Ward sat back in his chair, seeming totally mystified. “Miss Lane,” he muttered. “Just to clarify here, you want to tutor Carter … one-to-one … because you want to help him with his application for early parole?”

She smiled widely.

Ward stared at her incredulously. He shook his head. “I can’t allow it.”

“Hmm,” she mused, chewing on the inside of her mouth in annoyance. “Can I ask why?”

He smirked derisively and straightened his shoulders. “I cannot authorize you to be put in a room with Carter alone—”

“There would be a guard,” she interrupted.

Ward exhaled heavily. “Splitting hairs aside, Miss Lane, you’ve been hired by the facility to teach a group of inmates during an allotted time. On a timetable. Not to work as a one-to-one tutor.” He lifted his hands to the heavens in mock sympathy. “It’s not in your contract, and the facility can’t afford to pay you extra for this.”

Kat smiled at Ward, but it was in no way pleasant. She knew he’d take this angle and knew without doubt that it made no difference to her whether she was paid to do the job or not. As a rule, she never spoke about her family’s wealth, as in the past it had made people uncomfortable, but with Anthony Ward, it wouldn’t trouble her one iota. Being the daughter of a successful senator and the granddaughter of another ensured her bank account was always comfortable.

“Mr. Ward,” she began with a wry tone and an unwavering stare that made him shift uneasily in his seat, “I’m not doing this for the money,” she spat at him from behind a tight-lipped smile.

Ward sat back in his seat. “I have to admit I’m puzzled here, Miss Lane,” he said after a tense moment of silence. “You seemed to detest each other on sight. What exactly would you be doing this for? What would you be getting out of it?”

“I am a teacher, so by definition my job is to teach. That’s what I want to do. Carter obviously finds it difficult to be in a classroom environment with other students, so the only solution is to take him out of it.” Her glare became fierce. “I believe I can help him, and his learning will be all I will get out of it. Besides,” Kat continued, deciding to hit his pride, “if he gets granted his early parole, won’t that make your life easier?”

She knew there was definitely no love lost between Ward and Carter.

The side of Ward’s mouth twitched. “I still have to say no, Miss Lane. It raises too many questions, and the extra guard time—”

“Yes, talking of guards, has the guard who assaulted Carter been reprimanded in any way?”

“Assaulted?”

“Yes,” Kat replied. “He twisted Carter’s wrist. It was unnecessary and utterly antagonistic. I was shocked.”

She sat wide-eyed with a hand on her chest. She wanted Ward to receive the message loud and clear. She knew the officer hadn’t been reprimanded, despite his behavior having been caught on the security cameras in her classroom.

“I see,” Ward murmured. “Well, of course we don’t tolerate violence against any inmate. I will look into it.”

“Good.”

With her family’s connections, Kat had big friends in very high political places. It would only take one phone call for them to be all over Ward’s ass. He cleared his throat and pursed his lips.

“If I agree to this,” he offered with disdain and a dismissive wave of his hand, “what makes you think Carter will even go for it? He’s known to be a stubborn pain in the ass, as you well know.”

Kat smiled at that. “I’m sure if you let me talk to him about it and make him see that I’m only trying to help, he may see past his pride and accept it. If not”—she shrugged—“I’ll forget the idea.”

“And this is done on your own time. No payment,” Ward reinforced with a finger pointed at Kat.

“Absolutely,” she agreed, wanting to rip his finger from its socket. “And I’ll give you a schedule so you can arrange the guard. Preferably not the one who assaulted my student,” she added.

“Fine.”

“Great.” Kat smiled with a clap of her palms onto her thighs. “I’m meeting with Jack at two. Can I have access to Carter? I’d like this cleared up before I leave for the weekend.”

Ward huffed and folded his arms. “Have them radio me down and I’ll see he gets to you.”

“Thanks, Mr. Ward,” she said with a saccharine smile before she left, closing the door very quietly behind her.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Jack Parker listened with rapt attention to the pretty redhead as she relayed her proposal to him in detail. He’d been exceedingly intrigued when he’d gotten a call requesting a meet with Miss Katherine Lane. His first thought was that she wanted to log a complaint against Wes and his behavior—and he wouldn’t have blamed her—so he was shocked as hell when she told him she wanted to help with Wes’s parole application.

Whether Wes would go for it was another matter altogether. His temper was always getting him into shit that Jack had to get him out of, and the incident with the desk was no exception. Wes’s being banned from lessons was a huge blow to his parole application, so Jack was all for hugging Miss Lane to death when she offered to help.

“I have to say I’m amazed Ward went for this.” Jack smiled, sipping from his coffee cup.

Kat laughed. “Well, let’s just say I know how the game is played.”

Jack’s grin widened. It was about time Ward was put in his place. “Is that so?”

Kat smirked behind her cup and said no more.

The door to the bland, airless room opened and a resigned-looking Carter appeared, followed by two guards and a severely pissed-looking Ward.

“Hi, Wes,” Jack offered, standing.

“Hey,” he muttered before his eyes swept to the woman at his side. “Miss Lane,” he offered without inflection.

She sighed. “Carter, would you please take a seat?”

* * *

Carter observed her defensive stance. She looked fucking good, he had to admit. He was sure she did it on purpose just to torment him. He slammed down in his seat and smiled at Jack while wiggling his fingers in a give-me-what-I-want gesture. Jack pulled out a box of cigarettes and some matches and threw them on the table. Carter pulled one out, placed it to his lips, lit it, and sucked in the smoke with a slow hiss.

He watched Miss Lane as he exhaled, her green stare unwavering.

“You’ve got ten minutes,” Ward barked. He headed toward the door with wide strides and louder feet.

“We might not be done in ten minutes,” Miss Lane retorted. “We’ll radio you when we’re finished.”

Ward stopped dead in his tracks and put one hand on his hip while rubbing his forehead with the other. “Fine.”

Jack and Carter exchanged impressed looks. Carter was happy as hell she stood up to Ward, if not a little jealous that Ward was getting a tongue-lashing and he wasn’t. Absurdly, Carter wanted nothing more than for her to start mouthing off at him.

“So, is someone gonna put me out of my misery and tell me why I’m here?” he asked instead, glancing between Miss Lane and Jack.

Jack eyed him and his attitude disapprovingly before gesturing to Miss Lane to talk. Carter waited while she cleared her throat, intrigued by her nervousness. It was a new look for her, all fidgety hands and tense shoulders.

“Well, I think it’s safe to say that you attending my classes hasn’t really worked out that well.”

He scoffed. “Yeah, no shit, lady.”

“Wes,” Jack warned with a curl of his lip. Carter rolled his eyes and signaled for Miss Lane to continue with a lift of his elbow.

“I understand your parole officer will be coming in soon to discuss your application.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, so?”

She kept her gaze firm and steady, a fact that made Carter’s fingers twitch. “And I also know that your participation in my lessons was to help with your application.”

Carter huffed out the last of the smoke and extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray with three very deliberate and sharp drops of his hand. He continued to stare at the woman in front of him while he slumped back into his seat.