't. The fuck? You're Julia before you're Marcelli. She might want the world, but you've already got it."

"Okay, then I need you to catch me up on what you're actually trying to tell me."

"Keep up, Juju. After everything I just told you, what's one way she could try to elevate herself even higher?"

I knew exactly what answer she wanted.

I wasn't giving it a voice. Not without a damn good reason. We turned a corner and nearly collided with a paralegal. She stammered out a quick apology before hurrying off again. By the time we reached Knox's office, Toya had already wrapped her hand around the door handle.

"You're supposed to knock," I whispered, hoping to God he wasn't in a meeting.

She tossed me a look over her shoulder that clearly said rules are for other people and pushed the door open anyway. Knox sat behind his desk, eyes fixed on his computer screen. The moment he saw her, his entire face changed. He was on his feet within seconds, his chair scraping backward.

"Well, isn't this the best kind of surprise."

He crossed the room and pulled Toya into his arms. I smiled. They looked good together. Too good. Knox was tall, dark, and devastatingly handsome, yet he somehow managed to make my beautiful Amazonian best friend look small and dainty in his arms. As I watched them, a thought scratched at the back of my mind.

We came all this way for this?

Knox finally noticed me lingering in the doorway, and one corner of his mouth lifted. "And you brought my sister."

"Hey."

We weren't blood. Not even close. But since I'd married Ethan, Knox and Rafa had claimed me as one of theirs. Eric too. A tight-knit, self-made family.

"She was needed," Toya explained simply, making no move to leave Knox's arms.

Knox sighed and pressed a kiss to her temple before pulling back. "Have you two eaten?"

"Not yet," Toya replied.

"Then go grab your husband and tell him we're going out," he said to me. "He hasn't taken a break once today."

"Sure." I glanced at Toya. Our eyes met, and mine carried a silent promise that we were absolutely going to discuss whatever the hell this was later. Then I slipped from the room and pulled the door shut behind me. I might not have been the brightest woman this side of Miami, but I wasn't a total fool either. The pieces Latoya wanted me to see were scattered all over the board now.

Lila's ambition was no secret. Neither was her natural proximity to the partners. The way she'd looked at me, barely acknowledged Toya, and behaved as we didn’t have every right to come and go from this building was something else. Whatever Knox had done or said that had rattled my best friend enough to bring us here in the first place.

I could see the shape Toya was trying to draw around it. I just wasn't willing to color Ethan into the picture with her. The office had settled into a cathedral-like quiet as I crossed it again. When I reached Ethan's corner of the floor, Laurel sat behind her desk, flawless as always.

Her face brightened when she saw me.

"Julia. I didn't know you were coming in today."

"Me either," I replied with a chuckle.

Then a sound slipped through the closed door ahead of me. Feminine laughter. I stopped. Now, I couldn't swear I knew Lila's laugh, but my gut told me exactly who it belonged to. I hadn't been inside Knox's office for more than two minutes. Maybe three. Did this bitch Naruto-run to my husband's office?