Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

“ T his is not why I hired Benson Security.”

The crisp, clipped tones of Harris County’s assistant district attorney halted Annabelle as she approached the door to the office Benson Security had claimed. Although clean, fed, and watered, she still wasn’t ready to deal with Ms. Grant. The woman was single-minded and intimidating.

“There’s no time to waste,” Margaret Grant said. “You have to get Annabelle out of here and into a safe house today.”

“Ms. Grant,” came the calm, soothing tones of the Benson Security boss, “as I told you on the phone, several times, Annabelle’s physician strongly recommends that we don’t remove her from this building. Her mental well-being is tied to remaining here. She’s convinced that Annabelle may well have a full-blown psychotic break if forced to leave.”

Out of sight on the other side of the door, Annabelle cringed. Great, now everyone knew exactly how crazy she was.

“That’s a risk we have to take,” Margaret said forcefully. “It’s either her mental health or her actual life. Someone’s feeding information to Eddie Hanson. We don’t know who or whether they’re in the police ranks or in my office. All we know for certain is that Eddie will use that information to ensure Annabelle doesn’t testify. Hanson’s a cold-blooded killer, the leader of the most depraved motorcycle gang in the country. This is our best chance to get him off the street and dismantle the Demon Brothers for good. Do you understand how important this is? It isn’t only Annabelle’s life or well-being that’s at risk here. It’s every single person the gang will torture, abuse, intimidate, and murder if we don’t go to trial.”

“I am well aware of the stakes,” Rochelle said evenly.

A hand came to rest on Annabelle’s shoulder, making her start. She turned to find Noah smiling at her and relaxed.

“Sorry,” he said. “I thought you heard me.”

Her cheeks heated. “I was eavesdropping,” she confessed.

He squeezed her shoulder before dropping his hand, and Annabelle immediately missed the physical connection. “Try not to let it get to you. The ADA’s focus is the goals of her job, which affects how she sees everything around her. Just remember that her goals are just that— hers . You need to think about what you’re comfortable doing and do that. It might make other people unhappy, but that’s their problem. Don’t let them pressure you.”

“If I don’t testify, other people will suffer.” Her stomach clenched at the thought. “I couldn’t live with knowing I could have helped them and chose not to.”

Noah’s mouth quirked at the corner again. “I was talking about you leaving the building or staying. Never once occurred to me that you’d renege on testifying.”

That surprised her. “You don’t even know me. What on earth gives you that much faith in my decision-making process?”

“Well, there was our life-and-death situation in the panic room. Which, by the way, wasn’t much of a panic room. Those walls were like cardboard. But I digress.” His dark eyes twinkled. “You’ve also been out for a few days. I got bored, so I read your comics. You can tell a lot about a person by what they write.”

Now her cheeks burned so hot he must have felt the heat from where he stood. She shuffled uncomfortably, unsure where to look or what to do. Apart from her agent and editor, she wasn’t used to meeting anyone who read her work—at least, not in the flesh.

“Uh, um.” She cleared her throat. “You read my comics?”

“Most of us have. You’ve gained a few fans.”

“Are you one? I mean, did you like them?”

“Hell yes,” he said readily, and a wave of relief swept over her. “What’s not to like? The heroine’s smart, skilled, and sexy as hell. And the bad guys get the justice they deserve. That’s my kind of story.”

Annabelle was painfully aware that she was the antithesis of her comic book persona. Jade Justice was everything Noah described. And more. While Annabelle had no fighting skills, was terrified of stepping outside her front door, and wouldn’t know how to be sexy if she tried. Thankfully, it’d been her experience that you could learn almost everything from the internet. Somebody out there had a site called “Seduction for Dummies,” she was sure of it. What she wasn’t sure about was why on earth she was thinking like this when her life was at risk. Being sexy should be the last thing on her mind.

“Come on.” Noah placed his hand on the small of her back, making her shiver and yet again distracting her from the matter at hand—her life. “We’d better get in there before Violet shoots the assistant DA.”

“Not Rochelle?” Annabelle asked curiously. The security team was a mystery, and she found she wanted to know everything about them. Or possibly just sit in a corner and watch them for hours on end. Maybe with popcorn.

“Rochelle has too much self-control to snap. Whereas Violet’s trigger-happy and has the patience of a two-year-old.”

“Should she be armed?” Annabelle lowered her voice as they entered the room and heads turned toward them.

“You try taking her gun from her and see what happens,” Noah muttered.

Annabelle glanced at Violet’s face and silently agreed that taking her weapon wouldn’t be wise. The small Scot glared at the ADA and, as she did so, seemed to increase in size. It made Annabelle’s fingers itch to draw her. She’d make her a morphing superhero. One who doubled in size and strength when triggered. She’d embody the qualities of fierceness and determination. And perhaps be a little too eager to shoot first and ask questions later.

