Subject: Re. Thank you
You didn’t let me down. Emotions are running high right now. Even you, the King of the Sinners has them.
Speak later <3
THIRTY-EIGHT
RACHEL
“Attorney General, thank you for speaking with me on such short notice.”
“Never could resist locking horns with you, Rachel,” David Foundry crooned, his eyes doing more wandering than a bunch of Girl Scouts trying to sell cookies.
The guy was a grade-A creep but he liked me.
Parts of me, anyway.
I could shower later.
“Well, you’ll like locking horns with me today, David. I want to offer you a favor.”
“This sounds interesting. Far more interesting than my original four o’clock call.” He beamed a smile at me. “I’m glad I canceled that for our meeting. What kind of favor?”
“It depends.”
“On?”
“Whatever you need to make something happen.”
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, his enthusiasm waning, he grumbled, “Is this about Currau Valentini?”
“Yes.”
“I already told you if I wade into this, it’ll trigger a shitstorm—”
“I know that you’re concerned about it kickstarting old cases, however, this time I’m not asking you to act out of the kindness of your heart.” Because everyone in the tristate area knew the slimy bastard didn’t have one—but I’d had to try. “I’m asking with something different in mind.”
“What?”
“Luciu Valentini will owe you a favor.”
I’d burned so many bridges trying to get Currau Valentini out, but whoever had made the moves to get him locked away until the day of his death had made it nigh on impossible for me to free him.
If it weren’t such a gargantuan task, I’d be impressed.
“Is it true what they’re saying about Valentini?” he mused.
“In what sense? There’s always chatter, David. Especially about a man like Luciu.”
His look was pointed. “You and I both know what we’re talking about, Rachel. The Fieris have faded out and a certain family appears to have overtaken the power vacuum within the Famiglia.”
I parroted, “Luciu Valentini is a successful nightclub owner—”
“Yes, yes, yes,” David groused. “But has he had a… promotion in recent weeks?”
“Perhaps.” That was about as indelicate as I could be.
David hummed. “Interesting.”
Allowing the silence to hang heavy between us, I held his gaze, willing him to accede to my wishes, wanting the damn clock to tick down even more.
Four hours and fifty-five minutes.
That was when I told Rex he could call me.
I released a soft breath that had him looking at my tits.
“I’ll think about it.”
“When will I have an answer?”
“As soon as I’ve thought about it,” he drawled with a playful smirk. “As always, it’s been a pleasure meeting with you. The next time you want to visit, make it earlier and we can do lunch.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” I lied. “Give my love to Mariel.”
His nose crinkled at the reminder of, ya know, his wife. “She’s pregnant again.”
I arched a brow. “Congratulations are in order.”
“I suppose.” He got to his feet from behind an antique partner’s desk, his arm outstretched. “Don’t be a stranger, Rachel.”
There was no fear of that when he was the only one who could help me with Currau’s case.
“Never,” I vowed, but a smile danced on my lips as we shook hands.
He clung a moment too long, but that smile of mine never wavered. He squeezed my palm with his thumb, a gentle pulsing motion, before it lingered and he finally let go.
Throughout, I maintained his gaze, not commenting on the overly long hold.
“I’ll be in touch,” was all he said.
“Looking forward to hearing from you, David. Trust me, Luciu is a man you want in your corner.”
His eyes narrowed and a soft smirk appeared on his lips.
On red alert because that look told me he already knew what he wanted, I began to back off as he said, “Good to know.”
There was no point warning Luc, not when he’d told me he wanted his prozio, his great-uncle, free at any cost. Still, I prepared myself for that eventual battle.
Not even when I was outside his office saying farewell to his receptionist did I let my relief at being out of there show.
I had no problem dealing with the big guns, but David could get handsy, and my tolerance levels were low. If he’d gotten handsy while I needed a favor from him, that could have been awkward.
“How did it go?” Parker asked me the second our call connected.
“He didn’t try to feel me up this time,” I grumbled as I finally took a seat in my car, and Emile set off.
She snickered. “I’m sure he’s into FemDom. The way he likes it if you slap him down when he gets too touchy-feely.”
“If he is, we should know about it. Get one of the Sinners onto it.”
“Will do. Nothing like that today?”
“No. He’s probably reeling from the last time I slapped his hand.” That had been part of the reason I’d waited a tad too long to play this card. “Still, he’ll bite.”
“He will?”
“He will.”
“So sure?”
“He already knows what he wants from Luciu.”
“Interesting.”
My gaze turned inward, away from the Manhattan traffic ahead of me. “Very.”
“It works to our benefit that he’s corrupt, but I live in hope that one day, you won’t deal with an elected official who’d sell his grandmother for another connection."
“And pigs might fly,” I scoffed. “Anyway, I wasted enough time on Foundry. I need to get on. Has the situation with Whitlock changed?”
“No, but I emailed you a brief—”
We spent the rest of my journey home adjusting that before I let her go for the rest of the day because I knew I’d be wasting more time than I could afford thinking about tonight’s call with Rex.
When I got home, I dismissed Emile for the day as well. I had no intention of going out again, and sure as hell not to the city.
Unfortunately for me, the moment I changed into a less formal suit and went downstairs to my office, Lily bustled in with a bunch of paperwork to sign for the FAST gala.
I didn’t even hear her enter the office. But her hand went to my shoulder and I reacted like she’d prodded me with a hot poker.
We both shrieked as I jolted in my seat, rolling back in my chair with enough force that I collided into the wall behind me. Lily jumped—literally jumped—a good couple of inches off the floor.
If I wasn’t so taken aback, I’d have laughed.
“I’m so sorry!” I gasped. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Neither did I,” Lily muttered wryly. She reached up and cupped her throat. “I’m sorry, Rachel. I didn’t mean to startle you either. I was just concerned. Is everything all right?”