Chapter 2

Aria pushed through the courthouse doors and walked straight toward him.

Kai watched her come. He didn't run. He didn't retreat. He just stood on the steps with his hands in his pockets, like a man waiting for a sentence to be read.

"Explain," she said.

"Not here."

"Here."

"Aria." His eyes flicked past her shoulder. "The guard by the door works for Jaxon. So does the woman at the coffee cart."

She almost laughed. "You're paranoid."

"I'm careful. There's a difference."

She held up the note. Her fingers trembled, and she hated that. "You wrote this."

"Yes."

"Why?"

His jaw flexed. Those gray eyes searched her face like he was memorizing it.

"Because I didn't sign that memo."

The street noise faded. A bus rumbled past. Somewhere, a horn blared.

Her heart stopped, then restarted painfully.

"Don't," she whispered.

"Aria..."

"Six years, Kai. I held your signature in my hands. Your name. Your pen."

"I know what it looked like."

"It looked like you sold me for a partnership."

"I know."

"Then say it like it matters."

He stepped closer. Not touching her. Just close enough that she could see the thin silver chain under his collar.

"Last night I opened the Ashford archive to prep for this case. I found a box I wasn't supposed to open. Your name was in it. Mine too. A memo with a date I don't remember and a signature I never made."

"Convenient."

"It isn't." His voice cracked. "I haven't slept."

She wanted to slap him. She wanted to hold him. She wanted to scream.

Instead, she folded the note in half. "Prove it."

"Meet me tonight. Eight o'clock. The loading dock on Fifth Street. I'll show you the box."

"No."

"Aria, please."

"Rule one. Professional only."

"This is professional." His mouth twisted. "Ashford's sealed records are everything your discovery request wants. They're in the sub-basement of my firm. I can get you inside."

"You're offering me evidence."

"I'm offering you the truth."

"Or a trap."

"Maybe." He didn't flinch. "But you'll come anyway."

"Why would I?"

"Because you never could leave a question unanswered."

Her teeth clenched. He was right. She hated that he still knew her.

"Come alone," he said. "And Aria? Don't use your office phone."

She walked away. She didn't look back.

But she kept the note.

~

"You are not going," Zoe said.

They were back at Lane and Park, a cramped twelfth-floor office with a leaking window and the best coffee machine in the city. Aria sat on the edge of her desk, staring at the sticky note.

"I'm going."

"He could be lying."

"He could be."

"He could lure you into a dark basement and murder you."

"Kai doesn't murder people. He files motions."

"That's worse. Death by paperwork."

Aria pressed her fingers against her eyes. "Zoe. If he's telling the truth, then everything I believed for six years was..."

She couldn't finish.

Zoe's face softened. She came around the desk and crouched in front of her.

"Okay. Hey. If you go, I'm driving you."

"He said alone."

"Then I'll wait in the car. With a crowbar."

"Where would you even get a crowbar?"

"I have resources."

Aria laughed weakly. "Fine. The car. No crowbar."

"Negotiable."

"No."

"A very large umbrella, then."

Aria opened her laptop. "I need to check something first."

She pulled up the old case system from Sterling and Pierce. She still had a legacy login. She had never deleted it, though she couldn't have said why.

The screen flickered.

ACCESS DENIED.

She frowned and typed again.

ACCESS DENIED.

Zoe leaned over her shoulder. "Did they change your password?"

"They deactivated my account." Aria scrolled to the activity log. Her stomach dropped. "Today. 9:42 this morning."

"Right before the hearing."

"Right before I walked in."

Zoe's eyes widened. "So someone knew you were coming."

"Someone wanted to know what I'd look at next." Aria's voice dropped. "Zoe, in the hallway, Jaxon said Kai always told him I was the best he ever trained."

"So?"

"Kai never trained me. Jaxon did."

Zoe blinked. "So why would he say it?"

"He wasn't making a mistake. He was testing me. He wanted to see if I'd correct him. If I still cared enough to defend Kai's name."

"Did you?"

"No."

"Good."

"Which means Jaxon thinks I still believe the memo." Aria stood. Her pulse was racing. "And he doesn't know Kai talked to me."

They stared at each other.

The office phone rang.

Both of them jumped.

Zoe picked up. "Lane and Park, how may I... yes, she's here." Her brows pulled together. "Who's calling?"

She listened. Her face went pale.

"One moment." She covered the receiver. "It's Tom, the guard downstairs. A courier left a package for you. Sealed. No return address."

"Don't open it."

"I wasn't going to."

"Tell him I'm coming down."

"Aria, after the sticky note, this feels like..."

"I know what it feels like."

She took the elevator alone. Tom, the older guard who brought donuts every Friday, slid a small gray box across the desk.

"Ten minutes ago," he said. "Guy on a motorbike. Never took off his helmet."

Aria carried it upstairs and set it on her desk. Zoe hovered with both hands up, like she was defusing a bomb.

"On three," Aria said.

"On one," Zoe said. "I'm leaving on two."

Aria lifted the lid.

Inside was a black flash drive. Unmarked.

Beneath it lay a photograph.

She pulled it out slowly.

It was grainy, taken from across a street. A man and a woman stood outside a restaurant, laughing. He wore a dark suit. She wore a long cream coat, her hair tied back, a leather folder tucked under her arm.

The woman was Aria.

The man was Jaxon Pierce.

The date stamped in the corner was six years ago. Two days before the memo.

Aria's vision tilted.

"That's not possible," she whispered. "I never met him outside the office. Not once."

"Aria?" Zoe's voice was small. "That's your coat."

"I know."

"That's your folder."

"I know."

"But you said..."

"I wasn't there."

Zoe stared at the photo. Then at Aria. Then at the photo again.

Aria turned it over with shaking hands.

On the back, in thick block capitals, not Kai's neat slanted handwriting, were three lines.

HE IS LYING ABOUT THE MEMO.

DO NOT GO TONIGHT.

ASK HIM WHY HE KEPT YOUR RING.

Her breath left her body.

Because she had never told anyone she left that ring on the pillow.

And the only person who could have known where it ended up was Kai.