Chapter
Seventeen
Kate and Landon sat on the couch in her family room while Jax lounged peacefully beside her. She stroked his black fur, and she could hear him purring. Jax had taken a liking to Landon, which was unusual, as he wasn’t normally that loving with anyone except her. She was convinced Jax was a great judge of character.
This evening routine was becoming common for them. Landon picked her up from work most days, and when he couldn’t because he was chasing down Pierce or trying to develop other leads, Cooper was always there. They refused to let her go anywhere alone outside of her office.
The approach was a bit constricting, but being attacked in that garage had really shaken her.
“What’s on your mind?” Landon asked.
“Just thinking about everything.”
He gently placed his hand on top of hers. “You’re doing amazing, Kate. Even with all of the uncertainty, you’re doing your job very well. You should be proud of yourself.”
“I’m just taking it one day at a time.” She paused. “I confronted Bonnie about all the strange things happening to my files and documents.”
“That she didn’t do it, and I actually believe her.” She could barely believe it herself, but she didn’t think Bonnie was behind the sabotage. “And I confirmed with both the building security and our firm’s security that there have been no breaches of our office.”
“Which means you have a mole, even if it isn’t Bonnie.”
“I know. Isn’t that disturbing? I have enough threats and problems coming from the outside. The last thing I need is someone working against me from the inside. I’ve still got my eye on that junior associate I told you about.”
“We could set up a trap. Ferret them out.”
“What’re you thinking?”
“Tell everyone on your team about some key files or something you’re working on. I could set up a camera in the war room and catch the person in the act. It’s worth a shot. We don’t really have anything to lose.”
“Let me think about what I could use, and then we can plan it. You can put the camera in late one night after the rest of the staff is gone.”
She looked down and realized they were still holding hands. Something about Landon’s touch felt completely right. He steadied her, grounded her, like no other man ever had. It was like everything she’d gone through had led her to this specific place with this amazing man.
“Is there something else on your mind?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Her thoughts went beyond her growing feelings for him. She felt the need to let him see her true self. The one no one else had ever really seen. But she wasn’t sure how to even talk about it. “Landon, you opened up to me about your past, and based on everything you’ve been through, I think you might actually be able to understand.”
“Understand what?”
She looked up into his eyes and felt reassured that he wouldn’t judge her. He wouldn’t view her differently because of her struggles. “When I talked to you before about some of the issues I’ve had, I left out the most difficult one.” She took another deep breath, trying to find the courage to reveal her darkest secret to him.
“You can tell me, Kate. You accepted my past. Whatever it is, I’m here to listen. I want to know all about you, not just the public persona super lawyer that people know.” He gave her a small smile.
She believed him. He’d only ever been honest and straightforward with her about all of the pain he went through. It was time for her to verbalize something she’d only said out loud to God in prayer.
“I’ve struggled with depression for years, and at times like these, with all the stress and anxiety building, I have to be extra careful, because I’m on a roller coaster of emotions.”
His eyes widened. “Really? I would’ve never known.”
“That’s the thing. You can be totally functional, and the outside world can’t see it, but the battle rages in your head. I’m able to put on a smile, but inside it’s much uglier than that. There are days when I find it difficult even to get out of bed. I push through, and it’s better now than it was years ago. I’ve made a ton of progress and really gotten it under control. But it’s still a constant fight for me.”
“Did this happen after the death of your parents?”
“I think that was the catalyst, but it got really bad in college. When I told you that my faith saved me in more ways than one, that’s really true. It’s still not easy, but without God’s love, I honestly don’t know where I’d be right now.”
He squeezed her hand. “You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, Kate.”
“The strength doesn’t come from me. When I was only relying on myself, that’s when times were the darkest and ugliest. You’re the only person I’ve ever told about this. It’s not exactly something I’m proud of. But if you sense something is off with me, then that’s why. It’s one of the reasons I stay at work so much and throw myself into my cases. It’s easier that way. It’s a coping mechanism.”
“I get it. While you’re at work, you’re keeping your mind busy. There’s no time for you to allow your emotions to control you.”
She couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. He understood her feelings more than she ever could have expected.
“You’re not alone, Kate. I’m here, and I’ll help get you through this trial. Just remember that. This isn’t a solo fight.”
