Hard Risk by Sidney Bristol
Chapter Twenty-Two
New York City, NY.
Robin willed the shorter woman to walk faster, damn it.
Jessica had barely cracked her eyes by the time the FBI told her they needed to move everyone to a secure location, that the hospital was too risky for any of them. Robin had mistakenly thought they were all going to the same place.
Robin had wound up in protective custody at a hotel she was fairly certain only catered to government workers. It wasn’t like any place she’d ever been before, but she’d enjoyed a hot shower, food and time to herself before meeting virtually with her lawyers.
Or more accurately, Dad’s lawyers who were now representing her.
Robin didn’t care for any of them. What she wanted was for Jessica to open her eyes and tell Robin who to call, someone they could trust. Because at this point Robin couldn’t believe anything anyone said to her. She was desperate for answers.
Robin glanced at Kelsey. “Am I allowed to ask where Saaina is?”
“Hm? Oh.” Her mouth screwed up. “I suppose I can tell you she is currently cooperating with the investigation. She didn’t want to contact or be contacted by your family’s lawyers.”
“What?” Robin blinked at the petite woman. Was she right? Or was this another lie?
“This should be your friend.” Kelsey glanced at a door. Where a name should be was a random jumble of letters and numbers. She pushed the door open and held it for Robin.
“God, what now?” a woman’s voice croaked.
Robin’s throat constricted. “Jess?”
She reached out, pushing aside a curtain that blocked her view. Her breath caught at the sight of Jessica hooked up to all those machines.
“Oh my God,” Robin muttered and rushed to Jessica’s bedside.
“Hey? Hey, I’m alive, yo.” Jessica’s voice was lower and not even a fraction as chipper as she was normally.
Robin clutched Jessica’s hand.
There’d been so much blood yesterday.
Jessica clutched Robin’s hand tight and for a moment they just looked at each other.
“You look like shit,” Jessica said.
Kelsey sputtered a laugh behind Robin.
“Sorry. Sorry, that was inappropriate,” Kelsey rushed to say. “I’ll leave you two alone.”
Jessica’s other hand flopped on the bed. “Nah, if you laugh at my jokes you can stay.”
Kelsey came to stand opposite of Robin.
“You’re like, pocket sized,” Jessica muttered.
Kelsey rolled her eyes.
Jessica turned her head and looked up at Robin. “I just said that out loud, didn’t I?”
Robin laughed. She didn’t want to, but the moment was absurd and so very Jessica that she couldn’t help it. Robin leaned forward, bracing her elbows on the bed rail, and laughed until tears leaked out of her eyes.
“You have to stop,” Jessica begged. “It hurts to laugh. It hurts a lot.”
“You two are a hot mess,” Kelsey said. “And yes, I am short. Thanks for pointing that out, Goldilocks.”
Jessica swiped at her face. “I like you.”
Kelsey grinned at that. Robin had to agree, the petite woman was likable. But Robin couldn’t trust her.
“So, who are you?” Jessica asked.
“I’m Kelsey, I work for the FBI.” Kelsey’s gaze slid toward Robin. “I’m also dating Logan Muller.”
She said that like it meant something. Robin didn’t get the double meaning, and she didn’t care to.
“Did you hear?” Jessica turned her face back to Robin. “Daar made it through surgery.”
She shuddered recalling the gruesome sight of her uncle’s partially missing face far too well. “I heard. I’m not sure how.”
“I mean, yeah, he’s alive, but I’m not sure I’d read too much into that,” Kelsey said slowly. “He’s breathing on his own, but from what I understand he’s still in bad shape. You’ll want to talk to the doctors.”
Robin shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
Yesterday she’d climbed in the ambulance out of anger and some misguided sense of loyalty to the man who’d caused all of this. Uncle Daar was not a good person. This was merely proof of that. She would have to know his condition eventually, but she didn’t have to care for him. Not after what he’d done.
“Sounds to me like he might never wake up.” Jessica’s words were slurred and laborious, but it was good to see her this lively. Especially after yesterday.
Robin squeezed Jessica’s hand and stared at the sheets. “The world might be a better place if he doesn’t.”
“I’m torn between wanting justice and just wanting him gone,” Jessica admitted.
