Protecting Justice (The Justice Series Book 4)

by Adrienne Giordano

  Fallyn loved a good challenge and she knew who to go to for help. Jordan. The woman knew everybody and could sweet talk a mule into climbing Mt. Everest. She’d have a caterer lined up in nothing flat. “I’ve got it covered. You just take care of Grey and get some rest. Tony and I will handle the career day.”

  “We will?” Tony strolled into the room. “You mean that thing I saw the posters about at Fresh Start?”

  He looked like he was about to run the other way. Fallyn grabbed him by the coat sleeve. “I have a plan, don’t worry. You just keeping being your charming bodyguard self.”

  His grin was pure cockiness. Why did she find that so damn sexy? “That should be easy,” he said. “But you can’t put yourself out there like that. No way. And what about Donald Fox? I thought we needed to find him.”

  “We do.” She gave Syd’s hand a squeeze. “But first I have a career day to handle. And as charming as you are, Tony Gerard, you’re not talking me out of it.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Tony sat on the windowsill in Syd’s office while Fallyn and Jordan did their thing. Watching these two ladies work was like watching a military operation. One that Fallyn shouldn’t be anywhere near. He got that Syd needed help, but this? For Fallyn? Crazy.

  The more he tried to keep her out of danger, the more she fought him.

  Lessons to be learned here because Fallyn’s go, go, go attitude might get her killed.

  Jordan stood to Fallyn’s right, looking over her shoulder at a file Syd had said contained the schedule for the day. Fallyn tapped her pen against the desk. “What about the human resources lady? Is she here yet? She’s supposed to help some of the women with their resumes.”

  “She hasn’t checked in with me yet. I’ll double check with Anita. She’s playing receptionist and signing everyone in.”

  “Okay. Good. How’d you do on the food?”

  “I called the caterer Heather liked and begged. The best I could do on such short notice was sandwiches, cold salads, and a simple dessert tray with cookies and brownies. The sandwiches will be good though. No white bread with deli meat. We’re talking fresh ham and turkey on artisan bread. They have a turkey and brie sandwich that’s to die for. It’ll be good, I promise.”

  Sure sounded good. Particularly when Tony hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Maybe he’d get Jordan to snag him one of those babies.

  And a brownie.

  “Thank you,” Fallyn said. “I knew you’d pull this off.”

  “No sweat. It’s fun. Let me get out there and see what’s happening. Call me if you need me.”

  Jordan left and Tony folded his arms. “I don’t like this. Any of it.”

  Fallyn waved him off. “Of course you don’t. Relax. I’m fine.”

  “How much does she know about you hiding in Syd’s office?”

  “Not a lot. I told her you were a freak and thought someone was following me and wanted me to stay out of sight.”

  Tony rolled his eyes. “Because I’m afraid the shelter residents will rat you out? There’s no way she bought that.”

  Fallyn let out the mother of all sighs. “Hey, I improvised. I was talking so fast I didn’t give her a chance to question it. Did the lab call back yet?”

  That damned lab. He’d tried twice so far, but the woman he needed to speak with was behind closed doors. All damned morning. Women everywhere were rebelling today. “Not yet. Got a couple of calls in though. I’ll try again in a few.”

  His phone rang and he dug it out of his suit pocket. Maybe. Fallyn swiveled the chair toward him, her gaze focused on the phone.

  “Relax,” he said. “It’s Syd.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Hey, Syd, what’s up?”

  “Oh my God.” Her voice had a blade-against-glass shriek to it and Tony stood. “He fell.”

  “Grey?”

  “I didn’t fall!” Justice yelled from somewhere on the other end.

  “Fine,” Syd said. “He didn’t fall, but he somehow landed on the floor, and now, guess what? I can’t get his giant rear back to the couch.”

  Shit. “He’s on the floor?”

  “Yep. Yep, yep, yep.”

  Fallyn stood, walked over to him, touched his arm. “Everything okay?”

