Unlawful Attraction: The Complete Box Set: Alpha Billionaire Romance (42 page)

“The hitman,” I said slowly. I had to make sure I was understanding this right. “You’re telling me that Bethany McDermott, a Manhattan assistant district attorney, was fucking the guy who pulled a gun on me in my apartment.
That
guy?”

She nodded, clearly distressed.

Easing her off my lap, I got up and started to pace.

Fuck.

What the hell was Bethany thinking?

“That was why I came to the apartment,” she said. “To tell you all of this because I have absolutely no clue what to do.”

I turned to look at her, but she was staring at the wall. I knew she wasn’t seeing it, though. She wasn’t seeing anything at that moment, unless it was Bethany and the giant shit-storm her boss had caught her in – not to mention the danger.

“My boss is sleeping with the
mafia
, Arik.” She made an amused sound. “And to think I was worried about the ethics of sleeping with a defense attorney.”

Chapter 6

Dena

“What exactly do you think you're going to find?” Arik asked.

I stood in the middle of my office, arms folded around my middle as I looked around. Shooting him a look over my shoulder, I shook my head. “I don't know.”

Coming down here had been a spur of the moment idea, but now that I was here, I had no idea what to do. At least it was Saturday afternoon, which meant the place was essentially deserted. There were a few lingering paralegals and ADAs working on cases, but not enough that Arik and I really needed to worry.

I knew what I needed. Proof that Bethany had ties to the Russian mafia. Something other than the fact that I’d seen her having sex with one of their known hitmen, but beyond that? If I was going to be believed, there would need to be corroboration.

Except I wasn't sure where to start or what even to look for. I also wasn't sure who I could trust.

I sniffed, my nose starting to tingle in a familiar way. Out of habit, I glanced over to see if somebody had brought in more damn flowers, but the table by the door was empty. I rubbed at my nose, annoyed, but turned my thoughts back to the problem at hand.

I had half a mind to call one of the senior partners from my old firm. Granted, it was full of divorce lawyers, but they had connections. One of them was bound to know somebody I could trust, but first I had to find evidence.

Fuck it. There was a reason I hadn't gone into police work.

As if sensing my dilemma, Arik came up behind me and rested his hand on my shoulder. His mouth opened to say something, but before he could manage, a sneeze caught me off guard. Embarrassed, I moved away and went to the desk to dig through my purse. I didn't even have a chance to find tissues before I sneezed a second, then a third time.

“Bless you.” He almost sounded amused.

As I turned to rummage for a tissue, Arik chuckled behind me. “Don't tell me you went and developed an allergy to me.”

I might have laughed, except my eyes landed on a small vase of flowers sitting discreetly by the window.

“Oh, for crying out loud.”

I went over to grab the flowers, but another sneezing fit hit. My right hand hit the vase and it fell, glancing off the corner of the desk and shattering. Water sprayed, and if I hadn’t been busy sneezing my head off, I would have started cussing my random flower bringer to hell and back.

As it was, since I
was
busy sneezing, I wasn’t the one to see it.

Arik was.

I only heard a door open, close...then his hand squeezed my shoulder. Something about that gesture communicated tension rather than comfort, and as my sneezing eased, I shot him a look. He had one finger pressed to his lips. His face was serious, but when he spoke, his tone was light.

“Well, I guess I’ll save a fortune on flowers, won’t I?”

His eyes slid down. Once, twice.

Mystified, I didn't say anything, but rather glanced down and saw his hand. He held it out, palm up. There was something inside it. Was that...?

Oh
shit
.

Again, Arik pressed his finger to his lips. Casually, he said, “I dumped the flowers in the trash across the hall. Why don’t we step outside, let you breathe some fresh air?”

My entire body was tense, and I was full of questions, but I had to assume the device – the bug – Arik had in his hand was still transmitting to something, somewhere. He dumped the bug into the trash in my office, along with the remains of the vase, and led me into the hallway, his hand on my back.

Once we were out in the hall, I started to walk faster, needing to be away. Arik followed. I didn't have a conscious destination in mind, but a few minutes later, I stood in front of Bethany's office.

Logically, there was no reason why I'd stopped there. It wasn’t like she was here. The one thing I did know was that if Bethany was in bed with the mob – insinuation definitely intended – they wouldn't need to bug her office, so if there was any place in the whole building that wouldn’t be compromised, it would be here.

I tried to open her door, but of course, it was locked.

As I started to turn away, though, Arik crowded up against me, his voice casual as he said, “I don’t think she’s going to be in, but it can’t hurt to…”

He spoke in a voice louder than necessary for our proximity, and I shot a look up at him. He stood too close for such a public place, and I went to step away, but he caught my arm.

That was when I saw he was busy with his right hand. His body blocked most of his actions, and he tugged me in to hide what he was doing.

“Son of a bitch,” I whispered, shocked and furious at the same time. What the hell was he thinking?

Apparently, he was thinking that he knew what he was doing. In under five seconds, he had the door open.

“What do you know, the boss must be in.” He gave me a brilliant smile and turned his head as he caught my arm and pulled me into Bethany’s empty office.

“You crazy son of a bitch,” I said to his back as he locked the door behind him.

He looked at me, a cagey grin on his face. It was so far removed from anything else I'd ever seen from him that it caught me off-guard.

“Two questions — one, how did you learn how to jimmy locks? Two, are you planning on defending us both when we get caught?” I demanded.

“I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, Ms. Monroe.” Arik looked at me, his face the picture of innocence.

