Page 10 of Double Standards

“So…” Cassidy Caruthers taps her pen against the notepad in front of her. “Shall we get started?”

With a nod of reluctant affirmation, I prepare myself for the interrogation.

I know what to expect. It’s not my first rodeo, but Cassidy is brutal with her questions, pinpointing weaknesses that I overlooked, even when I gave her the bare minimum. All she knows is I was out of the city—details obscured for obvious reasons—but it’s enough for her to get a handle on things.

She’s the epitome of everything I need in a lawyer; someone who won’t back down. Who sees the truth for what it is. The idea of being stuck here another night is no longer an option for me because I have to get out. I have to find out who fucked me over, and then I’m going to make them pay.

“You need to tell me where you were, or who you were with.” She glances at me for an answer but I keep my expression indiscernible.

I know I should put more trust in the woman, but I’m reluctant to share anything more. I imagine this whole situation is frustrating and impossible for her, but that’s exactly what I’m paying her for: to achieve the impossible. I can’t use money to get me out this time because I actually did nothing wrong. I can’t pull favors when there is nothing to hold over my head. And I sure as shit can’t tell her I was meeting with another organization in Europe, setting up one of the biggest deals to date.

I’m relying on Cassidy Caruthers, more than she realizes. This is a job for her, but for me, this is life or death.

“If you can’t tell me, then you have no witnesses.” She strikes that off her list. “No alibi,” another strike. “No information that can help grant you bail.” Her long hair hangs over one shoulder in golden waves. There’s exhaustion rounding her features, telling me she’s had just as much sleep as I have. Though, I bet her bed is comfier than mine right now.

The truth is I do have witnesses, four of them. I do have an alibi, a tight one. And I have all the information she needs to make my bail fluid, but I can’t give her any of that. If I do, I’m not only incriminating myself all over again, but I’m selling out the guys.

I shake my head, refusing to even acknowledge those three questions.

“Have you got any priors?” She rolls her eyes as soon as the question leaves her lips. She doesn’t wait for my response. “Of course you do.”

I wouldn’t call it a stupid question, but common sense would tell you that you don’t get by in this life without getting your hands dirty. Hell, from the age of eight I was already running jobs under my uncle’s command.

At the age of twenty, I’d already spent two years in Ryker’s Island. Onthatoccasion, I was guilty. Butthis,I was otherwise indisposed with something far more important than murdering the Mayor. Plus, I’d have no reason to take out a man on my payroll. Hell, I wouldn’t even be in this mess at all if he was alive!

“Ok,” Cassidy murmurs. “Have you knowingly lied to a police officer or any other law enforcement?” She locks eyes with me, but I remain silent, contemplating whether to share information with her.

She leans back in her chair, exhaling so heavily the hair that sweeps across her face dances briefly. It’s sexy as hell, despite how pissed off she is about the situation I’ve forced her into. “How the hell have you avoided jail for so long?” she deadpans.

“Money.” I shrug obnoxiously.

“So why can’t you pay someone off this time? Why do you need me?”

“Because it’s different this time.” My words hold a hostile tone as I think about where I actually was that night. Where I was when I was apprehended.

“How so?”

“Aren’t you going to ask me if I did it?” I tilt my head, my voice rasping slightly as I change the subject. “I bet you’re dying to know how I got into the Mayor’s office undetected. How I put a gun to his head, and?—”

She visibly shudders.

Eventually, she shakes her head. Maybe she’s starting to understand that not all questions have answers, and some are just better hidden. Her presence today means she recognizes that she doesn’t get a say in this. I made it clear last night; she belongs to us now.She belongs to me.

“They say you’re the best. So prove it.”

She sighs out loud, exasperation warring with her exhaustion. “I don’t know what you expect me to do. If you don’t give me something, I can’t?—”

“I thought we agreed on no games, Cassidy.”

She shivers as her name falls from my lips. It irks me that she’s acting innocent when I know full well that fucker who she represented only yesterday was just as guilty of his crimes as I am of my previous ones. The asshole has been painted all over the news. There’s no escaping it. He did the crime, but Cassidy Caruthers saved him with her ruthless ambition to fight the law.

“Do your job,” I snap.

“I can’t speak to the judge without the right information. So either you help me or you get moved to a penitentiary and await a trial.”

That’s all it takes for me to realize the gravity of the situation. Prison doesn’t scare me, I’ve paid my time more than once for misdemeanors when I was younger. It was a way for my uncle to keep me in line. It worked; to a certain extent. However, I’m not in a rush to return to those walls, confined to my own solitary because I know that’s where I’ll be heading if Cassidy fails.

“I’m here to help,” she reminds me. “Nothing more to it.”