Chapter 2

two

Savannah shook out her hands and her arms as she stepped up to the door that might just change her life. She couldn’t believe she’d finally gotten the gumption to make this call, to potentially do something about the awful situation she found herself in.

Because if she thought about it long enough, she just wanted to cry—dreadful tears that would steal her soul and threaten to never give it back.

This was her chance. The one person she thought could potentially win a case for her, the one lawyer who wasn’t going to shove her out of the office and tell her she was insane for even trying or that it wasn’t her place. Because damn it, it might not be her place, but she deserved some justice, and her sister-in-law deserved some sort of compensation.

Didn’t she?

Savannah pushed open the door, glancing down at her feet as she stepped inside. When she looked up, she froze.

“Fuck,” she mumbled under her breath.

The woman from the cemetery sat behind a large U-shaped mahogany desk, one with at least three parts, two monitors, and a phone, and she clearly worked here. Now she really was going to think that Savannah was stalking her.

“I swear I didn’t know you worked here.” Savannah put her hands up in front of her, already regretting coming here. She couldn’t leave though. She had to get some kind of justice, and Athena Pruitt was her only option.

“And for some reason, I don’t believe you.” The woman’s shoulders were so tense, like she was ready for a battle.

Savannah couldn’t blame her. She’d seriously messed all of this up, and she hadn’t even gotten a chance to explain. That was the worst part. She just wanted to tell this woman how bad she felt for screwing up in the first place, not that she would have even known if they hadn’t accidentally crossed paths.

“I’m so sorry. This is so messed up. If you’d just let me explain—”

“I’m not interested in an excuse.” The woman stood up and came around the desk. She had her long dark hair pulled back in a braid that was halfway down her back. Her shoulders were rigid, but only added to her perfect posture and the curves of her body. Which, damn, did she have curves. Savannah hadn’t seen them under the jacket she’d been wearing at the cemetery, but this woman was a goddess in human form.

Savannah gulped.

She couldn’t feel her feet to even begin to move. She couldn’t make herself walk even if she tried right now. The woman pursed her lips, the bright red of her lipstick showing off their fullness, right along with her dark, dark brown eyes. She was the perfect example of the queens that Savannah dreamed about so many times, the ones she was always attracted to, the ones she never ended up staying with because they always left her.

She was too frumpy.

Too chunky.

Too boisterous with her laughter.

Too loud.

The litany could go on, but Savannah stopped herself just in time, because the goddess of a woman standing right in front of her was giving her an inquiring look. Had she missed something in her daydreaming? Had she missed the literal step she was supposed to take?

“Are you coming?” the woman asked.

Savannah whimpered. Did this woman even understand what she was saying? Probably not. That was just Savannah’s teenage hormone brain taking over her thoughts for a second.

“Right,” Savannah cleared her throat and followed.

She was led to a small conference room that held a table fit for maybe six people max, but even that would be pushing it. There was a spread of treats. This woman had told her in the initial phone call that it would take anywhere from one to two hours. She just hadn’t realized she was speaking to the kid of the dead woman she kept leaving flowers for.

“Stay here,” the woman said sharply. She shut the door loudly as she left.

Savannah tried to bolster herself, but she was off her game now. She was as ill-prepared as she had been six months ago. And it had taken her that long just to get here. Taking off her jacket, Savannah hung it over the back of a chair and chose a seat. She couldn’t stomach any food or drink. She’d promptly throw it right up. That’s how bad her nerves were.

“She’s the one who was at the cemetery!” the woman’s loud voice came through the closed door.

Savannah cringed. She’d known she’d made an absolute fuckup over that one, but she hadn’t thought it would be that bad. There was another voice, one much calmer, but it was mumbled and quieter. Savannah couldn’t quite make out what was being said.

But she could tell the woman was angry, and that the other one—that Savannah could only assume was Athena Pruitt herself—was trying to calm her down. It wasn’t much longer before the door snicked open and another woman stepped inside.

“So sorry to keep you waiting.” She sat down across from Savannah. “I’m Athena Pruitt. It’s good to meet you, formally.”