For a brief moment, I caught a glimpse of what he must've looked like as a child, getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I felt safe in assuming that he'd gotten away with a lot, and not just because he came from a rich family.

His grin softened. “The door was open. We came inside, hoping Bethany might be in, and now we’re sitting down, patiently waiting since we assumed she wouldn't leave her door unlocked.”

Whatever he’d used to pick the lock had disappeared back wherever it came from in the first place.

Growling, I turned to storm back out into the hall, but then stopped, remembering the reason I'd come here in the first place.

“We are so fucked,” I whispered, lifting my face to the ceiling.

Sooner or later, Bethany was going to go down, and because I was one of her ADAs, I would be guilty by association. My career would be over.

“We're going to be fine.” His voice was surprisingly gentle. “Bethany is messing with people’s lives, Dena. She’s not just screwing with the justice system – and that pisses me off probably as much as it does you – but she’s putting people's lives at risk.”

I turned toward him and he came to me then, lifting a hand to cradle my cheek. I couldn't stop myself from leaning into the touch.

“Are you willing to take some chances and stop her?”

“Hey, I came to your place yesterday, didn’t I? And I didn't freak out with the breaking and entering. Not too much, anyway.” With a rueful grin, I stepped away and stared at my boss’ office. “So…where do we start? I don’t think we’re going to find a neatly organized calendar itemized with things like…
screwing the hitman on Wednesday…destroying an innocent woman’s life on Thursday...”

Not even fifteen minutes had passed when a noise came from the hallway.

Panicked, I shot a look to Arik and he grabbed my arm, hauling me to the chairs. “Remember,” he said, his voice low as he slowly unlocked the door. “The door was open. And it was for you, so you're not lying. That’s all you need to focus on. You came looking for Bethany. Just keep your head and we'll get through this. I promise.”

The door swung open, hot and cold chills dancing all over me and I squeezed my eyes, battling back the most intense wave of nausea I’d felt since my first day in court. When I looked at the door, prepared to see Bethany, all the adrenaline drained out in a wave that left me feeling even sicker.

It wasn’t her.

“Pierce.” I stared at the man in the doorway with a mix of shock and relief. Next to me, I felt Arik relax as well.

Head cocked slightly, the other man studied us silently for a moment before stepping into the room. I opened my mouth to say something, but Arik laid a hand on my arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Pierce turned toward the door but instead of shutting it, he nodded and curiosity overrode everything else I was feeling. An older, slightly stooped gentlemen walked in. The man gave both Arik and me a long hard study as Pierce closed the door.

What the hell was going on here?

“The coffee shop across the street would have worked just as well if you needed air,” the old man said.

His eyes, sharp and dark, glinted against smooth brown skin. If it wasn’t for the pure white hair on his head, and the slight stoop to his shoulders, he could have passed for a much younger man. He came toward me, moving slowly and flicked a glance at Arik.

Without even needing to look at each other, we both stood. I didn't know about him, but I wasn't feeling comfortable dealing with what was going on from a sitting position.

“You.” The older man pointed at me. “You have been a pain in the ass from day one, Ms. Monroe.”

I blinked, unsure if it was an insult or if I should take it as an unintended compliment.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Pierce opening a glass-fronted cabinet, but I didn’t turn to look at him.

“Just how have I been a pain...?” The rest of the question died as Pierce came back to join us.

“We need to leave,” he said to the older man. “She’s left her apartment. I'm not sure if she's going to come in today or not, but she’s made some calls.”

Before I could speculate on whatever the hell this meant, the older man gestured to a door. “We really should talk, Ms. Monroe. I assure you, you’ll be interested in what I have to tell you, and I believe you’ll want to hear it too. But this isn’t the ideal place.”

“Are you suggesting a coffee shop?” Arik asked, his voice biting.

“If you wish.”

***

Sitting on a bench in Central Park, I sipped at my coffee while Pierce took his turn talking. The other man looked like he was more caught up in the antics of the kids playing by the Balto statue, but I wasn’t fooled.

His name was Washington Rule. He was with the state attorney general’s office and apparently, they'd been investigating Bethany for a while now. And Pierce was their inside man. When they'd caught wind of the job opening, they'd pulled some strings to get Pierce in as well.

Washington had also told me he had a feeling his office wasn’t the only one looking into her, and if I was as smart as he thought, I’d listen to him, because he would go to bat for me when things went down. Not
if
but
when.
I didn’t want to be implicated in her fuck-ups – his words exactly. And he was right about that.

Once Pierce stopped talking, I looked at him. It might've been a bit juvenile, but I had to know. “Is it standard practice to sleep with people you’re investigating?”

He smirked at me, lifting his coffee to his lips, but he didn’t answer. Apparently, his smug attitude wasn't just a cover. He looked over at Washington, one eyebrow cocked as if to ask,
Shall I answer or do you want this one
?

Washington sighed deeply, leaning forward slightly and pressing the tips of steepled hands to his lips.

“Ms. Monroe. Let me say that we’ve tried any number of times to get close to Ms. McDermott, and she always manages to keep her cards close to her chest, so to speak. We've tried dozens of times, and she always manages to keep one step ahead of us. So when we had the opportunity to put somebody in her office, and she started to…well…” Washington slid his gaze toward Pierce. “It wasn’t exactly what we would have wanted, but I can’t say it caught any of us off guard, either. As I said, we've been watching her for some time.”

The lawyer in me had to ask. “And what are you going to do when she brings up their relationship in court?”

“It won’t be brought up.” Pierce shrugged and looked away, whether it was embarrassment or just boredom, I didn't know. “Chances are, Bethany won’t ever go to court.”