by Lexi Blake
Noah nodded. “Sure, man. That’s it. And you’re both healthy people with sexual needs, so you’ve talked about it and why not have sex while she’s here? It only makes logical sense, right? What’s her ring size? Because women like rings to go with their marriages.”
David chuckled a little. “What’s the over/under on a quickie Vegas wedding?”
Henry frowned. “I’m not getting married.”
“Wanna bet?” Noah asked with a smirk. “Because even the paralegals think this won’t take more than six weeks.”
He’d completely lost control. When he’d had a solo practice, he hadn’t had to worry about any of this shit. He’d been the overlord and everyone had fallen in line. No one would have gossiped about his love life. Not that he’d had one for years, and then he’d had a train wreck. But no one would have dared gossip then. Not where he could have heard it. That would have led to someone getting their ass handed to them and potentially being blackballed in the legal community.
David had told him he was making a mistake with Alicia. And then Henry had cut him out of his life for a year and a half. It had been David who’d picked up the phone when Henry had needed a friend.
He’d been sure he’d known what he was doing back then. He’d known that he and Alicia could rule the fucking world together.
All he wanted from Win was to have her by his side. He didn’t want to rule the world anymore, but he might want to build a world, a private world with her.
“Am I making a mistake, David?”
He couldn’t miss the way his best friend’s jaw dropped before he covered his shock. David sat up, his elbows on the conference table. “I don’t think giving Win a second chance is a mistake. I think the mistake you’ll make is putting a time limit on it. This case is starting to fall into place. We’re going to have several possible alternative suspects, and the forensics aren’t as solid as the DA would have everyone believe. This case could be over before we expected it to, and then what are you going to do?”
He didn’t like thinking about it, but David was right. Every single person who came forward talking about some of the bad shit Brie had been involved in brought them closer and closer to potentially getting the case thrown out due to lack of evidence.
Even the time of death had come out in their favor. According to the ME, Brie Westerhaven had died around eleven P.M. The body wasn’t found until midnight. That put Trevor and Bellamy Hughes back into play and it just might take Win out of contention if Henry’s meeting with Alicia went well.
What would he do if he got Win’s arrest thrown out? If she was free to go back to Durham and continue her life?
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I haven’t thought about it. We’ve tried to stay in the now.”
“I don’t think it’s working for you,” Noah pointed out. “You got crazy eyes when David mentioned Michael Malone. Crazy eyes don’t lie. My brother’s eyes right before he gave in and married Shelby? Yep, they were crazy. I don’t get what’s so hard about it. Win’s awesome. I like the hell out of her.”
“I don’t want to get involved in that lifestyle again,” Henry explained. “Even if she never goes back to television, there will always be celebrity associated with her name.”
“You’re afraid you’ll slip up,” David said, his eyes narrowing. “This isn’t about Win. It’s about you.”
He was saved by a knock on the door. The receptionist poked her head in. “Mr. Garrison, Alicia Kingman is here to see you.”
He never thought he’d be happy to see her. He stood up and gathered his file. “Show her to my office, please.” He turned back to his partners. “I need someone looking into those cash transactions on Trevor’s accounts.”
“I’ve got a phone conference with the forensic accountant from McKay-Taggart,” Noah replied. “She says she’s got some interesting info for us. I’ll let you know what she’s found.”
David watched as Henry moved to the door. “Think about what I said. You were saved by the bell this time, but we’ll talk again.”
“When did you get all chatty? You know, you were more fun when you made your living hitting other people and trying to hold on to a football.” NFL pro David would never have tried to turn a conference into a relationship discussion.
David stared at him, his eyes serious. “Ever since I realized my best friend wasn’t superhuman and that there was way more to life than money.”
Henry stopped because the memory of the day David was talking about was clearly etched in his brain. David had already started his transition from pro athlete to lawyer. He’d been working as a first-year when Henry had called. It had been his rock bottom and David had flown across the country, picked him out of the dive bar he’d been holed up in, and gotten him into rehab.
He owed David. “I will think about it.”
He walked into the hall. He wasn’t sure he could think about anything else.
* * *
“Hello, Henry,” Alicia said, settling into the chair across from him. “I heard a whole lot about how I ruined you financially, but this place is pretty sweet. Nice view.”
She was looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows with a spectacular view of the Hudson. It was a ridiculously expensive piece of real estate, but it didn’t prove anything.
“Yes, I can’t take credit for that. Drew Lawless owns the building.” It wouldn’t hurt to remind her who he was in business with. “He was kind enough to allow us a floor for our offices.”
But he had to be careful because he needed Alicia to cooperate. The last thing he needed was to get into some crazy war with his ex-wife that could land his current girlfriend in the big house for a murder she didn’t commit.