Kelsey chimed in with her own sad smile. “Nothing wrong with wanting both.”
They were all quiet for a moment, sitting with those feelings. Robin knew marginally more than she had yesterday about Uncle Daar. None of it was good. And only more was going to come out as things progressed.
“Are we going to talk about the elephant?” Jessica asked after several moments.
“The elephant?” Robin asked slowly.
Jessica turned her face toward Robin. “Harper?”
Robin’s body went cold, and she tasted bile on the back of her throat. At the same time, her heart did a summersault while a sense of yearning filled her.
“I think I should leave,” Kelsey muttered.
“Don’t you go anywhere,” Jessica said in an almost crystal clear voice. She slurred a little at the end. “You know shit, don’t you?”
Kelsey shoved her hands into her pockets and her face twisted up. “I really think participating in a conversation like this is a conflict of interest. I work with Harper. It’s because of Harper and his team that I’m alive. I’m dating Harper’s direct boss. Plus, as FBI, I have a vested interest in gaining your trust so you might help us.”
“Might?” Jessica snorted. “There’s no might about it, right Robin?”
“Uh…”
Kelsey’s brows rose, but she didn’t rat Robin out.
No, that would be her own responsibility.
“I might have gotten a bit emotional yesterday and said I wanted to speak to lawyers first,” she admitted.
Jessica stared at her for a few moments. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s probably smart. Who is representing you?”
“Dad’s people.”
“Ew.”
“Exactly.”
“You need better people.”
“I was hoping to pick your brain about that later.”
“We should do that now. On my out of office email, the first person I say to contact? Email him, tell him I said so, and you need his cousin’s info. He’ll know what I mean.” Jessica leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “Sorry, tired all of a sudden.”
Kelsey chuckled. “That would probably be the pain killers they have you on.”
“I thought it was the morning cocktail,” Jessica muttered.
Kelsey grinned down at Jessica. “You’re a funny girl, huh?”
“Hysterical,” Jessica whispered. “You still haven’t told us the scoop on Harper.”
Kelsey let her head drop. “What can I say?”
Robin wasn’t sure she wanted to hear any of it.
Kelsey peered up at Robin. “I went over the notes and material. Our boss put Harper in a bad situation with you. There’s no denying that, and you can feel about it however you want to feel. From my side, I can tell you that Harper went out of his way to protect your privacy.”
“What does that mean?” Jessica asked, echoing Robin’s thoughts.
Kelsey sighed and straightened. “It’s hard for me to fill in the blanks when Robin’s not cooperating with us. She could take anything I say here and use it against us.”
“I won’t,” Robin said. “I’m not going to. I know my uncle wasn’t a good person, and I can support investigating him. But I don’t have to like being used.”
Kelsey nodded. “For what it’s worth? Harper’s real torn up about all of this.
“Good.” Robin wrapped herself in ice. “He didn’t have to date me to get what he wanted. There were other ways.”
Kelsey inclined her head, lips twisted into a grimace. “Guys…”
“Are dumb,” Jessica finished.
Kelsey chuckled and flashed Jessica a grin. “Look at us, we’re practically best friends over here, finishing each other’s sentences and shit.”
She opened her eyes, ignoring Kelsey and focused on Robin. “What he did was shitty, but the way you felt about him was real. I can’t believe all of it was fake, but I also wasn’t there with you. Give it time, okay?”
Robin nodded and even within her icy walls, part of her just wanted Harper. The man who’d destroyed her family.
Saturday. FBI Offices, New York City, NY.
Harper was ready to quit.
He wouldn’t, but right now he needed space from Jamie and the others. Really, Harper only had himself to blame, and he knew it. He’d dished shit out on everyone, so it was expected that when Harper did something like fall in love with the woman he was lying to, the guys would ride his ass about it.
But it was too soon. His insides were raw. He kept playing those moments with Robin in his head, again and again.
She’d looked at him with hate when a day ago she’d had a completely different emotion.
He stopped then backed up a few steps, looking into an office.
Baruti sat at a desk, typing away on a laptop.
Harper tapped on the door.
“Come in, have a seat,” Baruti said without glancing up. “Want to watch Sammy sleep?”
“What?” Harper circled the desk.
While Baruti was working on a laptop, the desktop was also running. There on the screen positioned to one side that showed the peaceful, sleeping face of Samuel.
