Page 50 of Lawbreaker

Tony hesitated, waiting until she was out of earshot before he turned to John. “Phillip James is on the prowl,” he said quietly. “He’s probing for weaknesses. Don’t let your guard down here, and make sure that Tanner doesn’t let his down, either, not for a second. If we can get him indicted, it’s a capital crime, and I’ve already robbed him of a congressman he was blackmailing to stop the investigation.” He didn’t mention the setup attempt by one of James’s operatives. He could tell Tanner about that later.

“I’ll keep up our end. Please, take care of Odalie,” he added quietly. “She’s impulsive. It would kill us if anything happened to her.”

“I know that. She’ll be safe,” he replied. “I’ve got two good men on twelve-hour shifts keeping her under surveillance, at home and anyplace else she goes. If Stasia comes up, make sure I know when. I’ll put on more people.”

“Thanks, Tony.”

He shrugged. “Stasia’s the only adoptive family I’ve got outside Connie and her family, and my other adopted daughter in Jacobsville,” he said with a smile. “That means I have to take care of her relatives, too,” he chuckled.

“We’ll do our best as well,” John said. “We have two ex-feds who work here, and Tanner has three on his place. They were all working as mercs when they were hired, so they’re pretty good.”

He nodded. “Just don’t lose focus,” Tony said. “There are more things going on than I can tell you about right now.”

“We won’t. Thanks, for all you do for Stasia and my sister.”

“It’s no trouble.”

“Have a safe flight.”

Tony grinned. “Thanks.”

On the plane, Odalie wanted to ask what Tony and John had been discussing so intently, but she was suddenly shy of him. She buried herself in her solitaire app while Tony busied himself with business on his laptop.

It was raining when they landed in New York at JFK. Odalie hadn’t packed a raincoat or an umbrella, so Ben had to run her down the sidewalk to her apartment and then run back with her luggage.

“Thanks, Ben!” she said at the door.

“No worries. Keep your door locked,” he added.

“You bet. See you!”

He ran back to the limo, folding the umbrella as he got to the driver’s side. Odalie closed the door and didn’t let herself look at the vehicle pulling away from the curb.

The past few days had been sweet. At least she had memories, she thought, even if Tony kept warning her off. She didn’t have time for men, anyway, she told herself. She had a career ahead of her. That was where her head needed to be now, not on some man—regardless of how attractive he was. It was just that fear of the stage, all the time, eating at her confidence. She turned toward the kitchen to make coffee and put it out of her mind.

8

Three weeks passed, during which Odalie spent time on voice lessons and wandering aimlessly around the shopping district, looking for bargains that she never bought.

Ballet season was over, but there were occasional performances outside the season and one of her favorites was playing now at Lincoln Center:Swan Lake, by New York City Ballet, along with two other ballets choreographed by the late Balanchine. She bought a ticket online and had a limo come to take her to the Met, where it was playing. A lot of people didn’t dress for such occasions, but many did. Odalie loved to.

She had a gold lamé dress, very extravagant, strappy and elegant, which she wore with high-heeled gold sandals and a gold-sprinkled shawl. Her hair was up in a coiffure that dripped curls around her ears, where diamond earrings sparkled, matching the diamond necklace she wore and the diamond watch on one wrist. She looked young and beautiful, and she drew eyes all the way down the aisle.

She didn’t pay attention to the frankly admiring stares she was getting from men as she went to her seat and settled in. At least, not until a familiar face loomed up beside her.

“As I live and breathe,” a familiar voice intoned. “The goddess Diana herself!”

She glanced up into the dancing eyes of the man she’d met at Tony’s last party on Long Island.

“Miss Everett, I believe?” he added with a warm smile.

She smiled back. “Yes. Rudy, wasn’t it...?”

He nodded. He was wearing a dark suit with a red tie and handkerchief. He looked very cosmopolitan. “You like ballet?”

She nodded back. “All the arts.”

“Me, too. But I think ballet is the most graceful... Excuse me,” he said, moving back to let the couple with seats in Odalie’s row slide past her with apologies. She smiled and moved her skirts aside, oblivious to a pair of angry black eyes pinning her from the back of the theater.

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