Audrey huffed and looked away. “I forget how irritating it is when people read you.”
River waited, knowing how Audrey hated to be pushed.
“I’m retiring.” Audrey’s words came out in a rush. “I know I mentioned it before, and I thought it would be a long way off. But with the heart attack and the Black Pinnacle stuff…” She swallowed and brushed at her eye. “I’m sorry. It’s time.”
“Where will you go?” River asked. She held her mental shields tight so Audrey couldn’t get hold of any stray thought. She didn’t want her to know how River’s stomach had dropped.
“Puerto Rico.” Audrey laughed at River’s look of shock. “I know. But we’ve done a lot of research, and we can get a house on the beach there for practically pennies. We’ll spend our days relaxing and doing just about nothing. Wendy says it will be good to spend time with us and work on her art in a whole new environment.” She reached out and took River’s hand. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not great timing.”
River squeezed her hand. “I’m going to miss you like hell, but you should do whatever it is that makes you both happy. And I expect you to bring me a margarita on the beach when I come visit you.”
Audrey dashed tears from her cheeks. “Well, I’ll have someone bring you a drink. It won’t be me.”
They spent the next half hour talking logistics, and River kept her shields firmly in place. Losing Audrey was going to be losing the friend she’d counted on through so many of life’s difficulties. Someone she’d laughed with, cried with, and been a hundred percent comfortable with. And with the development stuff going on, it really was difficult timing. But would there ever be a good time to lose a friend and business partner?
She couldn’t help but wonder if Audrey’s timing was for the best. If they lost to Black Pinnacle, if everything went sideways, then at least Audrey wouldn’t be there to watch their neighborhood disappear. And she wouldn’t have to watch River’s heart break as she lost her community as well as her heart when Marina walked away for good.
CHAPTER 29
The hospital visithad gone better than she could have hoped, and Marina went to the office feeling better about life than she had in a while. She’d managed Black Pinnacle with the kind of imagination and aplomb that Montgomery had required, she’d had amazing sex with River, and things with her family just might be able to heal so she could have a relationship with them again. Her mom felt a million times better now that the infected organ was gone, and she’d made Marina promise to come for dinner the following week. It had been a request she’d been happy to accept.
Cari was in an equally good mood when Marina came in, and they started the day by getting a list of offers and contracts in motion. She felt focused and at the very top of her game.
After lunch, Marina looked up, bleary-eyed from editing contracts, when Sheila stormed into her office and tried to shove the door closed behind her. The soft-close glass refused her indignation and closed slowly with barely a click.
“What is this?” Sheila dropped a stack of paper on her desk.
Marina rubbed at her eyes. “I don’t know. What is it?” After watching the nightly news and seeing River sitting between two well-known, intelligent, and beautiful reporters, she’d avoidedcalling River, thanks to pride alone. Nothing River had said was out of line, malicious, or even directed at Black Pinnacle specifically. The reporters, of course, had no such compunction and had detailed Black Pinnacle’s way of doing things, lumping them in with other developers who used even shadier tactics. Montgomery wasn’t happy about it, and Rob had given Marina all kinds of shit about her hot situationship looking good on camera, but Marina had stayed focused on the work at hand. She hadn’t given Sheila herself a second thought.
She blinked, refocusing on Sheila, who was standing in front of her desk, hands on hips, eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Don’t toy with me, Marina.”
Marina picked up the stack of papers, deciding to hold her tongue for the moment. It took more than a second for what she was seeing to make sense. Her and River walking in the park. Her and River talking outside River’s shop. Her and River getting onto River’s motorcycle. River on top of her as a gazebo flew overhead, their faces only inches apart. Her and River sitting on a rooftop garden, in a private pod, laughing…
“You’re having me followed?” Marina’s hand shook as she set the pictures down and pressed her palm against them.
“I shouldn’t have needed to. Explain, if you will, why you’re having any kind of relationship with the person leading the opposition against me. Me, your most important client in many ways.” Sheila finally sat on the sofa, legs crossed, arms folded.
Courtroom mask firmly in place, Marina stood from behind her desk. Her mind whirled and spun, indignation, fury, and a sudden desperation to keep her job colliding mid-air. She moved to the couch and sat sideways to face Sheila. “I’ve been doing my job. The one you hired me to do.” When Sheila started to speak, Marina held up her hand to stop her and ignored the raised eyebrow. “No. You were wrong to have me followed. But I can tell you that River Rigel is the voice of her community.You’ve seen her on the news segments. You saw her interview last night. Why shouldn’t I be in her ear? Why shouldn’t I be having conversations about her community that I can then use to inform my work? If someone on the other side of the table is willing to have open discussions with me that work to the betterment of my client, shouldn’t that be what I’m doing?” The words felt oily on her lips, but she kept her expression neutral.
Sheila’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Keep your enemies closer, is that it?”
“Enemy suggests she’s in the wrong. We both know she isn’t, no matter what wording we use. But she is an opponent, and one I’ve been able to talk to.” Marina crossed her arms. “Now please explain why you had me followed.”
Sheila’s lips pursed, and she had the decency to look away. “I’ve been burned before and had no intention of having it happen again. You know I have a certain affection for you, and I believed you’d come around once you understood it was in your best interest to do so.” She looked back at Marina, and her eyes were hard. “If you say you were working on my behalf, I have no way to gainsay that. However, I’m neither blind nor stupid. The way you look at each other is clearly unprofessional.” She swallowed hard, and it looked like she might actually be upset. “We could have been good together, Marina. But you chose that…ridiculous heathen over someone with class who could have given you the world, if you’d just known your place.”
“Are you seriously questioning my client loyalty when I’ve worked so hard to help you save face in light of the allegations being slung at you?” Marina stood, her hands on her hips, her desire to whack Sheila upside the head with a law book too near the surface. She couldn’t even dignify the other things with a response.
“I am.” Sheila stood slowly and pulled a last photo from her jacket pocket, dropping it at Marina’s feet. “As of now, you’reno longer my attorney. Nor will I have anything to do with your firm. I’ll be going ahead with my original plans, except that I’m going to move the timeline up substantially. I’m fairly certain Rigel’s building doesn’t meet code and will need to be torn down.”
Marina looked at the photo sitting on the toe of her high heel. She was coming out of River’s house, just before sunrise. Her stomach lurched and bile filled her mouth. Before she could turn to the wastebasket, she vomited.
Directly onto Sheila’s shoes.
It splattered up her pant legs too, and she screeched like she’d been…well, like she’d been thrown up on. She jumped backward, but it was far too late.
Marina held her stomach and put the other hand over her mouth. Cari came rushing in and stopped abruptly, staring at the grotesque tableau in front of her.