Alicia sat back, looking utterly perfect for the part. He could see what she was going for. Femme fatale. The witness who might be able to bring the whole investigation to a close or who could throw the heroine of the piece straight in the slammer. Alicia was wearing a retro-looking sheath dress, her hair in a perfectly Hitchcockian updo. She’d likely had her makeup professionally done in case she couldn’t avoid the paparazzi. The woman did know how to look good on camera. She crossed her legs and sat back. “Yes, I know all about your silent partner. Mr. Lawless is an intimidating man. If he wasn’t already married, I might be intrigued. Hell, who cares that he’s married. I’m definitely intrigued.”
“You should try it.” Henry had met Shelby Lawless. He would have no problem representing her after she took Alicia apart.
Alicia laughed. “Ah, you think the wife can take me. You know I’ve been taking Krav Maga classes for my new movie. I might surprise you. It’s all about one of the first female spies. Very interesting. The director is yummy, too.”
He was sure the man was. The only thing as important to Alicia as a director’s credentials were his looks. “Well, we all know you live to fuck your directors.”
“There’s the Henry I know. See, darling, I told you. You can be perfectly evil without a drop to drink. You didn’t need to stop. The liquor made you quite entertaining at times.”
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He wasn’t going to order her out. He wasn’t going to strangle her. He was going to maintain control of his temper for Win’s sake. Because Win needed Alicia and he needed Win.
He opened his eyes and Alicia was staring at him, an almost-concerned look on her face. “I need to talk to you about the night of the murder.”
Alicia went silent for a moment before she replied. “You care about her.”
He was not getting into this with her. “I know you had a conversation with both Taylor Winston-Hughes and the victim at the party.”
She leaned forward, putting one perfectly manicured hand on his desk. “Oh, Henry, I’m sorry. You really care about her. It’s the only reason you’re not shouting at me. I thought I could come in here and rattle your cage a bit, but you’
re not going to let that happen, are you?”
“I need to know how firm you are on the time you talked to Win alone. I need to know if anyone else would remember that you were out there on the balcony with her.”
She looked softer than he could remember. “Wow. I did not expect that. I like the girl. She’s very kind. She doesn’t know this, but I have a reason to care about her. When I was a young actress, nineteen, actually, my first husband had an aggressive form of cancer. I married him because I knew how much he loved me and I knew he wouldn’t live long. He was my high school sweetheart. The funny thing is, I would never have married him if he’d been healthy. I knew I needed more, but when Brad was given six months to live, I took him with me to L.A.”
“What does Win have to do with this?” He knew her first husband had died. The tabloids claimed Brad Kingman had been her only true love and she’d never gotten over him, so she chose a string of losers who couldn’t capture her heart. He’d been one of those losers.
“We didn’t have any money. When he got bad and I couldn’t take care of him, I applied for special housing that would let me stay with him. I got turned down by everyone. Win was maybe fifteen, but she was already active in the foundation. I’d read about her, knew her story, and I’d heard she could get things done despite her age. I got a job as a cater waiter at one of her fund-raisers and when I could get that girl alone, I gave her my sob story.”
“And you had housing the next day.” He knew what Win would do.
Alicia nodded. “I got two months with him because of Win.” She stood up and walked to the windows, her fingers brushing away tears. “Believe it or not, I thought I might be protecting her from you. I thought you might have decided the best way to get back what you lost was to marry into some serious money.”
“I did that when I started the new firm, though it was more of a business marriage.” It wasn’t something he was proud of, but it did seem to be working out nicely. Despite the whole betting-on-his-love-life thing, it wasn’t horrible to have partners.
“The Lawless boy,” she surmised. “So you don’t have any interest in the billion dollars Win’s going to come into in a few months?”
This was where Alicia didn’t know him at all. “I prefer to make my own money. When I met Win, I thought she was a townie working her way through grad school.”
“That must have come as quite a shock.”
“Can you help me with the timeline or not, Alicia?”
She turned back, looking at him. “Ah, so you didn’t handle it well, then. What did you do when you found out? You know you can say some truly terrible things. Henry, you have to see that she’s not the little nitwit they showed on television. They call it reality TV, but there’s nothing at all real about it. Not only did they likely give her scenes to play, but there’s also editing, and believe me, they can make a person look like a complete moron with the right editing.”
He wasn’t sure why she cared. He knew he shouldn’t get pulled into talk, shouldn’t give her any room at all. “I’ve never seen her show.”
“Good. Don’t watch it because it doesn’t mean a thing,” Alicia replied. “I have no idea why she did that stupid show, but I would bet Brie Westerhaven talked her into it.”
At least they were close to being on the subject. “What do you know about their relationship?”
“It’s gossip mostly, though I did recently spend some time with Wes Westerhaven. He speaks quite highly of his daughter’s friend. Thinks Brie would have done better if she’d gone to college with Taylor. Anyway, the gossip was mixed and mostly kinder to Brie than Taylor because Brie has deeper ties,” Alicia explained. “Though you can always read the truth under gossip, and it’s usually one of the people involved who starts the gossip in the first place.”
“What do you mean ‘kinder to Brie’?” He couldn’t think of why anyone would be kinder to Brie. Apparently she’d spent a lot of time blackmailing people.
