Page 101 of Forged in Peril

She saw Cameron’s hand curling into a fist, but he said nothing.

“I still don’t understand what I have to do with this,” Bristol said, ignoring the coldness of her comments about Reilly.

Jaclyn was right. The bomb had almost certainly been dismantled or at least secured by now, and the woman’s homicidal fantasies would make no difference.

“Like I said, it was largely a coincidence. When you were working at D&P, you were seen messing around in some restricted files, files relating to allied gang and cartel interests.”

“I saw a file about the attempted terror attack at the mayor’s office,” Bristol admitted. “It mentioned the name Grapas, but I didn’t remember until recently.”

Jaclyn nodded. “Some of the lawyers were sure that you knew too much. Albert wasn’t convinced, but in the end the partners all agreed that keeping you around wasn’t worth the risk, even if you were a stellar paralegal. They needed you gone, but they didn’t want you going to another firm and potentially spilling what you knew. You had to be pushed out of the field entirely.”

Bristol felt hot anger rising in her throat.

Once again, Jaclyn was speaking without a trace of emotion, as though attempting to destroy Bristol’s career was as inconsequential as squashing a housefly.

“So you hired Warrington to assault me?” she asked, surprised by just how much her voice shook. She caught Cameron giving her a warning glance, but at the moment, even the sight of the gun wasn’t enough to silence her.

“Warrington was already drinking too much and getting sloppy,” Jaclyn said, her face contorting with disgust. “He was nothing but a spoiled rich boy who managed to squander every opportunity he was given. He was a liability, just like you were.”

“Sort of a killing two birds with one stone situation?” Cameron suggested before Bristol could say anything herself.

“Albert and some of the other partners had heard him make some, shall we say, off-color comments about Bristol. They decided that if they got you two alone together enough times, he wouldn’t be able to resist.”

“And then they killed him,” Bristol said flatly.

The most painful, humiliating experience she’d ever endured had been nothing more than a ploy to keep D&P’s cash flowing. Somehow, she felt even more used than before.

Jaclyn winced. “Actually, I don’t know anything about that, though I don’t think it was a suicide. I assume it must have been the cartel. D&P was ready to pretend it never happened and let everyone move on with their lives, but maybe they found out about Warrington’s loose lips and wanted a solution with no potential for loose ends.”

Bristol shuddered.

She hoped that none of these people in the gang or the cartel knew she’d seen even a single restricted file, though at the moment, Jaclyn was the far greater threat.

“So, as far as D&P was concerned, it was back to business as usual, at least while they plotted their revenge against FBS,” Cameron said. “Until Bristol showed up here. Right in your office, no less.”

The side of Jaclyn’s mouth lifted in a half-smile.

“I assumed that you were doing the same thing I was, Bristol,” she said. “I thought you were here to help FBS pursue D&P, and that you really did know just as much as the most paranoid lawyers at the firm assumed you did.”

Bristol wasn’t sure whether to laugh at the absurdity of the situation or to cry.

Finally, after so many sleepless nights and days spent looking over her shoulder, the truth was coming out in a way that she never would have expected.

“No wonder they wanted to scare me off,” Bristol said, allowing a humorless chuckle to escape. “And when they realized that their harassment wasn’t working, they went straight to attempted kidnapping.”

“That was a bit of a rogue operation,” Jaclyn said. “Those two goons were hired by D&P to get in your face and scare you, not to try and shove you in a van in the riskiest location possible. I told Albert that hiring a couple of gangbangers for a delicate task like this was a bad idea, but as usual, he didn’t listen to me.”

Jaclyn paused.

She was looking at nothing again, lost in thought, her blonde lashes blinking over striking, spectral eyes.

Bristol felt her muscles tense.

Something was wrong, she could feel it.

Cameron’s expression mirrored her own.

The slightest shift, imperceptible, and yet–

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