  He held his finger up. “Syd, is he hurt? Bleeding? Anything?”

  “His pride is hurt, and I think he may have torn a stitch. And I might kill him, but aside from that, he appears intact.”

  “He’s got to go back to the hospital. This is nuts. He’s not ready to be home and you can’t take care of him. He needs a few more days.”

  “I keep telling him that. Tony, I’m sorry, but I need help and he won’t let me call 911.”

  “Let me talk to him.”

  She handed the phone off to Grey. “She’s not calling 911,” Grey said. “This isn’t an emergency. I don’t want to tie up an ambulance. I don’t need it. I just need to catch my breath.”

  “From the floor.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Listen to me,” Tony said. “I’m coming over there and we’re gonna haul your ass off that floor and into my truck. Then we’re taking you back to the hospital where you will check yourself in again. You almost died once on me. If something happens to you, I’m not living with that. Man, I get it. You don’t want people up your ass all the time. I’d be the same way, but what you’re doing isn’t fair to Syd. She’s worried about you and as strong as she is, she’s not equipped for you right now.”

  “I hate that goddamned hospital.”

  “Well, yeah. But there’s no getting around it. You need a couple more days. Please.”

  The line went quiet. Did that fucker hang up on him?

  “Hello?”

  Syd’s voice.

  Tony wrapped his hand around his forehead and squeezed. The damned tension might give him an aneurism. “Hey. I thought he hung up on me.”

  “No. He just handed me the phone. What’s going on?”

  “I’m coming over there and we’re taking him back to the hospital.”

  “Thank God.”

  “Give me twenty minutes.”

  He hung up and shook his head. Rebelling. The whole friggin’ universe was rebelling against him today. “This is one fucker of a day.”

  He jammed his phone back into his pocket.

  “Go,” Fallyn said. “Take care of him.”

  “I’m not leaving you here. You gotta come with me.”

  “No. I promised Syd I’d take care of this.”

  Ha! As if. Tony cocked his head back, stared up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. He needed a second here. Maybe two. To think. Work a plan. Fallyn alone, Grey ripping stitches. Total cluster. One that wouldn’t have happened if he’d had control of this fucking situation in the first place.

  “You are out of your mind if you think I’m leaving you here. Jordan can handle this.”

  “Yes, but we’re winging this. I can’t dump it on her after Syd asked me to do it.” She waved him off, went back to the desk. “I’ll be fine. You said yourself, it’s not like the residents are going to rat me out. I’ll stay in the office out of sight. Besides, I’m still trying to connect with this Don Fox guy. I don’t want to risk missing that call because of bad cell service in the hospital. Not doing it.”

  He didn’t like it. Not at all. He folded his arms, dipped his chin to his chest and starting doing the math. Drive time from the shelter to Grey’s to the hospital and back would be an hour. Tops. But as slow as Justice was moving, it could take another hour to get him in and out of the car.

  Can’t risk it. He lifted his head. “I’m gonna call someone over here. Someone I trust.”

  Fallyn gave him the mother of all eye rolls. “You are so damned stubborn. I told you, I can handle it.”

  “I’m stubborn? Are you kidding me?”

  She rubbed her temples. “Tony, I just want to get through this and go find Fox. Grey and Syd need you, and I’ll be fine. No one knows I’m here. Stop bei
ng overprotective and go help your friend.”

  “Overprotective? You were in that car with Grey. Someone was tailing you. Before that, you had two close calls with intruders at Heather’s place.”

  “No one tried to kill me. The intruder roughed me up, but that’s all. If he’d wanted to kill me, he could have. Yes, we were being tailed in the car, but the accident happened because of a deer.”

  “You really have no clue of the danger you’re in, do you?”

  She returned to the chair and eyeballed him. “Please. Just…stop.”

  Stop? “I won’t stop. You don’t get it, Fallyn. And I’m not going to wind up with you in a hospital, or worse because you don’t get it.”