“Yes.” Savannah nearly choked on her words. She looked at the door again. Would the other woman be joining them? Would she be taking notes? Savannah honestly had no idea how any of this worked. “I’d apologize again, but I don’t think it would do any good.”

Athena tensed, then she slid her pen slowly from the notepad she’d brought into the room with her. She cocked her head and sighed. “You heard that.”

“She wasn’t exactly quiet. And I don’t blame her. I know I’ve thrown a huge wrench into her day, especially if she is who I think she is.” Savannah grasped her hands under the table, twisting her fingers together hard. Athena was never going to represent her now.

“Tell me what happened, because she was vague.”

“Nothing really.” Savannah strangled her fingers now. “We bumped into each other at the cemetery. I tried to explain who I was and why I was there, and she didn’t want to hear it, so she left and I left.”

Athena stared her down, those cool, icy eyes boring directly into Savannah’s soul, as if she could see the truth under everything. Which was good, because Savannah hadn’t actually lied.

“And why were you there?” Athena spoke slowly, each word was pointed and direct.

If she was this good with her clients, then she must be amazing in the courtroom. “That’s a very long story.”

“I have time.”

On my dime, Savannah thought. Then again, it would make sense that Athena would want to make sure that nothing funky was going on in order to take her on as a client, especially if it involved one of her employees.

“Can you just tell me which sister she is?” Savannah’s voice dropped at the end, already knowing that Athena wasn’t going to tell her anything. She hadn’t said a name once since they’d been in the room, which was very inconvenient for Savannah. “You know what? Never mind. My brother died six months ago, that’s why I’m here.”

“It is,” Athena agreed, but she didn’t seem to want to move forward with the conversation.

“W-well that’s why I was at the cemetery. I don’t live on this side of town, and it was convenient to go before our meeting.” Savannah worried her lower lip. Would Athena believe her? “I used to come more often, and there was a grave next to his that just had a name and never had flowers, and I felt bad.”

Athena narrowed her gaze, her lips thinning ever so slightly, a few more lines appearing at the corners of her mouth.

Savannah hurriedly started again, her voice wobbling with nerves. “And uh… w-well, I uh… I started to bring him flowers, and then I figured I should probably research him and see who he was. And that’s when I found out what he did.” Savannah’s voice broke completely. “And so I found his wife, and I started bringing her flowers last month out of some misguided guilt, trying to feel better about this awful mistake I’d made, and so I was there today bringing flowers to the graves like I try to do as often as I can, and then… well…” Savannah gulped “…that’s where I ran into your assistant.”

Athena hummed and set her pen down on the paper, but she kept the silence between them.

Savannah had no idea what else to say. Should she try to continue blathering or shut up? She really had nothing else to add to the story, but surely Athena could tell she wasn’t lying.

Athena finally picked up her pen again. “You’re here to sue Saint Catherine Hospital and specific doctors for medical malpractice.”

“I am.” So that was that. Savannah would never get a chance to explain what happened, and she was going to be thrust into this space of awkward tension because no one would let her explain. Living with that was going to be hard. “For my brother.”

“Why isn’t his wife suing?” Athena shuffled some papers around.

“Kyla isn’t in a place where she can tackle something like this. She’s still grieving and struggling with not having Conrad there to support her anymore.” Savannah leaned into the fact that nothing would ever come of that mourning. She shifted her focus away from her own struggles and put everything into explaining why she was here in this moment. It was so much more important than fixing her screw up from earlier that day.

“She really should be the one bringing forth this suit.”

“I’m doing this for her, and for the kids. They need the financial support more than anything, but they deserve to know that something happened afterward. Something that means justice.” Savannah knew her passion shone through her words. She’d been told too many times over the last year that she was overdoing it. But this was where that could work to her advantage.

And when Athena looked up at her impressed, she knew she’d managed that at least. “Let’s talk details, because I’m going to need a lot more information than what you gave me in order to contemplate filing suit.”

“Yeah, for sure. We can do that.” Excitement rose up in Savannah. That sounded promising, didn’t it?