“But that’s what I’m used to.”
“I know, but it doesn’t have to be that way anymore.” He leaned in closer to her.
She could feel his warm breath on her cheek as she stared into his dark eyes. His lips parted slightly, and she tilted her head up toward him, hopeful for what was next.
A loud buzzing from her phone startled her out of the moment. She reached for it and read the message. “It’s just the review team letting me know that they haven’t found anything of note yet in the current set of documents.”
She set down the phone and looked at Landon, but it was clear the moment between them had passed. Sadness washed over her, and she realized just how much he meant to her.
But unfortunately, it was time to get back to business.
“When do you expect to actually see documents about Acreda?” Landon asked.
“I’m not holding my breath.”
“And if you don’t get anything?”
“We’ll be right back in court in front of Judge Freeman.”
He nodded. “What’s our timeline looking like in general? What’s next?”
“I’m going to push to get Royce Hamilton’s deposition scheduled. I want more relevant documents before I depose him, because I’m only going to get one shot at it, but I can at least get the date on the calendar to put some pressure on them.”
“Coop and I have been doing some digging into his past.”
“Anything interesting?”
He looked down. “Sad, actually. His wife and baby died many years ago in a car accident.”
She sucked in a breath. “I’m all too familiar with that kind of tragedy.”
“Yeah, I wondered how you would take that news.”
“Losing my parents changed my entire world, and I can’t even fathom what it would be like to lose a child. I don’t trust Royce, and if he’s behind Ellie’s murder, then he should pay. But at the same time, my heart breaks over hearing something like that. Wondering how those events shaped the man he is today.”
“I’ve also learned the hard way that tragedy isn’t an excuse, but it sometimes is an explanation. As far as we can tell, Royce lives alone in a huge mansion in Buckhead. Well, not completely alone because he has a full staff, but he never remarried after losing his wife.”
She couldn’t help but feel empathy for the man. They shared something that she wouldn’t wish on anyone.
“Are you okay?” Landon asked.
“Yeah. Just brings back a lot of memories.” She still thought about her parents a lot, but she’d come to a place where she focused more on the happy memories and not on the accident.
He frowned. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you.”
“No. We need to be transparent and open with each other about what we know. I’d much prefer honesty over you trying to spare my feelings. I’m tougher than I look.”
He laughed. “You’ve demonstrated your toughness. I would never question that.” He paused and sobered. “I just don’t want to hurt you, especially if it’s not necessary.”
“In this instance, you did the right thing. Knowing as much as I can about Royce will help me prepare for the deposition and for the trial.”
Jax hopped onto her lap, and Landon laughed again. “I don’t think he wants me moving in on his territory. I better watch how close I sit to you.”
“Nah. He really likes you.” And as Kate spoke, Jax walked from her lap onto Landon’s.
“You know, I never thought of myself as a cat person, but Jax isn’t so bad.” He smiled at her. “And neither is his owner.”
The next day, Kate sat in her office, waiting for a meeting with Ethan. She shuffled papers on her desk, looking for the document review summary prepared by the team. She’d just had it yesterday, and now it was gone. Someone had been in her office again. Her personal space was being invaded—and most likely by someone she worked with.
Lord, with each passing day, I face more threats. I need your strength and wisdom now to help me navigate through these troubled waters.
Her prayer was interrupted by a knock at her door. Beth stood there with Ethan beside her. Kate had instructed Beth not to let Ethan come to her office without an escort anymore. She couldn’t trust those she once thought she could.
“Thanks, Beth.”
Beth smiled and left Ethan with her.
“Kate, I’ve been worried about you.” He took a seat. He looked sincere.
“You should be, given what I’ve been subjected to.” Her answer came out a bit gruffer than she intended.
“Listen, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to meet. To assure you that MPC had absolutely nothing to do with what happened to you. There’s no way I would associate with a company that was trying to harm one of my closest friends.” He reached out and grabbed her hands. “You have to believe that.”
“I believe that MPC would deny it.”
He let go of her and sat back. “You’re letting your litigation brain cloud your rational judgment. Show me one shred of evidence linking MPC to your attack. From everything I’ve heard, this sounds like a random assault. It happens in Atlanta all the time.”