  “Oh, snap. You just knock it off with the attitude. Don’t put this on me. This is about you and a boatload of transference on your part than actual danger.”

  “Transference?”

  “You’re afraid to leave me, to not control me and my surroundings because of what happened with your dad and the judge. You’re afraid if you turn your back on me for a second, I’ll end up dead. You need some perspective, here, Tony.”

  Did she just go there? Seriously? “This has nothing to do with my father or the judge. Someone killed your sister over the same information you’re digging into, and you’ve had three near misses and a threat from the president. Who needs perspective, here, Fallyn?”

  “I’m in a shelter with two dozen women, Jordan, and a host of guest speakers. Jordan is the only person who knows I’m here, but if anyone were to come after me, I’d have plenty of people to help me out. I’ll go get my gun. All in all, I think I’m pretty damn safe. Meanwhile, your boss and friend is sitting on his ass waiting for you. He’s the one in trouble.”

  Maddening woman. All he needed right now was a little cooperation. From someone. Anyone. The damned lab, Grey, Fallyn. But, no. She had an agenda and screw everyone else. “This is nuts. You’re being reckless.”

  She smacked a hand on the desk. “I’m being logical. And you’re overreacting! No one is going to bother to me! Will you please get the hell out of here and go help Grey?”

  “Not unless you’re going with me.”

  He saw it. The hardening of her eyes. “I’m not going with you, Tony. Stop trying to control everything. I gave Syd my word I would handle this and I don’t go back on my word.”

  “She’ll understand.”

  “You think?” She shook her head and started shuffling papers, refusing to look at him. “Tony Gerard, you’re fired.”

  “I’m what?”

  “I said, you’re fired. I don’t want you as my bodyguard anymore. Get out of here. Go help Grey.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  The look she shot him was pure defiance. “Oh, I’m serious. As of this moment, we’re done. Finished. Your friend, who’s actually in trouble and needs you far more than I do, is waiting for you. I suggest you get to him.”

  He stood, anger boiling in his veins. “I’ll get someone out front until I can get back here. I’ll call you with his number. Anything goes wrong, you call him and he’ll bust in here.”

  Hopefully, Matt was available. If not, Tony was screwed.

  “That’s not necessary,” Fallyn said, once more staring at the papers in front of her.

  “Sure as hell is. We’re not done here, Fal. When I get back, we’re finishing this discussion.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Matt Stevens was the man. Tony’s former police academy buddy, now a private security contractor, had come through for him and agreed to keep an eye on the shelter for a couple of hours while Tony dragged one Justice Greystone back to the hospital.

  That blowout with Fallyn didn’t help. Unbelievable. The two of them pushed each other’s hot buttons in every way. They’d either have to figure out how to avoid doing that or they’d kill each other one day.

  And Tony would definitely have a heart attack along the way. Just like his father. Boom. Gone.

  “For the record,” Grey said. “I thought I was ready to go home.”

  Finally. Someone giving him a fucking break. Tony came to a stop at a light and glanced over at Grey in the passenger’s seat. “Yeah. I got that part. But seriously, hospitals are usually tossing people out. When the doc is telling you to stay, it generally means stay. But, forget it. We’ll get you back there, and in a couple days, you’ll be good to go.”

  Grey looked in the sideview mirror. “Syd’s still back there.”

  “Did you think she wouldn’t be?”

  “After this morning, I wondered.”

  Now that was funny. “She loves you. And something tells me she doesn’t scare off easily.”

  A loud blinging erupted via the Bluetooth and Tony hit the button. “Gerard.”

  “Mr. Gerard, this is Emily Latham.”

  The lab. Another break. Things were looking up. “Hi,” he said. “You’re timing is good. I have Justice Greystone in the car with me.”

  “Oh, excellent. I’m emailing him a full report, but wanted to let you know we detected Perisoladol in the protein powder sample you gave us.”

  The protein powder. For whatever reason, he hadn’t seen that one coming. “All the other supplements were clean?”

