Page 53 of Until Tomorrow Comes
“I just don’t want to see you hurt.” He says quietly enough that only I can hear. My cheeks heat and I have to break his stare. Glancing at my brother, I notice him watching us. His expression is blank, but I know him well enough to realize it as his way of figuring something out.
Good luck, even I haven’t figured out what the hell is happening here.
Shaking my head, I put all my attention back to Thea.
“Do you really think that would work? Without him finding me here?”
She nods, her smile turning slightly sad.
“Remember how I told you I worked in the criminal justice system, but didn’t wanna think about it while I was here?” She asks and I nod in answer. “Well, I’m a lawyer for a firm based in Columbia.”
Even as she says this, it doesn’t surprise me. There’s just something about learning she’s a lawyer thatfitsThea.
“I can ask my friend in the PD department if he knows any reputable firms thathisfamily doesn’t have in their pocket.” Alan interjects.
Thea shakes her head, smirking at him.
“My firm has branches in four cities on the east coast. Columbia, Tampa, Boston…” She pauses, turning back to me. “And New York City.”
My heart races in my chest as I stare back at her.
“Do you have any connections at that branch?” My brother questions for me.
Thea smiles and doesn’t tear her gaze from mine as she slowly nods.
“Yup. So does Kat.” She states, catching me off guard.
“What?”
“Addison. She’s been at that location for the past four years.”
My jaw drops at that. It makes sense, they roomed together during college up north. Still, I find myself speechless.
A light sparks somewhere deep down and it’s an effort to keep the foreign feeling at bay. The more the abuse from Zack escalated, the harder something like hope was to find.
Hope was like the sun, and I was drowning in darkness. Being pulled deeper and deeper until I could barely see what was right in front of me.
But I got out.
I chew at my bottom lip with that reminder.
“What makes you so sure that this would work?” Alan questions.
Thea’s smile widens as she sits back in her seat. Everything about her screams confidence as she stares at my brother.
“You know how people always say they graduated at the top of their class?” She questions in response, Alan blinks at her before nodding. “I was the valedictorian of my graduating class, so literally the best. Addison was right beside me as the salutatorian.”
She leans forward again, bracing her elbows on her knees as she clasps her hands together in front of her.
“I’m confident that this will draw him out because before I was transferred to the Columbia branch last year, I worked alongside Addison at the New York City branch. During the two years we worked together, we focused solely on domestic violence cases.” She smiles at me. “Addison is now one of the Legal Directors. Hell, maybe your buddy in the PD knows her.”
She shrugs as she sits back, “But on the off chance it doesn’t draw him out, he’s on a time crunch. If he doesn’t respond, a judge could rule in favor of an uncontested Dissolution of Marriage. Kat’s free either way.”
My breath catches in my throat and that damn spark grows a bit more. I shouldn’t let it take root, shouldn’t get my hopes up at all. Things have been wrong for so long because of Zack, that it doesn’t feel right to hope for him to be out of my life. It seems too good to be true.
Alan asks Thea another legal question, but my thoughts are running a mile a minute and I can’t find it in me to listen. Instead, I find myself turning to Jackson.
“What do you think?” I whisper without even meaning to. While I’m already leaning toward my answer on what I want to do, I still find myself yearning to know his thoughts. Especially considering he was the first to say no.