“Excuse me if I’m a bit clouded. Being physically assaulted might do that to you.” She took a very deep breath, trying to calm herself, as she was getting amped up. But the fact that Ethan was completely denying MPC’s involvement let her know that he was either willfully ignorant, or worse. And she didn’t want to contemplate the worse alternative. “This isn’t the only thing that’s happened to me, Ethan.” She didn’t want to give him too many details, but she had to say something. “I was threatened before by someone who told me to back off of this case.”
“And that’s exactly what they told you?”
“Well, no. Not exactly, but it was the basic message.”
“Did they mention MPC?” he asked.
“No. MPC is too smart to be that overt and leave a paper trail.”
“You realize that this sounds very conspiratorial.”
She shook her head. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“Kate, we’ve been through a lot together over the years, and I would hope that we’ve built up enough trust and respect so that when I give you my word on something, you believe me.”
“Look me in the eyes, Ethan, and tell me you are one hundred percent sure that MPC wasn’t behind what happened to me.”
His hesitation told her all she needed to know. Her heart broke, knowing she’d probably lost his friendship forever.
“Don’t be like this, Kate. The last thing I want to do is argue. That isn’t why I came. I wanted to check on you. To see how you’re doing.”
“So this isn’t a work visit?”
“Everything is a work visit at this point, isn’t it?”
“Exactly. And speaking of work, we’re still anxiously waiting for you to comply with the court’s order.”
“Wait a minute, we have been complying. I’ve sent you two productions since that order came down.”
“Yeah, funny you mention that, because none of the documents in those productions mention Acreda.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You’re really focused on that one drug? Because I was under the impression you had a short list, and that list is what we’ve been complying with. I bet if you pull up those documents right now, you’d find drugs from the list.”
“Yes, some of the drugs, but not one specific drug, which makes me very suspicious about why you’re hiding information on that one.”
“If you want to jump into the abyss, then far be it from me to try to stop you. But you’re wasting your time. You’ll get your documents as outlined in the order, and when you do, you’ll see what a waste this detour has become. But hey, it’s just more legal fees for you, right?”
“How dare you? You know this isn’t about the money for me. And for that matter, this case was taken under contingency fees, which you also know. Why are you acting like this?”
“I’m going to let this slide because you went through a traumatic event. You clearly think that MPC was involved, and that is causing you to misjudge the entire situation. As a friend, I can overlook that. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”
Did he really? Or did he have some ulterior motive for this meeting? Kate held back a sigh. “While you’re here, why don’t we put Royce Hamilton’s deposition on the calendar?”
“Fine by me. He’s ready to go whenever you are.”
“I’ll be ready to go once I have your completed document production. Do you have an ETA on that?”
“Two weeks.”
“Fine. Let’s do his deposition soon thereafter.” She flipped through her calendar and proposed a few dates for him to take back to his client.
Ethan stood. “Before I go, out of curiosity, why the hang-up with Acreda? Do you think you have some special theory or something?”
“I never said I was hung up. Just that I wanted the documents, and for some reason you haven’t sent me any regarding that drug yet. They’re relevant to what was happening with Celix. Drugs developed at the same time by members of the same team. How could I not investigate that?”
Something she couldn’t read flashed through his eyes—worry, fear, anxiety? Whatever it was, it let her know that Ethan knew more than he was letting on. They both did, but he was the enemy here, with polar opposite goals. She didn’t think it prudent to push him when she didn’t want to be pushed.
“Anything else?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No. Just take care of yourself, Kate. Regardless of what you think, I would never want you hurt.”
Those last words actually sounded sincere. Or maybe it was just that she so desperately wanted to believe him.
“What do you mean, Pierce is gone?” Landon asked Cooper. Cooper had invited Landon to the K&R office to talk.
“We’ve been trying to make contact with him for the past week with no luck. I’ve scouted out all the normal places, and I put one of my guys at his home address. No activity whatsoever. We’re doing some digging to try to track him down.”
“You don’t think MPC took him out? Surely that would be too suspicious.”
“You’re right. I don’t think they killed him, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t send him away. Maybe even paid him off? I wouldn’t put that past them. A payoff is nothing.”
“Pierce didn’t seem like the type, though.”
