Page 23 of Love’s Decree

“I can’t wait. See you then, love.”

We disconnected the call, and I headed back to the closet. I packed my overnight bag and found my favorite heels. The black patent leather So Kate’s went perfect with my red pantsuit. After grabbing everything, I headed out the door. Dobbs grabbed my overnight bag as we went to meet Curry at the car. When Aasim suggested having them around, I was skeptical. Dobbs and Curry had given me a sense of safety since they had been around.

The traffic was minimal, so we made it to my office quicker than usual. Before heading in, I stopped at the coffee shop next door to get my favorite drink. A large hazelnut shaken espresso was my current fixation. Dobbs and Curry stayed in the car in front of the building while I went into the office.

Mark was already at his desk when I walked. “Good morning, Mark.”

“Good morning, boss lady,” he replied.

I made my way into my office, put my bag and coffee down, then sat at my computer. My thoughts went to Aasim. I hated we had to cut our time short yesterday. Colors and Linda were very special to me. I never imagined taking a man to the place that I called my peace. Being with Aasim made me do things I said I wouldn’t do. His painting was horrible, but I appreciated the effort he put in.

I’d been in my office, prepping defense on a new case, when my email dinged. It was a message from Danny asking me to come to his office. I rolled my eyes at the thought of having to speak to him. He didn’t mention what he wanted, which really annoyed me. I didn’t head to his office right away. Thirty minutes later, I locked my computer, grabbed my phone, and headed to see Danny.

The walk down the hall wasn’t long. I waved to a couple of people I saw along the way. When I reached his slightly ajar office door, I lightly knocked.

“Come in,” Danny said.

I walked into the office and said, “Hey, I got your email. What did you need to see me about?”

“I’m working on a RICO case similar to the one you did a few years ago for Devin “Dez” Thomas. I figured you could give me some pointers.”

I took a seat across from him, unbuttoned my blazer, and folded my hands in my lap. As long as we’d been working together, Danny had never asked for my help. Devin’s case was a hard loss for me. The loss was even worse because Devin took it so hard.

He acted like my defense strategy was the issue. The real issue was he wasn’t honest about everything he dabbled in. In the end, the case of the state against him was strong because there were several informants. To this day, I still lose sleep some nights because of the loss.

“Why would you want pointers on a case that I lost? It’s a little odd, even for you to ask me about any case, but especially that one. What’s going on here?” I asked with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

The smirk that came over Danny’s face made me uncomfortable. “The great Rory Towns lost such a high-profile case. I just want to know what you would have done differently?”

What an asshole. I got up without another word to Danny. I hardly ever spoke to him, and suddenly, he was calling me to his office to discuss one of the hardest cases of my career. An eerie feeling formed in the pit of my stomach that I couldn’t shake. The moment I got back to my office, I closed the door and dialed Aasim’s number. He answered on the first ring.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said.

“Hey. I just had a weird conversation with one of my coworkers.”

“Weird how?”

“He brought up a case I lost a while ago, pretending he needed advice. It wasn’t so much what he said. It was the way the entire conversation made me feel.”

“Which was?”

“Uneasy. It made me feel uneasy. There’s been a knot in the pit of my stomach since I left his office. I know this is going to sound crazy, but he goes to this bar after work. Can we follow him?”

“We can do whatever you want to do. Do you think this has something to do with the black roses?”

“Maybe. It could be nothing, but it feels like something.”

“Alright. I’m making my way to you now. We can leave and head over to this bar he goes to.”

We disconnected the call, and I hopped on my computer. I looked at Devin’s case file before. At the mention of his name, I needed to revisit it. This time, when I looked him up, it mentioned his recent release from prison. He’d been out for a month, which was right around the time I received the first set of black roses.

While I went through the pages of the case, I remembered how angry Devin was, how he continued to blame me, even when I tried to recuse him myself. One of the last things he said to me was I would pay for getting him sent to jail. His case made me hate my job. I was naïve to think he wasn’t the criminal mastermind the district attorney painted him out to be. After working together to build his defense, I realized just how wrong I was.

His case caused me so much inner turmoil. It was the first time client confidentiality made me uncomfortable. While I sat in the testimony and listened to the informants speak on some of the ruthless acts he committed, it became harder to defend him with a clear conscience. Every day at trial pushed me to the limits of professionalism. Regardless of how I felt, I argued his case the same way I would have any other client.

When he lost and questioned my defense, I questioned myself. I drove myself crazy for months, going over every question I’d asked witnesses. It took Ava literally shaking me to my senses one day to make me realize I was driving myself crazy. The thought of Devin made shivers roll down my spine. He was a calculated, smooth-talking, criminal mastermind—a man I never wanted to cross paths with again.

A little after five, I got a text from Aasim.