“How’s he doing?” Harper asked. He’d gotten close with the FBI agent over the weeks spent working together.
“Good. They’re giving him more sedatives because he tried to get out of bed to work.”
Harper snorted. “Of course he did. Man, I’m glad to see him looking that good.”
“You know when he wakes up the first thing he’s going to ask for is—”
Harper grinned. “Where’s my suit?”
Baruti nodded. “You know it. Then when he gets the suit—”
“He’ll want to iron it himself.”
“Exactly.”
Harper laid his hand on Baruti’s shoulder. “He’s going to pull through. He’s going to be okay.”
“They’re talking about moving him, Jessica and Daar to a secure site and put them all under protective custody. Round-the-clock security.” His gaze rose to Harper. “They’ll be considering the same for you, too.”
“Me?” Harper shook his head.
“You got a lot of face time with a very wanted man. A man who has very dangerous friends. It makes sense all of you would become targets.”
Robin.
Fucking hell.
She didn’t deserve that.
Baruti gestured at the chairs up against the wall. “Sit. Stay awhile. Talk to me. They debriefed you yet?”
“Yeah. I mean, I’ve talked to Zora and Logan…”
“Hm. I see.”
Harper lowered himself into a chair and studied Baruti. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Baruti had a way of looking at people, like he was an impenetrable wall. It was no wonder so many things about him had remained a mystery until last year. But worse than that, Harper had never bothered to ask. And he wasn’t proud of that.
“You have a good vacation?” he asked.
“Yeah. We saw some family, and I got to knock out some of my honey-do list.”
Harper snorted. “Your husband gave you a honey-do list?”
“We all have our strengths.” Baruti grinned. “This one time after we’d just moved in together I was working a case and getting home late. He kept asking me to put up this shelf for pictures or crystals or something, and I kept putting it off. Then I’m in the middle of a sting and I get a phone call from the hospital.”
“Oh no…”
He shook his head slowly several times. “This man managed to hit his hand instead of the nail with enough force he put a hole in the wall. He cuts his arm up on something behind the drywall so bad they wanted to put him on a 501 hold.”
“They wanted to admit him? To the psych ward?”
“Oh yeah. I might have flashed my badge a bit to get him home and you bet I fixed that wall that very night.”
Harper chuckled. “Put the shelf up, too?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Don’t you live here? In New York, I mean?”
“Outside the city, yeah. Not that I have time to commute home with all this.” He gestured to the laptop in front of him.
Harper stared at the floor for a moment before asking, “How do you make it work? You’re always in DC with us. So, how?”
“My husband knows the case we’re working on now is important. I asked for him to give me a year, year, and a half at most. This case could change my career entirely, put us in a much better place, and he gets that. It’s work though. A lot of it. And it hasn’t always been easy. Especially in the beginning.” Baruti studied him for a moment as if deciding whether or not to say something. “I’m not completely out to the bureau.”
Harper nodded. Given that their team hadn’t known, he’d assumed.
“I used to be a lot… I used to pass as straight. I used to play into it. My husband confronted me about how I acted hurt him and it was a real turning point for us. I decided sometime after that it was time to stop playing house and man up. Be a husband. But before that, I had to own how what I did hurt him. We couldn’t move forward until I owned that.”
Harper watched Baruti, waiting for more, but the man didn’t say anything else. They stared at each other for a moment.
The job had made Harper play a role, and while in that role he’d fallen in love with Robin. It wasn’t hard to see Baruti’s point.
“What do you do if they won’t hear your apology?” Harper asked.
“You wait and you say I’m sorry at every opportunity.”
“Ever happened to you?”
Baruti barked a laugh and leaned back in his chair. “More times than I want to admit. My husband is a saint and I’ve become very good at apologies.”
Harper chuckled and nodded, but he didn’t know if being ready and willing to apologize would make a difference. Baruti wasn’t directly responsible for his husband’s family’s death. So while Harper needed to apologize, he didn’t know if it would be enough. And the worst part? He would understand if Robin meant it when she said she never wanted to see him again.
Sunday. Recovery Center, New York City, NY.
Robin flopped back onto the firm padded chair next to Jessica’s bed.
