Page 107 of Barristers & Bones

I smiled coldly. “You heard me. Why should I help you unless there’s something in it for me?” Glancing over at Roman, I wondered what he thought about all this.

“What do you want?” she asked carefully.

“My kneejerk reaction is to tell you to go screw yourself. But I’ll talk to my husband and family, and get back to you. Give Ezra your phone number.”

“He already has it,” she snapped.

“Good, then leave.”

My mother gazed at me with intense dislike. “Fine.” She walked back over to her place at the table and grabbed her expensive designer purse. She sniffed as she passed me. “You didn’t turn out at all like I hoped.”

“Thank God for small favors,” I retorted.

On the drive home after dinner, my mind raced as I thought about my parents, and what I really wanted.

Roman glanced at me. “What’re you thinking?”

I turned to him. “My mother wants that information so she can blackmail my father into giving her more money in a divorce settlement. If she got a divorce based on his salary as a judge and not all his under-the-table business deals, bribes, and payouts, she’d never be able to afford the lifestyle to which she’s grown accustomed.”

“That’s true. So what do you want from her?”

My mind raced through different answers, but I circled back to one thing. Turning to him, I studied his beautiful, severe features in the dark. “I want justice. For all of us.”

The next morning, I texted Alexa and Fenn and asked them to meet us at the law offices later that day.

Fenn called less than a minute later. “What are you up to now, Lou?”

“Why would you ask if I’m up to something?” I countered.

“Because Iknow you.”

“I’m ready to go after my father.”

Fenn went quiet on the other end, then let out a long, happy sigh. “It’s about fucking time. Okay, I’ll be there.” Fenn had been prodding me to let him take my father out for years. Up until now, I was too scared because I knew Montgomery Cross had a long reach, and his retaliation terrified me. But I knew it was time.

Alexa and I sat in the conference room that afternoon when Roman and Ivan walked in. Then Fenn sauntered in a few minutes later with blood splatters on his shirt and bruised knuckles.

I shook my head in mild disgust. “Fennick, it’s barely past noon. You ask what dangerous thing I’m up to when you’re the one who can’t go a full day without fighting. What happened? Where have you been?”

He grinned. “If I didn’t let off a little steam now and then, I’d blow like a bad high school science experiment.”

Ivan smirked and stroked his beard. “You should box with us at Colton’s gym, it’s good for working off excess energy.”

Fenn winced and rubbed the back of his neck. “He banned me a while ago. Maybe if you put in a good word, he’d let me come back.”

Roman glared at Fenn. “It’d be worth it to get you in the ring so I can beat the shit out of you for bringing Lionel Strack to Luna and Sylvie instead of me.”

“Anytime,cousin.” He grinned and turned to me. “Tell everyone why we’re here.”

I leaned forward. “I’m ready to go after my father, but I need help. My mother says she wants the account information I stole to use against my father–the same leverage Fenn used when he sent that man’s arm back in a box.”

Ivan’s eyebrow rose. “What arm, and what man?”

“It belonged to the hitman my father sent after me when I was fourteen.”

Ivan sat back. “What the fuck? How’d I missthatwhen I did your background check?”

“Probably the same way you missed finding Lionel,” Alexa muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

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