Page 39 of Fatal Attraction

If I had to prove it to him, then so fucking be it.

With nothing left to say, we got out the car, greeted Felix at the door, had a few drinks, and got to fucking work.

Seventeen

Charlotte

Iblinked down at the random text from Harley, my eyes widening in surprise as they scanned over the words again.

And again.

Mandatory meeting at the courthouse in thirty minutes. Don’t be late.

“Are you ready to order your meals?”

Carter smiled sweetly at the pretty blonde hair, blue-eyed waitress, unable to get a word out before, “Sorry, but something came up and we have to leave,” poured from my lips, earning me a troublesome look from him.

“Is everything okay?” he asked as the waitress gathered our menus with a disappointed frown, walking away with her head bowed in defeat.

“I-I don’t know. I just got a message from Harley saying to meet her at the courthouse in thirty minutes.”

I got up from my chair, as did Carter, and together we both left some cash on the table to cover the mozzarella sticks we’d split, and a ten-dollar tip. After meeting with the whole crew yesterday at the precinct, Chief and Captain Burgess agreed Carter could help work security at the sanctum, so we’d gotten up early and gone out to do some shopping and grab some last-minute supplies from the gun shop per Carter’s request.

Phoenix’s number was already pulled up on my phone before we made it to the parking lot. Weirdly, the line went to voicemail. When I tried Spike just to receive the same result, my bottom lip worriedly jutted out.

Why are their phones off?Why did Harley want me to meet her at the—

I gasped at my next thought and raced toward my car, getting in and slamming the door fast.

Angel.

Holy fuck.

She must have changed her mind.

“What’s going on?” Carter asked again when he shut the passenger door, facing me as he reached up for the seatbelt.

“It’s Angel. It has to be. I think she changed her mind and handed the threats over to Ben.”

“Then why would Harley have you meet her at the courthouse?” he queried; a thick knot protruding between his bushy brows. “Why not the precinct?”

I offered him a simple shrug and then carefully checked my mirrors before I backed out. “They probably just finished interviewing her. Whatever she said must’ve been enough to arrange a meeting with the judge.”

I was right about this. I had to be. It would better explain why my calls hadn’t gone through. I’d been in and out of those interrogation rooms more than enough to know that once you’re in one, all cell service was stripped. You couldn’t make or receive any phone calls or send a simple text message, not even if your life depended on it.

“How can you be so sure that’s what it’s about?”

I sighed, shrugging. “I don’t, but if not that, then what else could it be?”

“Maybe it has to do with the plea deal.”

I stiffened in my seat.

Fuck.

I’d been so consumed prepping for tomorrow night that it’d completelyslipped my mind.

“You forgot, didn’t you?”