“You’re going to need this,” the woman beside me said, digging into her briefcase and pulling out a light jacket and sunglasses.

“Amelia!” Ollie ran up to me as we reached the last set of doors between the jail and the front steps. He patted my shoulders. “Are you alright? What happened?”

“Excuse me. Sorry, but this isn’t the time. We need to get you out before more of the press descends down here,” the lawyer stated.

I put on the sunglasses she gave me, and Ollie took the jacket, lifting it over my head to block me as we started to head out. The moment the door opened, my ears felt like they were going to explode.

Click.

Flash.

“Ms. London, is it true you’re dating Noah Sloan?”

“Is Noah back on drugs again?”

“Is that why he savagely beat Mr. Mallory?”

Flash.

Click.

“What condition is Noah in now?”

They wouldn’t stop and even pushed so close to me that my elbows bumped their cameras. The closer we got to the car, the more we rushed. When the doors opened, I jumped in so quickly my shoe fell off.

“Got it,” Ollie said, motioning for me to move further inside.

When the door slammed, I jumped, glancing up front at the blonde now glaring at me. “Rule one, Ms. London—never, ever, talk to a police officer without your lawyer, especially in Chicago. You would think with the infinite number of cop and lawyer TV shows out there today, you wouldn’t have to tell people this.”

I looked to Ollie, waiting for him to explain who the hell she was.

“Amelia, meet Keri Shaughnessy, your new lawyer.”

“What happened to Old Man Epps?” Since the day I was born, Mr. Epps was my lawyer. He handled all of my contracts and lawsuits against some of the biggest newspapers and media sites across the country.

“He retired three months ago, and I took over his practice. He said you were a no-problem client, and of course the moment you come to me, you pick a fight with Ray fucking Mallory,” she cut in, pissing me off.

“I’m sorry, picking a fight?” She had to be kidding me. “I went to his house, and he tried to rape me! That fact that he got the shit knocked out of him was his fault, not mine.”

“He what?” Ollie grabbed my arm, pulling my attention back to him.

Keri took a deep breath, tilting her head to the side and looking me in the eye. “I’m sorry, Ms. London. I’ve been told I don’t have a filter. What I was trying to say is, Ray Mallory has his hands in a lot of pockets in this city.”

“So what’s going to happen to Noah?”

Neither of them answered my question, so I sat up straighter, looking between them both. “As the person who pays you, I will ask again: what will happen to Noah Sloan?”

“If he’s lucky,” Keri started, and I was getting the feeling that she and I had different definitions of the word ‘lucky,’ “Ray will only drag him through the mud for a little bit before dropping the charges.”

“Who is Noah’s lawyer?”  I wondered, already reaching for my phone.

“It doesn’t matter,” Keri said.

“You know, I’m not liking you very much at this moment,” I shot back.

She smiled. “I get that a lot. Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter how good of a lawyer Noah gets. Within the Chicago court system, they’re useless. You thinking otherwise is just naïve.”

Leaning back against the seat, I rubbed the side of my head and tried to think of how the hell everything went so bad so fucking quickly. One moment, we were fine. The next, the world was opening up underneath me.

“Amelia?” Ollie handed me a bottle of water and two tablets of what I could only guess was Advil.

“Thank you,” I muttered, accepting them.

“Amelia, why were you in Mr. Mallory’s study anyway?” Keri questioned, and I froze, my head retracing the steps that had gotten me into this state in reverse.

I was in Ray Malloy’s study because I was looking for a bathroom. The bathroom on the first floor was occupied, just like my mother warned me about, and she told me where to go instead. Why the hell was I in Ray Mallory’s house? Because my mother invited me. And Noah.

No. It was just coincidence. It was all just a series of unfortunate events. I was getting ahead of myself, she wouldn’t…but what wouldn’t a murderer do?

“Amelia!” Ollie shouted as the water battle slipped through from my shaking hand.

Once again, I felt that tug on my heart like someone was trying to pull it from my chest, and my throat began to close.

No matter what, no mother would ever put her daughter in that position, right? She couldn’t be that diabolical…that cold-hearted. Even though I thought that, I still had to hug myself to keep from shaking.

It was her, my head kept saying, even though my heart refused to believe that. It felt like I was being split in half.

It was her. She wanted to separate Noah and I again. She pretended to be okay with it because she had this up her sleeve.

“Amelia, it’s okay,” Ollie whispered, wrapping his arm around me. I didn’t realize I was crying until that very moment. “You’re safe now. It’s okay.”

No, I wasn’t okay or safe.

Just then, it felt like the last thread that connected my mother to me was cut, and there was no mending it.

I hated her—no, it was more than hate.

Noah

“Assault. Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon—”

“Assault with a deadly weapon?” My lawyer, Henry Fordman, sat up just as confused as I was.

“Witnesses claim they saw Mr. Sloan here beating Mr. Mallory with his cane.”

At that, I snickered. Henry’s head shot toward me, internally screaming at me to shut up. However, I couldn’t. This whole thing reeked of absolute bullshit. The police, these so-called witnesses, this prosecutor sitting in front of me with his ugly patterned tie, and even Mr. Mallory his goddamned self—all of it was bullshit.

“Given those witnesses, plus the obvious damages to Mr. Mallory’s face, it would be in your best interest to accept this deal,” the prosecutor said, sliding the paper over to Henry, who glanced down at it and then back up, his face emotionless.

“I wouldn’t allow my dog to agree to this deal,” Henry replied.

“Henry—” the prosecutor began.

“It’s Mr. Fordman, and we have a witness who will testify to the fact that my client was defending her from a vicious attack. So you can take your deal and shove it, because I will see you in court.”

The prosecutor shook his head, rising from the table. “I threw you a bone here, Mr. Fordman, but this isn’t California. You will lose, and you will lose badly. Chicago will eat you alive.”

“Thank you for the warning, but we will still take our chances,” he said, and I simply waved as the guards opened the door for him.

“How bad is this?” I asked him when we were alone.

“Normally, this would have been a breeze. However, this Mallory guy is throwing around a lot of weight. They had me jumping through hoops just to get in here and will most likely not get you a court date until Monday, which means you can’t make bail and will be stuck here over the weekend.”

“Great. Fucking perfect,” I sighed, running my hands through my hair. “What do we do?”

“Right now, I’m going to head over to a board meeting with Midnight Empire Studios…” Henry said.

I couldn’t catch a fucking break.

“They want to kick me off the movie, don’t they?”

He didn’t answer, just packed up his things. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it. Just keep your head down until I can get you out of here,” Henry reassured me.

It had been less than seven hours since I was arrested, yet I was already all over the news, and the studio wanted me off their movie. This had Esther London written all over it.

I didn’t know how she did it, but there was no doubt in my mind that the snake had struck when I least expected it. But if she thought I was giving up now, she had another thing coming.