Page 69 of Velvet Chains
Was hoping to talk to you before the holidays…
Fuck.
I moved my cursor away from the screen and looked at the mountain of emails I had to get through. I had a secretary who took care of my inbox, which was nice, but even she didn’t seem to be able to trim things down nearly as much as I needed her to.
It was easy to get lost in the work, though. I didn’t want to think about the fact that there was special counsel hovering around, waiting for me to slip up, waiting for something. I didn’t want to give them an inch. Thankfully, no other agents had shown up, nothing had happened—just a feeling of dread that seemed to be taking over my entire life.
I got up and stretched as I watched Alek approach my office with two mugs of steaming coffee in his hand.
“Morning,” he said, his voice groggy. “You did want a peppermint mocha, right?”
“I will murder you, Ivanov,” I replied.
He handed me my cappuccino, smiling. “You’re cranky before you’ve had coffee.”
“I’m cranky right now, full stop,” I said. “Are you coming in?”
“Yes,” he replied, closing the door behind himself. “What’s the day looking like?”
I took a long sip of my cappuccino, closed my eyes, and exhaled through my nose. “Two pretrials this morning—both continuances unless the judge is in a mood. After that, a budget meeting with the comptroller’s office to explain why we’ve blown past overtime projections in the gang unit. Then a working lunch with Morales—homicide wants to shift two detectives toorganized crime, and I need to pretend that’s not a red flag. And at some point before four, I have to prep with Kaitlyn on Fulton’s suppression hearing. The judge moved it up. Merry fucking Christmas.”
Alek raised his eyebrows. “I thought my day was bad.”
“Your dayisbad. You’re my lawyer.”
He didn’t laugh, taking a sip of his coffee. “Merry Christmas,” he said.
I laughed, though. “Yeah. Twelve days until courts close for break, and I think Darnell is chomping at the bit to make her deadlines look good.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me. Do you need me to handle it?”
I shook my head. “If I wasn’t so busy, I would tell you that everything feels like a trap lately.”
He handed me a folder from under his arm. “That’s because it might be. I printed the updated docket and pulled anything with DOJ fingerprints. Look at the names attached to these filings. Three of them are new. None of them are local.”
I flipped through the folder, my stomach tightening as I scanned the header on one of the pleadings. Southern District. Not ours. Not even close.
“They’re already here,” I said, quietly.
“They’ve been here,” Alek corrected. “But now they’re not hiding it.”
I sat down behind my desk, letting the folder hang open in my lap. “I got another email from Darnell this morning.”
He didn’t say anything.
“She said she wants to talk before the holidays.”
“Don’t,” he said immediately. “You don’t owe them shit. They’re baiting you.”
“They’re watching me,” I said. “You know that, right?”
“I do,” he said. “Which is why we stick to the plan. No private meetings. No unscheduled calls. No surprises.”
“Did you review everything I gave you?”
He nodded. “You have legal defense. I mean, yes, you did…fuck up a bit. But you were afraid for your life. It won’t win over a judge, but you know, a jury would be another story.”
“I don’t want to go to a jury trial, holy shit.”