“Annabelle.” Margaret rushed over to her, breaking the spell of her imagination. She placed a hand on Annabelle’s arm. “How are you? I asked Ms. Davis to call me the second you woke up. We’ve all been so worried about you.”

Annabelle took a step back, the lawyer’s intensity making her nervous. “Better now, thanks. Still a bit weak, but fine.”

“Good, good.” Margaret took the hint and removed her hand before folding her arms over the jacket of her severe black skirt suit. “Then we should talk about getting you to a safe house.” She waved a hand to indicate the building. “Obviously, you can’t stay here now. Not after that attack in your apartment.”

She delivered her words with such conviction that Annabelle began to shake again. Every instinct within her told her to run. To hide. To get away from the threat embodied in the smiling persona of the assistant district attorney. She stumbled back and stepped on Noah’s foot.

He grunted.

“Sorry,” she muttered, feeling foolish.

“It’s fine,” he murmured against her ear. “Just remember what I said, okay? You’re in control here. It’s your decision as to how we proceed.”

His words gave her confidence as she addressed the ADA. “I-I can’t leave. I need to stay here.”

Margaret threw up her hands in exasperation, making Annabelle break out in a cold sweat. The ADA had all the power in this situation. At a snap of her fingers, a station full of police would do her bidding. They’d take her away.

Outside.

Where she wasn’t safe.

Where anyone could snatch her from the street and…

A hand settled on her shoulder. “That was then,” Noah said against her ear. “This is now. Be in the present. The ADA can talk, but she can’t force you to do what she wants.”

Annabelle took a deep breath and refocused on what Margaret was saying.

“There were so many bullet holes in your panic room wall that it was completely shredded,” Margaret said. “This building isn’t safe. Be reasonable about this, Annabelle. Your life is in danger, and you must allow this team to take you somewhere safe.”

Annabelle glanced at the faces of the security team as they watched her from around the room. She saw no judgment in any of their expressions. They were simply waiting to hear what she had to say.

“This is your decision, Annabelle,” Rochelle said, earning a furious glare from the ADA.

Annabelle turned to Katrina. “Is my loft fixed? Can I move back in?”

“Are you insane?” Margaret demanded.

Annabelle bit her lip while keeping her attention on Katrina.

The woman consulted her iPad and answered as though the ADA hadn’t spoken. “There’s just some tidying left to do. We had to move some of your belongings to complete the work we needed to do. The last big thing was the mirrored glass shutters for the windows. We didn’t have time to replace your window glass with bulletproof panes, and Noah thought you’d hate it if you had to keep the shades pulled all the time, so we came up with a temporary solution. The mirrored glass will ensure privacy while allowing you to look outside.”

Annabelle blushed, oddly touched. “He’s right. I’d have hated it if my view was blocked.”

It worried her how easily she’d become dependent on a man she barely knew. Noah was a solid presence that seemed to anchor her in this scary new world.

“Mirrored glass won’t stop bullets.” Margaret sounded exasperated. “Or prevent another attack.”

“No, but that’s why she has us.” Violet continued to glare at the lawyer.

Menace practically vibrated from her. Enough to make even the ADA notice and put more distance between them.

“I realize we’re in Texas.” Margaret’s tone dripped with sarcasm. “But I don’t want a replay of the Alamo on my hands. If you recall, that siege didn’t end well for the good guys.”

Evan’s hand shot up as though he were still in school. Annabelle appreciated that he was easy to identify by his quirky, some might say bad, taste in clothing. Otherwise, she would never have known which triplet was talking.

“I know this,” he said, looking pleased with himself. “William Travis and the Bowie knife guy—not to be confused with David Bowie, the singer—died defending an old church from an attack by the Mexican army. They were outnumbered and hadn’t bothered to stockpile supplies beforehand. There’s also something about a cannon firing horseshoes and nails. And then a general called Houston—gonna go out on a limb here and say this city’s named after him—fought the Mexicans by rallying his troops with the battle cry: ‘Remember the Alamo.’ I think it’s a song too.”

“Well done.” Harris patted his brother on the head. “You get a gold star.”

Evan beamed.

Margaret Grant clearly wasn’t amused. “I can see I made a mistake by hiring Benson Security to keep my witness safe.” She turned to face Rochelle. “Please pack up your belongings. You’re no longer needed. My office will take over from here.”

Noah stepped up beside Annabelle, standing close enough for her to be aware of just how tense he’d become. “You mean the office with the leak that puts your client in danger?”

