Page 3 of Protecting Christina

I hated talking about my family. Only Gabby knew all of it, and I wasn’t eager to share my history with anyone else. But Nikole’s face seemed genuinely concerned. So, I offered her my present situation instead of my past.

“That was my friend Gabby. She’s concerned about my sister. She thinks she’s getting mixed up with the wrong crowd. So, I agreed to check on her.”

“By yourself?” Nikole’s reaction confused me since she didn’t shy away from confrontation either. Maybe married life had made her soft.

The thought nearly made me smile. “Of course, by myself. Who else would I ask?” I pointedly looked at my friend’s slight frame. “No offense.”

She ran her hands down her black blazer. “None taken. But you shouldn’t go by yourself. I’ll ask Jake to go with you.”

“Your bodyguard husband?”

“Exactly. He’s equipped to handle situations like this.”

“I thought he was out-of-town protecting your mother on her campaign trail.”

“Yes. But he’ll be back this weekend. Can’t you wait until then?”

I could, but it was also the perfect excuse to give Nikole to stop her from siccing her husband on me. I didn’t need protection.

“It really can’t wait. I’ll be fine. I know these guys from high school.”

“You do?”

That seemed to reassure her. Only because I never told her how I knew them. It was best she knew nothing more. Any pitiful glances she threw my way would be nauseating.

“You’ll be fine?” she asked, placing her hand on my arm.

“Yes. I can take care of myself. Actually, I’m looking forward to seeing them again.”

“Really?”

I clenched my jaw. “Absolutely.”

***

After I finished making my last note on an upcoming case, I packed up my things and headed outside. As I approached my shiny black sports car, my lips turned up as they always did when I saw it. The sports car was the first big purchase I made after securing my job. I didn’t reward myself after graduating college or even passing the bar. I figured plenty of people did that. I didn’t reward myself until I became a senior attorney at one of the most prestigious law firms in the country.

I still had student loans and owed more than I could ever pay back to Gabby’s parents for taking me in when my siblings had abandoned me, but buying this car symbolized, to me, that I’d beat the odds. I’d done it, despite my family and some teachers telling me there was no way out of my predicament.

I thought I would never go back, but now that was exactly where I was heading.

Pressing the ignition button, the engine roared to life and purred beneath my thighs. I eased my foot on the clutch and backed out of the parking spot.

It was nearly eight o’clock and the sun would set soon. If traffic wasn’t terrible, I would get to the old neighborhood before it became dark.

I drove through the streets of New York City, leaving the tourist spots behind, and turned onto a road that many would assume to be abandoned, but I knew better. Several businesses had been boarded up, and the brick walls were lined with graffiti, but there were still plenty of people who lived in this neighborhood and would die here, too.

As I approached the street where I grew up, I pushed the car into fourth gear and drove past the house where my parents had been shot. I didn’t bother to turn my head. There was nothing I wanted to see or remember there.

Finally, I turned onto the road where the Graff brothers lived and where Gabby believed my sister to be staying.

I pulled up along the curb and noticed some guys sitting on the porch next door staring at my car. I wasn’t worried about them stealing it. It was one of the reasons I bought a standard car, not many car thieves knew how to drive a stick.

My car beeped as I locked it and walked away. I stared back at the boys on the porch and raised my eyebrows when one of them stood up. He lifted his chin and nodded once.

“Hey Lucky,” I called, recognizing him. He was the younger brother of an old friend. He earned that nickname after surviving a knife wound a mere two inches from his heart.

“Christina, is that you?”

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