They spent the next hour and a half in that small room, going over so many details that Savannah’s head spun. She had so many pages of notes that she wasn’t even sure she could decipher them when she got home that night. But she would, because this was important.

Athena finally stood up, but she held out her hand in a stop motion. “Wait here.”

“Okay?” Savannah said as a question.

“I’m going to talk to Fallon .” Athena nodded sharply, the emphasis on Fallon’s name wasn’t lost on Savannah. Athena didn’t miss a beat, did she?

“Yeah, sure.” Savannah shifted in the chair, trying to un-numb her butt while she continued to wait.

She was the older sister.

Savannah should have been able to figure that out, shouldn’t she? Except, she hadn’t spent that much time trying to figure out what happened to the girls. She’d been too appalled by what had happened to the family. Once again, she found herself wringing her hands together under the table tightly. This was almost worse than speaking with Athena.

Except, Athena had clearly used the last two hours to check Savannah out, to judge if she was being genuine or not. God, Savannah was such an idiot. She should have known that was going to happen before Athena dropped personal information like that. She was a lawyer after all.

The door opened sharply. Athena stood there, her fingers wrapped around the handle, and she jerked her head toward the main office. Savannah scrambled up, grabbing her jacket and her purse and made her way out of the room.

Fallon sat at her desk, a sour look on her face, as if she was being forced into this conversation. Which, perhaps she was. This was the opportunity of a lifetime. Savannah glanced at Athena, waiting for some kind of indication of what she was supposed to do or say, but she didn’t get it. Athena moved to stand by the edge of Fallon’s desk, arms crossed, and she stared Savannah down.

“You need to listen to what Ms. Logan has to say,” Athena said, staring straight at Savannah, but clearly speaking to Fallon.

“I don’t see what difference it’ll make.” Fallon winced, her gaze moving down and up Savannah’s body.

Savannah had never felt more on display as she did now. She’d never felt like she was on the receiving end of a beatdown either, but that was definitely what this was. Or it was about to be. Wasn’t it?

“It’ll fix your mood.” Athena’s lips twitched before she walked away, her heels clicking on the floor like the last few seconds of a time clock. Click. Click. Click. Savannah’s time for floundering was up, whether or not Athena had meant that with her shoes was an entirely different question that Savannah wasn’t going to ask.

Fallon stared Savannah down.

Cold rushed through Savannah, then heat. Like the worst hot flash on the planet. Sweat pooled in her pits, in the backs of her knees, under her boobs. She wouldn’t be able to fix this. Fallon’s look told her that.

“Can we do this somewhere other than here? Like over coffee.”

“There’s coffee here.” Fallon pointed toward the room Savannah had just come out of.

Fallon was unmovable. Why was Savannah even trying anymore? She should just give up. Except if Athena took on the case, they were going to have to see each other far more often. Savannah was already going to have to talk to Fallon to send files over and make her next appointment, so there was no denying that they were going to be in each other’s circle. It would be better for everyone if this was resolved.

“Fallon,” Athena’s firm voice startled Savannah.

She turned around, finding Athena leaning against the doorway and giving Fallon the stare down now.

“Why don’t you go to the wine bar you’ve been wanting to try and actually listen to what Ms. Logan has to say?”

Fallon parted her lips like she was going to protest, but Athena cut her off.

“Now. You’re done for the day.”

Savannah looked at the clock on the wall finding it was just after five. Fallon wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes. She stood up, snagging her purse loudly while she grabbed her jacket from the metal tree right behind her desk.

“Fine. But you’re buying.”

Was that a demand aimed at Athena or Savannah?

Savannah dashed her gaze from Fallon to Athena, spluttering when she realized the demand was at her. “Oh, right, yeah. Absolutely. My treat.” She picked up her tone, trying to make it a happy one.

Fallon dragged her jacket over her shoulders and buttoned it up. “I’ll meet you there.” She walked out without another word.

Savannah stared wide-eyed at Fallon’s back until her brain caught up with her feet. She reached the door and turned around to look at Athena again. “Uh… where am I going?”

Laughing, Athena shook her head. “MILF Wine.”