Now it was Abby's turn to drop her jaw, and she looked back at Valentine.
“You're suing us?” she asked.
Valentine was clearly at a loss, which Ari had been counting on. He cleared his throat.
“They haven't agreed to anything yet – Ms. O'Dell is a very generous young woman, her main concern is her grandmother's well being. Against my advice, she has stated that she has no wish for monetary compensation. But I strongly believe she has an excellent case, and if IDHS prolongs this invasive investigation any further, or if they attempt to keep my clients from seeing one another again, I will sue this department, IDHS, Cook County, and you, personally.”
Ari had always wanted to be a lawyer, from a very young age. Most of the men in his family were lawyers, so it ran in his blood. He'd loved watching shows set in the legal world, had loved going to work with his father. But it had never been his dream to work in corporate law – he'd wanted to be a trial lawyer.
There was just something so invigorating about matching wits with a person you knew you could eviscerate at any moment.
“You can't threaten me!” Abby babbled. “I'm a state employee!”
“You are,” he agreed, nodding his head and standing up. “Which makes you partially responsible for this mess. So finish up your pointless investigation and leave my clients in peace. I'll be contacting this office at the end of the week to see how things are progressing. Ms. O'Dell?”
He didn't wait to see if Valentine was going to come with him, he simply grabbed his briefcase and strode from the room.
When he made it to the parking lot without the sound of footsteps behind him, Ari thought maybe he'd overestimated his abilities. He'd really only had that morning to prepare his little speeches, drum up some kind of legal magic act, so he'd been kind of impressed with himself in there. It had certainly worked on the social worker.
Saint Valentine's a little harder to impress, I guess.
As he was unlocking his car, though, Ari heard a small cough from behind him. Someone clearing their throat. He turned to find Valentine standing behind him.
Even after all the time they'd spent together, Ari still couldn't get over what a chameleon she was – a shapeshifter, really. At night, she looked like some sort of makeup guru, a club kid fashionista. Wearing high heels that almost brought them eye to eye, and tight clothing that left very little to the imagination. An Amazonian, a glamorous goddess.
During the day, though, all that was washed away. Wavy chestnut tresses were pulled up into messy buns. Sequins and spandex were traded out for denim and cotton, and that god awful cardigan that was constantly trying to drown her. Makeup was scrubbed away, leaving her several shades paler, and looking several years younger. Out of her “Saint Valentine costume”, she seemed ... smaller. Younger. More vulnerable.
That was the real Val. Smart, sweet, comfortable. That was the face that was burned onto his brain, her real one. Those dewy lashes – all her own, the false ones thrown away the night before – blinking away tears as she begged him to let her stay.
That was the face looking up at him now.
“How did you know all that stuff?” she demanded, wrapping her oversized cardigan tightly around herself.
“Del, at first,” he said. “He skimmed over the situation when I blackmailed him to let me back in the club.”
“Blackmailed,” she whispered, and he could've sworn there was a hint of smile on her lips.
“And then Nurse Crockett, I spoke to her this weekend. She let me know which facility your grandma was staying at – after that, all it took was a couple phone calls to the right places.”
“Her medical records,” Valentine continued. “How did you get those?”
“A couple more calls to the right kind of people. I have friends in medical law and family law, they know how these things go, they gave me some pointers. IDHS will drop the investigation against you soon, tomorrow or next week,” Ari guessed.
“That's good. It's been ... hard.”
“I can imagine.”
Whoops, wrong words to say right now.
“I'm sure you can,” she chuckled darkly. “Up there in your ivory tower, I'm sure you know exactly how this feels.”
“Once upon a time, you liked it up in my tower,” he reminded her. She snorted.
“Yeah, right up until I found out you weren't prince charming. You were the big bad wolf, the whole time.”
“Not the whole time. Not at the end.”
“Especially at the end,” she snapped, then she pressed her hand to her forehead. “No. I'm not getting into this. I didn't ask for your help and I don't think we needed it, but thank you, anyway, Aaron.”
Oh, he hated that name. He narrowed his eyes at her.
“Let me break this down for you, St. Valentine,” he said, walking closer so he could loom over her. “I had to break several laws and basically sell my soul, all just to get dirt on Del so I could get into the club. Then I had to give up twenty-five thousand dollars just to be able to speak to you. That was all in twenty-four hour span. After two more days, I all but solved your legal issues with IDHS, and have pretty much given your grandmother back to you. I may have done some shitty things to you, and I may have fucked up in the end, but even you can't deny that I'm trying to make things right, and to be honest, I think I'm doing a pretty good fucking job.”
Ari expected a fight, and was ready for it. Valentine was a pretty passionate person.
Or she might run away – it was another thing she tended to do a lot.
But neither happened.
Instead, her glare slowly melted away, and much to his surprise, her eyes filled with tears.
“It was awful,” she breathed, and he stood upright.
“What?”
“I didn't know what was going on,” she was still speaking softly, but he could hear her better. “That Abby lady was outside my grandmother's hospital room with a doctor, and he kept apologizing, but she was like a robot, like she didn't even care, and they told me I couldn't see Gam-Gam. That I wasn't allowed to see her. Not that day. Not the next. I began to think it would be forever. And I just ... I kept thinking ...”
She wasn't looking at him anymore. She was staring off into the distance next to him, her eyes watching the road. Two fat tears rolled down her cheeks, and were quickly followed by more. She raised her hand to her mouth, her sweater sleeve wrapped around her fist, but she made no move to brush away the tears.
“Kept thinking what?” Ari asked.
“I kept thinking ... if only you were there,” she sighed gently. “You would know what to do, what to say. Who to talk to, who to yell at; you're good at stuff like that, but I'm not. And I wanted to call you so badly, but I couldn't, because you were ... you're ...”
“The worst,” he finished for her. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and nodded.
“The absolute worst. Everything was shit and it felt like I was in hell and you were just the fucking worst.”
After the auction, Ari had told himself it would be a long road. First step would be to get the look of hatred out of her eyes. Next would be convincing her that he'd been lying to his father, not her. Maybe, eventually, somewhere down the road in the distant future, he'd get to touch her again. But it certainly wouldn't be any time soon, so he'd kept the thought of it out of his head. He'd treat her with professional courtesy until she gave him a sign that she was ready for more.