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Chapter 9
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After I Cleaned Up Don Boyfriend's Rival for His Mistress, I Left Chapter 20
Spring came later to The Hague than to Boston, but when it came, it came all the way.The tulips along the canal opened overnight — red, yellow, purple, laid out across the grass in sheets, tourists everywhere with their phones up.My office at the standing committee was on the third floor. The window looked out onto the back gardens of the Peace Palace. On clear days, if I looked far enough in the direction of the North Sea, there was a strip of silver light.Daniel moved over in the third month I was in The Hague.Not for me — at least, not entirely. He'd landed a research project in international public law back in Boston, with a partner at Leiden University's law school. The work was based in The Hague. Two streets from my office.His first day, he tracked me down at a café on the canal."You have any idea how bad the coffee is here," he said, sitting down across from me and dropping three sugars into his espresso."The Dutch drink tea," I said."I know." He pushed the cup aside. "
After I Cleaned Up Don Boyfriend's Rival for His Mistress, I Left Chapter 19
I saw how Vincent's story ended on the news.Not a feature. Just a brief on local Chicago TV, wedged between an armed robbery and a traffic accident. Under forty seconds of airtime."Chicago businessman Vincent Maro has been formally arrested by the FBI on charges of interstate arms trafficking and money laundering. Prosecutors allege the case involves more than two hundred million dollars and implicates a decade of illegal Maro family activity. Maro has been denied federal bail."I pulled it up in my office in The Hague.I was prepping for the next day's arbitration hearing. An Americano, no sugar, on the desk beside me. Outside the window, a gray early Dutch spring. A boat going by on the canal, its horn low.I read the piece. Ten seconds, maybe. Closed the tab. Went back to the file.More came in over the following weeks.Marco sent one last encrypted message. One line. I did what I could. The ones who needed to get out, got out.He didn't say more. I didn't ask. I could guess — Mar
After I Cleaned Up Don Boyfriend's Rival for His Mistress, I Left Chapter 18
The last time Vincent came to Boston was on an evening when it was snowing.I was working late at the firm, getting handoff documents ready for The Hague. Daniel was in the office next to mine, the door between us open, occasional exchange, occasional silence.My assistant knocked. Said someone was here for me.I walked out and saw him at the end of the hallway.He'd aged again since three months ago.Not in years. The kind of aging where something has collapsed on the inside. His eye sockets were sunken. His cheekbones were sharp. There was visible white in his hair now. Still the same coat, but it didn't sit on him anymore. It hung loose, like borrowed clothes.No one with him.He used to go nowhere without at least two soldiers. Now he was standing alone in a hallway in a Boston law firm, like a man who'd lost his way.I brought him into my office and closed the door.He sat down. He was quiet for a long time."You've heard about the FBI." His voice was rough."I've heard.""Three c
After I Cleaned Up Don Boyfriend's Rival for His Mistress, I Left Chapter 17
I got back from East Africa as Boston was going into winter.A thin sheet of ice on the Charles. Nobody rowing. The trees along the banks were bare, branches like cracks against a gray sky.The firm threw me a small welcome-back party. The partners toasted me with wine and said congratulations, said the arbitration result had made a real impression in the international legal community — the tribes got fair compensation, the mining group kept its contract but made substantive concessions, the new government's review procedure was folded into an ongoing oversight framework. Nobody had lost.Someone asked how I'd pulled it off.I said I didn't. A lot of people pulled it off together.Daniel was standing in the corner with a glass of wine he'd barely touched, looking at me. He didn't say anything.After the party broke up, he helped me clean the conference room. Stacked the glasses and paper plates together."I read the follow-up report on that case," he said, sweeping crumbs off the table
After I Cleaned Up Don Boyfriend's Rival for His Mistress, I Left Chapter 16
It took me seven years to understand the difference.Vincent's people found the post in the fourth month.Not Vincent. One of his soldiers, with a letter and a package.The soldier waited outside the wire all afternoon. Security wouldn't let him in. He ended up giving the package to me through one of the local translators.Inside was a bulletproof vest. Military grade. Expensive. The lining had been customized — breathable, light.The letter was in his hand. Pen. Heavy pressure.Long letter.He said Chicago was under control. Not to worry. Sofia was fully handled. No more issues. He'd gone back through the main house and restored all the things I'd changed over seven years — the medicine cabinet labels, the closet order, the study lamp.He said he would wait.He said however long it took, he would wait.I finished reading it, folded it, slid it into a folder with the other things I'd deal with later.I had the translator send the vest back.Not out of spite.I just didn't need it.In t
After I Cleaned Up Don Boyfriend's Rival for His Mistress, I Left Chapter 15
The rainy season in East Africa came without warning.One second it was hard white sun. The next, rain was coming down in sheets, hitting the metal roof like automatic fire.The UN field post was on a patch of cleared ground on the east side of the conflict zone, ringed in barbed wire. Six metal sheds. Two diesel generators. A dirt road to the nearest town. Once the rains started, the road became a mud river. Supply runs got cut every few days.I'd been there two months.The arbitration was much more complicated than the invitation had suggested. Three tribes. Two national governments. A multinational mining group. Land spanning two provinces. Legal systems layered on top of each other — local customary law up through international investment arbitration treaties. Every node tangled.I was up at five every morning, reading materials by flashlight before the generators turned on. At seven I went to the site, sat in a conference room with no AC across from tribal elders, government repre
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