“Against me?” Katarina blurted out.
“No! No,” Jack laughed waving his hands in front of him to try and defuse the situation brewing beforehim. “There was an assault, earlier. An un-named man punched Gillian. We’ve advised he go seek medical treatment while we handle things.”
Katarina arched a brow. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”
Gill had his boys on backup in case whatever the fuck he was trying to do here went sideways, I bet.Not that she could prove it.
“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?” Jack flashed his easy smile. The one he used to schmooze his way into just about everything. Once upon a time Katarina thought it was charming, or funny. Not that long ago, she considered Jack a friend. As she’d known him for years, met him before she even met Gill at the firm…but it seemed Jack chose Gill in the divorce.
“Can’t say I do. I’ve been having a night out with new coworkers and my boyfriend, as you can see.” Katarina motioned at Jessie and Rex with a swoop of her hand. “And, if I were omnipotent enough to know what happened to a man I haven’t spoken to since he was arrested, then I’d be a highly paid oracle by the council…and not an accountant.”
Jack laughed sheepishly, raking his fingers through his slicked back hair. Much like Gill he was tall and bulky for a human, only with fluffy brown hair that he kept out of his face with gel. Jack licked his lips nervously, “Listen, Katarina, I’m not saying you had anything to do with it. But you know who did it, don’t you? I mean…Gill was only here because of you.”
Katarina’s lips curled, causing Jack to pale as she talked. “You admit Gill was here to seek me out, when he’s been clearly informed by the council and by my legal council, I want nothing to do with him? That I’m seeking a restraining order against him?”
Jack’s mouth flapped open and shut in befuddlement.While not completely a lie, I know for a fact Sera mentioned to him while he was behind bars that she was helping me with a restraining order.Jack scrambled for words, stumbling over the syllables. “Yo-your-your legal council?”
“Yeah, my legal council. Sera Whitler, who was with me the entire night, as well as Jessie and Rex here. They can attest to thefact I never saw your client here. And I definitely would never condone anyone assaulting him!” Katarina dropped her hands on her hips, power radiating through her as Jack shrank back.
“Katarina, come on, help me out here,” Jack grinned, but it was more of a wince. “Friend to friend.”
“Friend to friend? Tell me, Jack. Is Gill seeking full custody? As his legal council, you’ll surely know what he’s intending now that he’s out of prison?” Katarina smiled, her customer service voice firmly in place.
“Well, I can’t speak on the topic of conversation between my client and I—”Typical.Katarina was done.
“Have a good night, Jack,” Katarina cut him off with a darkened look. “I hope you find out who assaulted your client. I would suggest you talk to the Enforcers about that, but we both know that the firm likes to keep these kinds of incidents inhouse.”
Katarina brushed past him, head high and swagger in her step.So, he was here, and likely Nik punched his lights out, then he called in his pack of goons to try and protect himself.She didn’t have time to deal with his buffoons. Nik was missing, and The Executive was too, which didn’t bode well. They needed to figure out what they were intending to do here tonight.Obviously, the goon squad won’t tell me.Why waste her time with them?
“Katarina, wait.” Jack whirled around, forcing her to stop mid-stride. “Look, we both know Gill’s a bit of a stickler.”
She twisted, inch by inch, slowly with fury etched in every feature. Nose scrunched, upper lip curled, eyes narrowed to slits, she was a cobra inches from striking. Her fangs glinted in the casino lights. “Stickler?”
Is that what he calls putting hands on me because Gill couldn’t take care of me? Is that what he calls mentally manipulating me for years till I was broken? Is that what he calls grinding me down till I was a dull, lump of rock that no longer resembled my once shimmering self? A stickler?
“No body wants this to be messy. And you got a divorce, nice and clean, everything’s cut and dry. No reason todrag Isabella through this, you know how vulnerable kids are at this age.” Jack crept forward and Katarina could see her eyes flashing red, reflected in his. He stopped, standing straight. “What if I talk him into 50/50? Huh? A shared, equitable division of parental rights.”
Katarina wanted to sink her fangs into his neck. Rip out the tendons and sinew and leave him with nothing but a gaping hole in the neck. Shared? Equitable? No, Gill didn’t get those things. He didn’t get to hurt her—destroy her! And eat his fucking cake too. He didn’t get to hurt Isabella on top of it all.
“Jack,” she ground out the sound of his name through her teeth. “Never speak to me without my legal council present. Ever again. And tell Gill I’ll see him in court. I’m going for full custody, and I won’t leave a single parental right left in his name.”
The pack of lawyers all looked at each other, but when they glanced at Jack, their ring leader straightened up. Dusting his hands off on his jacket, he walked past her, back out into the belly of the casino. The others followed quickly after him, leaving without another word.Sera will forgive me for name dropping.And while she’d definitely have to figure it out later, for the time being, she was at peace.
“Baby girl,” Jessie’s voice was thick in her ear as she finally glanced his way. Jessie planted his hands on his hips, gulping down air greedily. “We got a problem.”
“What?” She twisted into him, panic that she’d ignored signs of stress for him in exchange for getting her witty barbs in. Only toseethe problem when she inspected him for injuries. It tented his pants and she could feel the heat radiating off him. “Oh.”
“Private booth. Now.” Jessie jabbed a finger at the elevator. “Rex—”
“I’ll just go hang out by the bar and see if Buttons can tell me where Nik ran off too!” Rex laughed as he rushed off, hooves clicking rapidly over the tile. Katarina had a single moment to recognize what was going on till her back was against a wall in the elevator and Jessie was grinding his body up against her. Hislips captured hers swiftly after. The world spun around her as he grabbed as her hips, hoisting her off her heels.
“Was it something I said?” She laughed, breaking the kiss for a moment to gulp down air.
“Baby girl, I’m a simple man. You beat up men, either with a tire iron or with that smart mouth of yours, doesn’t matter. Makes me want to breed the fuck out of you.”
Her giggle was cut short as Jessie kissed her again.Okay, first I’ll take care of that knot—THEN we’ll find Nik and deal with The Executive. We both need to blow off steam anyway.
Chapter Thirty-four:
