Page 11 of Justice's Reward
“And then?” Adley asked.
“I never heard from her again until she tried to get me to chat with her again around Pit’s wedding. She came by, and I told her to take a hike, that I wasn’t interested in a repeat. She left. Then, in the middle of June, I got a call from her that she was in the hospital and I needed to get there,” Justice paused. The pain in his eyes was getting to her, and she didn’t need to have that to help her client. She needed to keep her distance.
“Did you go?” Adley asked.
“I did, though I took Pit and Ariel with me.”
“I don’t know why you didn’t let me go, Justice,” Ruthy groused.
“Because I didn’t want to escalate the situation, Mom.”
Adley hid a smirk at his tone and Ruthy’s look at his words.
“She did try to contact Justice one other time before that. Remember she called, and the FNG at that time told her you were out of town? It was when you went with Pit to pick up that new mobile smoker for the restaurant,” Ariel said.
“I’d forgotten that. I didn’t call her back. I thought she was just wanting a repeat.”
“Let’s go back to the visit to the hospital. What happened?” Adley asked. She had a page of notes, but she needed more information.
“We went in to see her. She was in the labor and delivery area of the hospital. She informed me I’d gotten her pregnant and that we needed to get married. When I said we weren’t getting married, but if it was my kid, we would share custody and I would pay for what he needed, she cried,” Justice said, sighing.
“I just chalked it up to hormones making her cry, but it seemed off,” Ariel mentioned.
“Okay, so then Ian’s born and…”
“Ian was born, and he was mine. I knew as soon as I saw him, but we did the blood test to confirm. He looks exactly like a picture Mom has of me. I paid her rent, bought double of everything so she could have what he needed at her apartment, and I’d have what he needed here. We were splitting days, but every time I’d go to get him, she’d want more money before she would let me take him. She begged me time and time again to let her live on the compound. I didn’t trust her. No reason that I could pinpoint, but it was that whisper along the back of my neck saying something’s off,” Justice trailed off.
Adley waited, seeing if he would continue. Sometimes clients needed a little time to gather their thoughts.
“So, something must have changed because you have custody of him, I’m assuming.”
Justice took a sip of his drink, then stared into Adley’s eyes.
“Yes, four weeks ago, I got a phone call from Gina’s neighbor. She’d seen Gina leave and not take Ian. I’d been paying her a couple hundred dollars to keep an eye out. Each time before I took Ian, I let her know so she wouldn’t have to keep watch. I hadn’t told her I was taking Ian, so she was worried. She walked over and could hear Ian crying inside. She called, and I drove over there immediately. The building super let us into the apartment. Ian was in his crib, in a dirty diaper, crying. When I changedhis diaper, he had a horrible rash that he hadn’t had three days before when I’d had him with me. She’d canceled on me picking him up the last two days before that. Pit had the building super sign and notarize a statement telling how he found Ian alone. I offered her twenty thousand dollars to sign all rights away to Ian and leave us alone. I didn’t want her around him ever again. When he was a teenager, I would have told him what happened and offered to let him meet her but not when he can’t protect himself,” Justice said, pausing to take a drink.
Adley looked at her notes. She had a decent amount of background to start her investigator on research, and it was getting late. She had plans tomorrow, and honestly, she needed to put some space between Justice and her. Him talking about his sonwas making him entirely too appealing. She would help him as a client, but she wasn’t going to get involved with a motorcycle club ever again.
“Okay, let’s stop there for tonight. I know you’re tired, and I need to think this over. I’ll contact my investigator tomorrow morning and get them started digging into Gina. If you think of anything else, give me a call. I think the captain would have scared Detective Stanza enough that you shouldn’t see him again this weekend. I’m a little concerned that, after being denied the arrest warrant, he lied and said he had one. I’m curious how the captain will handle that. If anything happens, call me immediately,” Adley said, standing up.
Justice stood up and led her to the door as she said goodbye to everyone. He walked with her out to her Jeep. She was curiouswhy he followed her out. He paused after she unlocked her car, and he opened her door.
“It seemed like you had a history with Detective Stanza. How worried do I need to be about him?” Justice asked.
“He’s asked me out, and I’ve turned him down multiple times. About six months ago, I represented one of his collars. I tore him apart with all the things he’d done crossing the line. Before the verdict could come in, my client was killed in a hit-and-run. The investigation didn’t find anything, but I have my suspicions. Three months ago, one of his collars came to me for representation. Two weeks after I accepted their retainer, they suddenly changed their mind and took a deal from the district attorney without consulting me. So, I’d say, very worried becausehe seems to operate outside the justice system.”
“Thank you, Adley, for representing me and being honest. Will this put a target on your back with him? I don’t want you in danger,” Justice said, his finger trailing across her hand on the door. She fought not to shiver at his touch.
“I’ll be fine. I’m tougher than I look,” Adley said, sliding into the driver’s seat and starting up her Jeep. Justice closed her door and stepped back. Adley backed up, turned, and drove out of the compound, catching a glimpse in the rearview mirror of Justice still watching her.
She drove toward her place. How was she going to do this? When she wasn’t around him, she could keep her distance and flip him off as her answer when he asked herout. But when they were close, he smelled and looked entirely too inviting.
When she was in her teens, she’d promised herself she wouldn’t fall for a bad man. Her mom had, and look what had happened to all of them. She loved her mom but never wanted to follow the path her mom had.
Adley wanted the dream—a man who adored her, wanted to give her children and a happily ever after, along with understanding that Adley would never be completely normal. Oh, she worked hard to act like it, but in certain situations, she still went back to that dark place. Therapy had dulled some of her responses, but if they hadn’t gone away by now, Adley didn’t believe they would.
She drove home on autopilot, wondering if she could keep Justice out of prison. She didn’t believe he had anything to dowith what happened to Gina. Justice and the rest of the Saint’s Outlaws MC were too smart to get caught up in something like this, which brought her back around to Gina herself.
Until she had some more information, she didn’t want to give her suppositions, but Justice’s recollection of his time with Gina screamed that he’d been roofied. There were so many drugs that could be used for this, and they had no way of knowing which one since Justice didn’t go to the hospital.
