Large metal containers were being unloaded from a cargo ship. But it was the men facing the camera holding machine guns across their chests that had the breath punching from my lungs.
My body shot forward as I tried to make sense of what Grace had found. “You . . .” I was barely able to look up at her. “You found this in his safe?”
It wasn’t like I wasn’t well aware of the shady shit that went down at the docks. The mess my brother and his wife had gotten themselves into was proof of that. The cases I’d represented. The things I knew. Almost touching, but always on the fringes.
But this?
This could be a bombshell.
My spirit shook. What was this bastard involved in?
Terror ripped through her body when she nodded. “Yes . . . it was in a secret compartment at the bottom.”
She started to rush, leaning forward, “This was why I said that I didn’t want to use it unless absolutely necessary. I don’t want my children involved in this. Honestly, I don’t even know what it means. All I know is that my having it is the only reason my children and I are still at my grandmother’s. I went there because I didn’t want him to think I was cowering or hiding. That I would face him out in the open. I . . . I told him I made a bunch of copies and, if anything happened to me, they were going to be sent to every news media outlet that I knew of.”
“And he backed down?”
She exhaled heavily. “I think it was the only reason he didn’t find a way to stop the divorce. He was scared. But over time, I think he’s come to believe I’m bluffing.”
“Are you?” I challenged, not sure how far she would be willing to go. The danger something like this might pose.
Nausea swirled through my guts, my mind riddled with what Thomas had told me he overheard.
Bitches who don’t obey need to bleed.
Her chin lifted, and she shifted, switching the legs she had crossed. My eyes got locked there, snagged on the motion.
On all that smooth, silky skin.
I could still feel it burning under my needy hands.
I was slammed with it—a convulsion of lust.
“I think you know by now that I will do whatever it takes to keep my children safe.”
She dug back into the same bag that she’d pulled the folder from, the same one she’d come in with the other day. She started pulling out a wad of that cash.
I flew out of my seat and was around my desk in a flash, sitting down on the edge of the chair next to her and shoving her hand back into the bag, my voice lowered to a hiss. “For the love of God, woman, put that money away. You think I don’t know where it came from?”
And if it did come from where I was betting, there was no chance that piece of shit was going to let it go.
Taken aback, she blinked at me. “We already discussed that this is just another case for you, Mr. Jacobs, and I know your services don’t come cheap.”
“I’m not taking your money.”
There I went again with the crazy talk. Seemed that, when it came to her, I couldn’t stop it from flying from my mouth.
Still, that mangled, black spec in the middle of my chest was making the decision for me.
Grace blew out a surprised breath. “Yes, you are, Mr. Jacobs. You’re taking this money, and you’re going to pretend you don’t know where it came from. I can’t sit here in good conscience and let you do this.”
“I don’t want your money.”
“Everything changed when you took me on as a client.”
“Everything changed when I saw you sitting at that bar.”
More craziness.
Unstoppable.
But no one had ever made me feel the way Grace did.
I tucked the money back into the bag, reaching over her so I could zip the satchel closed. It brought us too near, her spirit dancing out from her flesh, the girl’s presence so profound I could feel it shaking through me.
Our eyes locked, and I got lost there. In that deep, teal-blue ocean. The depths of her gaze unfathomable.
Entrancing.
“I’m taking this case on, pro bono.” My words lowered with the command, my lips moving two inches from hers while she watched me with some kind of awe and shock and horror.
Our bodies were so close, I could physically feel every erratic beat of her heart. Could almost hear the swoosh of the blood thumping through her veins. Could taste the desire that came off her skin.
“Mr. Jacobs.”
I grabbed her by the back of the neck, hauling her to the edge of the chair, our noses touching. “Call me that again, and I’ll have you bent over my desk,” I warned.