Cooper nodded. “Maybe under normal circumstances, but he isn’t dumb. If he started to feel the heat, he could’ve realized that he didn’t want to end up like Ellie. Maybe he thought it was the only viable option.”
“What a mess.” And that was an understatement. They couldn’t catch a break.
“But that’s not all. One other thing.”
Landon’s antenna went up. “What else do you have?”
“We’ve got the video footage from Kate’s war room at the firm.”
“Uh-oh. You’ve got something?”
“No. That’s the strange thing. No one took the bait.”
Landon waited patiently for Cooper to load the video and play it on the large TV screen on the wall.
“There was a lot of useless stuff, just the team working. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Well, we made an effort. It was a good idea. We’ll just have to monitor things, and Kate will have to be careful.”
“Yeah. If more stuff happens, maybe Noah can come up with another solution to track down the culprit.”
“That sounds good.”
Cooper stood up and leaned against the corner of the table. “So I hear you two had a talk.”
He let out a breath and thought back to the conversation. “Yeah. It wasn’t easy at first, but I’m glad I did it.”
“Noah is too. I knew that if you just took a step in that direction, he’d welcome you back.”
“I got the sense he’s had a bit of a rough go too.” Landon paused. “I’ve been so consumed with my own problems that I haven’t made time to care about anyone else. I’m ashamed of how I’ve acted.” The guilt was still there even though he believed that Noah had turned the page.
“Noah has forgiven you, and he wouldn’t want you to carry around that guilt. We all have enough burdens to bear.”
“I guess you’re right. I should probably go talk to Kate about all of this.”
“Watch your back,” Cooper said.
“Always.”
“I wasn’t expecting a visit from you in the middle of the day,” Kate said, happy to see Landon. But her mood changed quickly when she sensed that this wasn’t a social call.
“There are two things we need to talk about.”
“Okay. Sit down and let’s talk.” She closed her office door behind him as he took a seat.
“I just came from the K&R office. Cooper showed me the footage taken last night in the war room.”
“Just give it to me straight.” She prepared herself for the worst. Or for the possibility that Bonnie had been playing her, which would really sting.
“The videotape showed absolutely nothing.”
She felt a mixture of relief and disappointment. “Then it’s a dud. I was hoping to get some resolution to all of this.”
“I agree, but just keep an eye on things. If anything else happens, let me know. We’ll come up with another way of attacking the problem. Between all of us, we should be able to figure out something, and maybe the best-case scenario is that this was all a fluke. We’re all on edge right now. Maybe it was just strange coincidences or mistakes.”
“I don’t think I could be that off base, but I’ll definitely let you know if anything else happens.”
Landon tapped a restless finger on his knee. “The second thing is not good news. Pierce has gone completely off the grid.”
“What do you mean?”
He rubbed his chin. “He’s gone. We can’t track him down at his usual spots, coming or going from work or his home.”
Fear and dread filled her heart as tears threatened to fall. “Don’t tell me that MPC killed him too?”
“We don’t know, and both Cooper and I believe that he’s alive. It would probably raise too many flags for both scientists to be killed in such close proximity.”
“What do you think happened, then?”
“He could’ve been bought off. MPC makes him disappear. Sets him up in a comfy beach house somewhere outside the States with a hefty dose of cash.”
“Is he the type of guy who would accept that?”
“He probably didn’t have much choice, if you know what I mean. The last time we met with him, he mentioned that MPC’s security officer was asking around and trying to make sure none of them spoke to anyone about the case or the drugs. MPC may have decided that since Pierce worked with Ellie, he was a liability.”
Her mind filled with awful scenarios. “Wow. This just keeps getting more insane by the moment. How can they do this? And who is calling all the shots? It has to be someone with power, and in my mind, all roads lead to Royce Hamilton.”
Landon walked around to her side of the desk and took her hands. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I’m beginning to wonder if this is getting too dangerous for you.”
She pulled her hands from his. “You can’t be suggesting that I just walk away?”
“I didn’t say that, but we might get to that point.”
“No. I will not abandon this case or my client. Mrs. Wyman deserves justice for what MPC did to her daughter, and I will not stop fighting for her.”
He gave a short nod. “Then you may have to deal with further enhanced security protocols.”
“Whatever you need to do so I can see this thing through. I’m not giving up.”