Page 19 of Take the Bait

She sighed. “Look. I’m obligated by law to tell you what the D.A. offered. You don’t have to listen, but I have a responsibility to do my job ethically and give you the best representation I can. If I were your patient and you told me you needed to render aid because I appeared to be having a heart attack, you would have an obligation to help me out even if I didn’t want to cooperate, right?”

He huffed. “There are gray areas in medical ethics regarding patients refusing care versus a physician’s legal responsibility to render aid.”

She pounced on that. “Would you be obligated to at least explain to the patient what’s wrong with them and what will happen if they don’t allow you to help them?”

“If they’re rational, of sound mind, and can understand the explanation, yes. I would be obligated to explain their ailment.”

“Are you rational, of sound mind, and able to understand my explanations?” she challenged. Not that she was entirely sure she should trust his answer, of course. He’d been acting wildly irrationally on the subject of pleading guilty versus going to a messy trial that would end up putting him in jail for sure.

His eyes narrowed to irritated slits of black.

She said more gently, “Do me a favor and just bear with me while I tell you what the plea offer was. You can say no to me the instant I finish, but that way I will have discharged my duty to you as an officer of the court.”

“I’m saying no, now,” he insisted.

“You may be hell bent on destroying your reputation, your career, and your life, but please don’t destroy my career, too,” she threw at him. “I volunteered to defend you pro bono, and I assure you, I’m better counsel than you’d have gotten from a brutally overworked, underpaid public defender. I’m doing you a solid, here, so maybe don’t fuck up my life while you’re busy fucking up yours?”

He leaned back, studying her with the first sign of real interest he’d ever shown. It wasn’t anything romantic or flirty, like the way Cam looked at her. It was as if Alex was seeing her as a human being for the first time.

“All right. Do your job,” he said grimly.

“The plea offer was a five-thousand-dollar fine, two years’ probation, and a thousand hours community service, which they’ll let you serve in community health centers or hospitals.”

“Satisfied?” he asked dryly.

“Yes. You may say no, now. And I will need you to say it aloud.”

“No,” he ground out. “Turn down the deal.”

“I already told the ADA you would turn it down but that I needed to confirm with you before I made it official.” She added soothingly, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I work for you. I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to.”

That had been one of Koronov’s two iron-clad conditions for her to represent him. He’d made her promise to do what he told her to, even if it sounded crazy. The other condition had been that she wasn’t to push for answers to any questions he refused to discuss.

So far, the second one hadn’t been a huge issue. He hadn’t been the least bit coy about owning up to being drunk as a skunk when he’d tried to go supersonic in a car. He readily admitted the police were right to have charged him with every single crime they’d accused him of.

The weird bit was he didn’t seem to care if that was made clear in court, either. The only way he wasn’t going to jail if his case went before a jury was if he bought off a juror?—

“Are you a mobster?” she blurted in abrupt alarm.

“No, no, and hell no!” Alex exclaimed.

It was her turn to sit back and study him. That was the first sign of agitation she’d ever seen from her taciturn client. Now, why did suggesting he might be a mobster set him off like that? Was he finally lying to her?

She leaned forward and planted her elbows on the table. “Are you familiar with the concept of attorney-client privilege?”

“Yes, of course,” he answered scornfully.

“Do you understand that it’s ironclad? Even if you tell me you’re a mass murderer, I’m not allowed to reveal your confession to me and I’m still obligated to defend you as vigorously as I’m capable of doing.”

“I am not an uneducated man, Ms. Wellford. If I say I understand a concept, then I fucking understand it.”

Their gazes locked and clashed.

“Okay,” she said, conceding the staring contest to him. “I get the feeling there’s more to your answer than you’re telling me.”

“What answer?” he asked blandly. Too blandly.

“Whether or not you’re a mobster. That’s by far the strongest reaction I’ve ever seen from you. What’s the rest of the answer?”

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