“What kind of protected witness goes into the NFL? What kind of fuckery is this?”
I ignore her questions. “What’s Yang’s plan? And where’s Mike?”
“They’ve already left.”
I stop in my tracks, and Taryn stumbles to a halt a few steps ahead.
“Come again?” I say.
“They left to track down Ben Donahue.”
I hold up a hand. “No. No, that can’t be. That’s not Yang’s style. He’d want a plan of attack, he’d sit down and delegate—”
“Not this time. There’s too much pressure, and the state as put an offer on the table for Garcia and Lopez.”
“There’s a plea deal?”
“Looks like. And Yang wants to see what Donahue knows before that prosecutor does, then come to a decision with the defendants.”
My tote thunks to the floor. I dig my hands into both sides of my head. “Jesus. No. We have to stop them. Do they even know where Ben is right now?”
Taryn looks away.
“Taryn? Taryn, talk to me.”
She nibbles on her lower lip before saying, “Mike knew.”
“How?”
For some reason, that one-syllable question is what cases Taryn to break. She hisses, “He’s your fiancé, Astor! How do you not know? Why didn’t you see what Mike was doing behind your back? Or is it me who’s the moron? All the work you and I put in, all the hours, the effort—it’s gone. Turned to nothing, because you went behind my back and teamed up with Mike—”
“I didn’t tell that asshole anything.”
The way I seethe the words makes Taryn hitch back a step. “I don’t think just because we’re the only female lawyers we should be friends. But we at least need professionalism. Why should I believe you?”
“Because Mike and I aren’t together anymore.” I hold my hand up so she can see my ring finger. The barest indent remains on where my ring once was. “We broke up last week.”
If I were feeling the ocean before, Taryn’s feeling it now. Her mouth opens and shuts, like she’s sucking for air. “And you decide now is the best time to bring it up?”
“It’s been complicated. And personal,” I add. “I didn’t think it had anything to do with my work—”
“Apparently it has everything to do with it. I knew Mike was underhanded, but now he’s pissed and underhanded. Willing to make you not exist.”
“Well, I’m not gonna let it happen. Where did Mike take Yang?”
“Ben works out every Wednesday. Mike had this information, and knows where his gym is.”
“But that’s not possible. Ben’s not at his gym on Wednesdays. He goes to Brooklyn to work out with my brother…” I trail off as my stomach rises into my throat. “Shit. Oh, motherfucker.”
I race the rest of the way to my cubicle, with Taryn following close behind. Her voice is nothing but background to my fears as I drop everything onto my chair and dig for my phone. When I tap in my passcode and open it to my calendar, my fears are confirmed. Locke’s routine meet-up with Ben is in my phone, since he and I often trade schedules due to Lily.
“My calendar’s still synced with his,” I mumble through the thickness in my throat, but Taryn hears.
“Mike’s out for blood, Astor. And we’re already on the ground. We’re splayed out, bloody victims of Mike’s betrayal.”
“We’re not,” I say as I shove my phone back in my bag. “We’re going to go there, confront them, and stop this.”
“Stop it? Why?” But Taryn’s rushing for her coat, thrown over her chair in the cubicle next door. “We want to be a part of it. Yang needs to know how much work we put in. That if we hadn’t, Ben Donahue would never have been found.”