“My mom’s Korean, so it’s my dad’s last name, and I guess she didn’t want to give me a Korean name,” I said. It was the usual questioning I got, asking about my name and my heritage—or where I really came from, because people always said there was ahint of somethingin me.
“No time for chit-chat,” Nina said. “I’ve been searching for a way to put a dagger in Victor Pemberton’s side—and his family’s—for a while. I want to help you.”
Jacques placed a hand on my shoulder. “And what does that entail?” he asked. “He’s not being used as your scapegoat.”
“Oh gosh,” she chuckled. “Calm down, Jacques. That’s right, I know all about you. I know you’ve worked for Sanctum for years, alongside other agencies. You’ve also got quite the assets to your name. It’s a shame I heard you got fake IDs. I like the name Jacques. It’s very French. Do you speak the language?”
His hand on my shoulder tightened. “No, I’m named after my grandfather who was French,” he said, and I felt awful for not knowing that, but that was probably just my body’s way of punishing me for putting it through this stress so early in the morning. “What terms are you helping us on?”
“Oh, you’re a package deal,” she chuckled.
“Where are—” Maya started, pressing her lips together, making them all glossy. “Donovan and Artemis.”
“They should be coming,” Jacques said. “These terms...” He continued to push.
Nina sighed. “The terms are, I offer you my resources, we fight this thing, we go dirty if we need to. I’ve got a legal team, they’re absolute bloodhounds. The team you’ve got are scrappy, I’ll give you that, but—”
“Only if my team can continue to work with yours,” I said. “They’ve done a lot of work, and I need to know they’ll be properly included in all of this. I know how big cases can really make people’s lives.”
“I can arrange for that,” she said. “Today, you’re going in to be put on the stand and questioned. If you change counsel now, I can have them request a continuance.”
I shook my head. “I want this over with. I want to—I want to give what I’ve got, and I want to go.”
“You know they’re going to drag this thing out,” she said. “My people can make it go away.”
There was a cool relief to the way she said it. I wanted it to all go away, I wanted it to all cease. I just wanted to be alone with Jacques and not have a pit open in my belly at the thought someone might try and kill me. “And what about the threats on my life?”
Nina gestured to me—or Jacques. More him, probably. “I have armed guards working here, they will not let any threat on your life through those doors. Even Victor is being frisked. He has money, sure, but I have more.”
“Nina isn’t one of the bad billionaires,” Maya jumped in with. “She’s—”
“I can speak for myself,” she said, now walking out in front of me. “My family, the Ashford family have always inherited and abused wealth, forcing those without money to become slaves. Maya wrote an article on the topic. I, on the other hand, I had wealth. I was married—my late husband, Ronald Furst, died a couple of years ago, and I inherited it all. We have no children. And we’d always been philanthropic, but now I’m old, I just want to make the world a better place. And if I can do that by taking out these families who sit on boards, in their penthouses, hoarding wealth, then I will.”
She filled me with hope—but I didn’t know if I could trust her. She was nice and sweet, like a typical old lady, but she was a billionaire, and I knew to be scared of those. No ethical billionaires, and eat the rich. All those slogans were right on the tip of my tongue. And yet Jacques’s touch kept me grounded, kept me being me, or the me who I had been, which wasn’t pissed off and angry. I was soft and compassionate.
“What do you say?” she asked. “Let me help you, and we’ll bury thebastard.” A big smile formed across her face. She was practically glowing to cuss him out.
***
I’d never seen someone destroyed in a courtroom before. To see someone’s face crumble, and people use their words like they were knives, slashing away at flesh, all before they went in deep for the kill. That’s what I saw when Victor Pemberton took the stand to talk about his company, Nexovex.
I hadn’t wanted to be in the same room as him, but I was, and I was happier for it. He’d been there when I’d taken the stand beside the judge, and the people asking questions had let me say entire sentences without interruptions—unlike the practice with Jacques. And looking out and seeing Jacques standing at the door at the back of the room, acting as a guard, it was nice.
Lena and Dillon had enough material to go off that the thumb drive hiding inside Mr. Thimble wasn’t called upon until the last minute. And by that point, I don’t think it mattered what Victor Pemberton had to say, he was as good as imprisoned for several counts ofcriminally negligent homicide. It had been his call to put the products out even though he’d known death was a side effect—and there was no warning of it on any of the products—which just seemed irresponsible.
Nina’s legal team had also come in at the last minute and requested my name be written out of any public court documentation—it was a bunch of legal jargon, but it was granted. I couldn’t believe it. I almost went running right to Jacques, but I didn’t. Artemis and Donovan had found uniforms too, so I had an entire team of people there for me.
For the first time in months, I could relax. I could be me, and I could probably go to my apartment again and water my plants. Oh god, my plants were either taking over or dead.
***
I cried happy tears, sobbing and laughing as we went back to the car. I had Mr. Thimble, who weighed a little less, and was without the hardness of the thumb drive inside him.
“What do you want to do first?” Jacques asked.
“I want to go home,” I said, wiping my tears. “I just—I wanna go home and I want to sleep in my bed.”
At the underground parking garage, a car pulled up in front of us. Nina appeared in the rolled down window. “You did a great job in there,” she told me. “This doesn’t seem over, so if anything happens, here’s a number you can call.” She handed me a weighty card with a phone number embossed and gilded. “And, if anyone asks, keep my name out of it. I still have a lot of good work to do.” She winked at me then her car drove off.