“Some people thought Taylor . . . sorry, you call her Win. Anyway, a lot of people in the beginning thought Win was nothing but a hanger-on. Making money off something Brie had built, though she didn’t really build anything. That’s a big thing in Hollywood—the hangers-on. After the show went big, Win joined, and that looked like jumping on board without taking any risk. And some people think the whole getting-too-thin thing was all about attention.”
Henry felt himself flush with rage. “She was anorexic. It wasn’t about fucking attention. She nearly died.”
“Well, darling, you didn’t ask me to tell you the truth,” Alicia said with a shake of her head. “You wanted the gossip, and you should know that if this goes to trial, it will likely come up. It’s not fair, but it’s true. And by true, I mean anything but the truth. They’ll drag up all kinds of old rumors about Win fighting with Brie over Hoover. It’s completely ridiculous because he’s a moron, but it was good for the show.”
He found the entire idea of the show distasteful. He couldn’t help himself. He was already fielding calls from producers who wanted to know who Win’s agent was because they wanted first rights to her story. So far, she’d told him she didn’t want to talk to anyone, but how long would she hold out? “I don’t care about the show.”
“Oh, you care about it. That’s plain. You hate the thought of her doing it, of her opening herself up like that.” Sometimes Alicia could be like a mind reader. Sometimes she could look into his freaking soul and pull things out that disturbed him. “You’ll sit around and wonder how long it will be before she needs that kind of attention again because you don’t understand why she did it the first time. So in your head, it’s something that can happen again, something that will happen again. But I don’t think it’s like that. Not for her. I think Win had just gotten out of college and she was looking at going to work or having some fun with her friends. She got sucked in. I’ve seen it happen before. She’s out now and I don’t think she’ll ever go back. Not in that capacity.”
“What does that mean?”
She sighed, the sound a bit weary. “It means she’ll never truly be out of the public eye and you should think about that. She’s the Billion-Dollar Baby. Do you understand what a miracle it was that she lived? They never found any of the other bodies, but that baby lived. How amazing is that? No one can explain it. She’s a living, breathing miracle. People magazine will run a story on her every now and then simply because she’s incredibly wealthy and tragic. No matter how quietly she tries to live, they’ll find her and write about her. They’ll make movies about this case. I can assure you of that. And when she decides to settle down, all that press will be about the man she’s chosen.”
It turned his stomach. He didn’t want that scrutiny. Not in his personal life. He could handle it in his professional life, but he wanted his family to be private. Family. Was he thinking that way? He never had before. Now he was wondering what it would be like to have a couple of kids with Win.
“You need to toughen up or let that girl go.” Alicia leaned over, both hands flat on his desk. “You know, you didn’t mind the press in the beginning.”
“I didn’t realize what sharks they were.”
“No, you were the shark back then. You were the biggest, baddest predator in the ocean, and that was exactly what I loved about you. Yeah, I said love. I might not be good at being in love, and my love might not mean as much as someone like Win’s, but I loved you, Henry.”
“None of this matters. I’m certainly not going to change my mind. We’re done. I won’t ever go back to you.”
“But you won’t move forward either,” she replied. “I know it was a mistake for us to marry. We’re oil and water. You got caught up with the sex and the power, and then you were in a spiral. I was angry that I wasn’t enough. You were supposed to marry me and show everyone how worthy I was. Because if a man that smart and successful wanted me, how could I be anything else? Turns out
I’m exactly what you said. I thought you could lift me up, but all that happened was I managed to drag you down.”
“We seem to have two different versions of the story. We should never have gotten married in the first place. I was drunk and we were in Vegas. The sex had been good and I wasn’t getting any younger. I thought you would come back to New York, but again, I don’t think properly when I drink that much. And none of this has anything to do with the case at hand. I don’t want to go over our divorce again.”
“But it’s important,” she replied. “Do you know why I was so damn mean in the divorce when I didn’t have to be?”
“I have some theories.” Coldheartedness was one of them. Greed was another.
“Because the minute you called David and he took you to rehab, you were done with me.”
“I was done with you the minute I found you in bed with your costar,” he explained.
“I didn’t even like him. I wanted you to notice me again. Once the sex had worn off, you were more about your work than our marriage, and I couldn’t handle being second in your life. So I acted out like a child. I do get that. When I couldn’t even get you to talk to me, I forced your hand.”
“No, you forced me to pay.” That was what bugged him the most. He hadn’t wanted a thing from her. No cash. No connections. And she’d found a way to make him give up everything that meant something to him.
“I did. I thought maybe you would rethink the matter if you realized how far I was willing to go, but I was wrong. Once you’re done with something or someone, you don’t look back.”
He’d gone back to Win. He couldn’t seem to help himself. How would he handle it if she gave in to the vultures and wanted some of that fame and social power back?
Was it better to let her go now?
None of this was helping him. All this talk was doing was making his gut clench at the thought of all the mistakes he’d made before. Win seemed like calm in a storm, but he knew how quickly that could change.