The ADA glared at him. “My office has been protecting witnesses for a very long time, Mr. Merchant. We know what we’re doing.” She focused on Annabelle. “I’m afraid you no longer have a choice in the matter. I’ll have a detail sent over to take you into protective custody while we await trial.”

Could she do that? Annabelle’s mouth went dry. And then Noah moved closer to her, offering his support and strength. The eyes of the room were on her. Waiting for her to say something. Clearly, they believed the next move was hers, not theirs.

Taking what little courage she had in hand, Annabelle wet her dry lips before speaking. “If you do that, I’ll refuse to testify,” she bluffed.

She held her breath, waiting to see if Margaret could tell she was lying.

The lawyer’s eyes were hard as she studied Annabelle. “All it would take is a subpoena to compel you to testify. And with a warrant, I can have you taken into protective custody until you do so.”

Annabelle sucked in a breath as Rochelle stepped forward, holding out her hands as if to break up a fight. “It would be better for everyone if we didn’t let our tempers get the best of us,” she said evenly before looking at Annabelle. “You want to testify, don’t you?”

“Yes,” she said in a rush, unable to look at the determined ADA.

Rochelle turned her attention to Margaret. “And you’d like to have a credible witness on the stand rather than one who’s medically unfit to testify, right?”

Margaret sniffed and nodded.

“Then it’s clear that the best plan of action is for Annabelle to stay in the place that ensures her mental well-being and makes it possible for you to get the result you need. If you force her out of here, you won’t get what you want. We all have to compromise so everyone gets what they need in this situation. Wouldn’t you agree?”

She sounded so reasonable that Annabelle found herself nodding.

Margaret, however, wasn’t as easily swayed. “I refuse to use my budget to finance a bunch of cowboys who’ve already put my witness in danger.”

“First,” Rochelle said, “we didn’t put her in danger. Your office did. Second, we kept her safe?—”

“And third,” Logan said, “thanks for calling us cowboys. Now I feel like a real Texan.” His grin was wide, but his eyes were sharp.

His humor did just enough to defuse the tension in the room to the point where it wasn’t about to explode.

“I’ll pay them,” Annabelle blurted out, literally making the decision as the words left her mouth.

Evan looked outraged. “Please tell me you don’t plan on mortgaging this fine building to do it. You’d be putting your home at risk, and you don’t want to miss out on living here. This area’s great. A few streets over, there’s a goth nightclub squished between an artist’s studio and a retro bowling alley. You can buy Day of the Dead masks from the Mexican deli, and there’s a cinema that shows only black-and-white movies—they even have a pianist for the silent ones. Everywhere you turn, there’s something crazy going on. You can’t jeopardize being a part of this community. It’s totally cool.”

His brothers groaned.

“What?” Evan demanded.

“She’s a-gor-a-pho-bic.” Logan stretched out the word. “So, carry on telling her about all the things she can’t go outside to do, you numpty.”

“Oh!” Evan’s head turned beetroot as he grinned sheepishly at her. “Ah, well, there’s also the swing upstairs. You should keep the building for that alone.”

“Great save, bro.” Harris shook his head in disgust.

Even though the topic was serious—the threat to her life—Annabelle couldn’t help but be amused by the brothers. “The building isn’t at risk. I have some money in the bank. I’m sure there’s enough to pay for your services. If you’re willing to stay on with me, that is.”

“I vote yes.” Evan’s hand shot up again.

Rochelle smiled as she faced the ADA. “It seems we’ve found a solution. We will act as bodyguards until the trial. Answering to Annabelle, as she’ll pay the bill.”

Margaret pursed her lips in disgust. “Do you honestly think you’re capable of keeping her safe?”

“Yes,” Rochelle answered simply.

“I’ll be talking to my boss about this.” The ADA snatched up her purse and strode toward the doorway on her power heels. She stopped level with Annabelle on the way. “This decision’s completely against my professional advice. You’re putting your life in the hands of a team that I do not consider capable of protecting you.”

“You know,” Noah drawled, “you might want to do some background research on Lake Benson and his teams before you go jumping to any conclusions. We’re the guys they call in when other security companies can’t get the job done.”

Margaret wasn’t impressed. “I’ll return to prep you for your testimony. Court is set for two weeks from today.” With that, she sailed from the room.

Annabelle watched her go, wondering if her decision to hire Benson Security had been too hasty. What did she know about them—other than they’d kept her alive through an attack on her life and fed her chicken soup until she was well? These people were total strangers. They were also her only option to stay in her home.

“Don’t worry,” Rochelle said with a smile. “We actually do know what we’re doing.”

Noah bumped her shoulder again. “We’ll keep you safe.” It was a vow.

“Or die trying,” Evan said cheerily.

The rest of the team turned on him with groans and orders to shut up.

And Annabelle found herself laughing.