Page 86 of The Billionaire's Wife

“I am. But surely you know the old adage about having a fool for a client.” I smiled slightly. Would Bradley see the humor? He worked for the government, so it was unlikely, but I’d met a few federal lawyers who would have.

“Ah. Well, I’m not sure it’s necessary. There are just a few little things to clear up. It would be easier, certainly, if we could handle them between ourselves.”

I fought a laugh. “Do you have a pen and paper handy?”

“I do.”

“Great. Allison Reid. Here’s her number.” I read the digits off the email I’d quickly pulled up. Then went ahead and offered her email address, just in case. “I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear from you. I’ll give her a quick call right now so she’ll know to expect it. Have a great day.”

I ended the call on Bradley’s stuttering, then switched lines, and dialed Allison.

“Allison Reid.”

“Hi, Allison. It’s Tristan Lee.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Yeah. Just got off the phone with a man named Bradley Forrester. I gave him your details, but he didn’t read them back, so I’m not sure how long it’ll take for him to get in touch.” I hadn’t given him the chance to read them back, but it was probably better to let Allison find that out on her own.

She scoffed. “I know Brad. He knows how to get a hold of me. He won’t want to, but he can.”

I chuckled at the smirk in her voice. “I take it you’ve gotten the upper hand on him a few times?”

“I have. He’s a good guy, just very by-the-book. That makes him great as a government employee, but it also means he doesn’t see the ridiculousness sometimes.” She sighed. “I can probably talk him out of taking this all the way, though. I guess it depends on what instructions he’s been given.”

“He seemed surprised that I had counsel. Really wanted to, and I quote, clear this up between the two of us.”

“Hm.”

My eyebrows lifted. “What’s that mean?”

“Not sure. Sounds like he had some kind of deal already in mind. One he doesn’t want a whole bunch of people knowing about. He wouldn’t have come up with that on his own, though. It would have come from whoever got a case going in the first place.”

I nodded, thinking. Orbison would have been the one to get Forrester involved. He was probably pushing for me to still take on the undercover agent as a client. That would give the agent more legitimacy and possibly get the feds in the door. On the flip side, at this point if I did it and Ortega ever found out, not only would I have the cartel gunning for me, it would be very bad for my career. I couldn’t be the lawyer who took on clients that were a direct threat to another client. It was why one firm couldn’t represent both sides of any case.

“You’re quiet.”

“Yeah, sorry. I think I know what it is, but I’ll let him tell you. If I’m right, though? I can’t do it. If that means this gets ugly, then that’s what it means.”

Allison cleared her throat. “What don’t I know?”

“I don’t want to get into specifics in case I’m wrong. Let’s just say it probably has to do with something that would be a direct conflict with another one of my clients, so privilege comes into play as well.”

“Well. This should be fun.” Something in the background began to beep. She chuckled. “That’s probably Bradley. I’ll be in touch.”

The call ended and I lowered the handset back to its cradle before taking a deep breath and holding it. I counted to six, then let it out as slowly as I could. It didn’t do much to slow my racing heart. So I tried again.

And again.

The fourth time finally seemed to help. At least, it quieted the noise in my mind enough that I could sort of pray. I found myself grateful, yet again, for the reminder in the Bible that when we didn’t have words, the Holy Spirit would intercede for us. I needed that right now.

I didn’t want to let Faith know, but I also knew better than to keep it to myself until the end of the day. I picked up my cell and tapped her contact.

It rang twice before she answered. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself.”

She laughed and the sound finished off the de-stressing that deep breathing had started. “Slow day for you, too?”

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