  “Yes, sir. Only the protein powder. It was pure drug. Only slight traces of protein powder, which was probably residue from the bottle.”

  Grey sat a little straighter. “Someone replaced the powder?”

  “Yes. It’s all in my report. Just wanted to give you a heads up.”

  Tony punched off the call and tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. “The protein powder. We need to figure out who had access to it.”

  In the back of Tony’s mind, something niggled at him. He worked through it, ticking away at the events of the past week. Helping Fallyn collect the supplement bottles, searching Heather’s office. The protein powder, he was sure, had come from the townhouse. Hadn’t it? When they were in Heather’s office, Fallyn had handed him bottles, but they’d been vitamins. No powders.

  The light changed and he hit the gas, moving along with the traffic while he backtracked over the last week. What is it? What is it? What is it?

  “Talk to me,” Grey said.

  “Thinking about where we collected all the bottles. Nothing is popping though. I think the protein powder must have been at the house. If it had been in her office, I’d start with Jordan. See if she knew where the powder came from.”

  Jordan.

  The video.

  Heather’s video. Jordan’s interruption.

  “Oh, shit.”

  Tony pulled to the side of the road. “I have to call Fallyn.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  The speakers were done, the residents of Fresh Start were in the kitchen enjoying a late dinner of leftover sandwiches. A handful of them had landed jobs, half a dozen more were going back to school or exploring internships that would refine their marketable skills. All in all, the day had been a success.

  While the residents were busy feeding their faces, Fallyn and Jordan worked on cleaning up the downstairs area that had been converted into a meeting space for the day’s events. Jordan had told her to stay in the office, but Fallyn couldn’t stand it any longer. She had to do something to help that involved physical movement. If any of the women saw her, she’d spin the situation like she always did and disappear up to the loft.

  Fallyn shoved dirty coffee cups into the garbage can and tossed some papers into the yellow plastic recycle bin next to it. Even that, with the stresses running her life lately, seemed a major accomplishment.

  Staying busy kept her mind off the hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. She shouldn’t have yelled at Tony. Should never, ever had used his father and the judge against him.

  It had been the only way to get him to go to Grey. That and firing him.

  He’s coming back. We’ll work it out.

  So why wouldn’t the sick feeling in her stomach go away?

 
Beside her, Anita worked on taking down the overhead screen while Jordan folded up the chairs and stored them away.

  “You made a real difference here today,” Anita said, releasing the screen and sending it whooshing up into its holder near the ceiling. “Thank you for everything.”

  “We made a difference,” Fallyn corrected her, tying up the garbage. Stay busy. Don’t think. “I’m glad I could help.”

  “Sydney was a fan of your sister’s because Heather was one of our biggest advocates. We all hoped she’d run for president someday.”

  “I hoped that, too.” The hollow sensation moved from her belly to her chest. She missed Heather. Right now, she missed Tony as well. He’d filled the void Heather’s death had left and given her a fresh perspective on what was important in her life. “Working with the women today was great. I wish I could have had more face time with them, but I plan to come back when I can work with them individually.”

  Anita smiled and shook Fallyn’s hand. “That would be wonderful. We could use someone with your public presence to keep a spotlight on what we’re doing here.”

  Continuing Heather’s work—that’s what Fallyn wanted to do. Not easy when she lived in NYC, but maybe it was time to expand Pasche & Associates. A satellite office in DC would increase revenues significantly—there were plenty of political messes that needed fixing—and provide an excuse to work with Syd, rebuild a relationship with her father, and see Tony.

  If Tony still wanted to see her.

  How much she’d changed since he’d come into her life a few days ago. She felt unbalanced without him by her side.

  Jordan returned from putting the chairs away and sagged against a table. “I’ll clean up the kitchen once the gals are done in there.”

  Fallyn’s phone rang. She snatched it out of her pocket, hoping it was Tony with an update on Grey. It wasn’t. She almost didn’t recognize the number and started to ignore the call. That’s when it hit her.

  Don Fox. Finally.