“Careful, that’s my move.” Jessica’s words were still slurred. She’d had some pains during the night and they’d increased her medication to make her more comfortable.
“I’m so frustrated,” Robin said.
“Did I miss something? You have your meeting with what’s his face yet?”
“Yeah, thanks for the recommendation. I think he’s exactly the lawyer I need right now.” She set the tablet on her lap and dragged her finger across the screen. “I’m still stuck with Dad’s team while we figure out the estate.”
Jessica lifted her head off the pillow and blinked at her. “Figure out? What’s to figure out?”
Robin took a deep breath. “Turns out, a couple months back Dad ripped up his will and never finalized the new one.”
“No.” Jessica gripped the bedside rail and sat up a little. “Are you being serious?”
“I’m unfortunately dead serious. Saaina has agreed to go into Witness Protection, so legally she’s dead. Which means everything falls to me.” The knot of dread sitting in Robin’s stomach expanded.
“Wow. What about the dogs?”
“They brought the dogs to her.” Robin smiled, though it was tinged with sadness.
All this time and they could have been friends. She could have had a mother in Saaina. At the same time, Robin understood and was grateful to Saaina for the choices she’d made. Robin wished her the best wherever she wound up.
“So, what are you going to do? Wait, does this mean you’re majority shareholder now?”
Robin nodded slowly. “Yup. I think my plans to launch my career are on the back-burner.”
Jessica snorted. “You do know you’re a lucky bitch who never has to work a day in her life, right?”
“That’s rich coming from you.”
“Yeah, I’m rich, but you’re like, filthy rich.” Jessica reclined back on the bed. “Good. I think your mom would like knowing you ended up with everything.”
Robin wasn’t yet sure what she thought or felt. Deep down, she wasn’t upset about not moving forward with her career as much as she disliked her power of choice being taken from her. Then again, she could always wash her hands of it all.
But what about Mom’s legacy?
Dad had tarnished it to some extent and because of his decisions; Robin had been shut out of her mother’s company. But with him gone, there were options again.
The world needed a champion like Mom again, but Robin wasn’t sure she could do what Mom had.
“Knock, knock, bitches.”
“It’s the pocket girl,” Jessica called out.
Kelsey laughed as she ambled in with another woman at her side. This one had a wrist-thick braid of black hair draped over one shoulder and a shy smile.
Kelsey wagged a finger at Jessica. “I’m only letting you call me that because you’re a badass.”
Jessica blinked at her several times processing those words. “Who me?”
“Who me?” Kelsey pressed her hand to her chest and batted her eyelashes at Jessica. “Yeah, you. Any woman who takes a literal bullet for their friend gets a pass from me.”
Robin shifted in her seat as the guilt set in. Those bullets had been meant for her.
“How’s she doing?” Kelsey asked, directing the question at Robin.
“Good. They just gave her pain meds, so she’s, you know…”
“Oh.” Kelsey’s brows rose. “She’s about to get real fun.”
Robin nodded. “Real fun.”
“This is going to be great.” Kelsey grinned at the other woman. “This is Diha Balakrishnan, for now. She’s going to be Green soon.”
Diha swatted Kelsey’s arm. “Not for a while.”
“We’ll see what Miles has to say about that.” She winked at Robin. “She’s been super curious about you.”
She froze. “Me?”
“Kelsey,” Diha hissed then glanced at Robin. “Don’t mind her.”
Kelsey rolled her eyes. “What? We’re going to stand here for half an hour shooting the shit, might as well cut to the chase.”
“Cut to the chase on what?” Robin asked.
Diha glared at Kelsey. “You’re the worst.”
She merely grinned and blew the other woman a kiss. “You like me this way.”
“What is it you want to know?” Jessica asked.
“Nothing,” Diha said quickly. “I don’t want or need to know anything. I just wanted to drop by and say hi.”
Kelsey sighed and rolled her eyes in a dramatic fashion. “Please, Diha and everyone else are just super curious about the woman who has Harper tied up in knots. They’re just all afraid to say or do anything. I told them you said you weren’t interested in having anything to do with him anymore, by the way.”
Diha turned to Robin. “That is not at all… I mean…”
Robin swallowed and set the tablet aside. She’d figured out pretty quickly that the people she was interacting with were a tight-knit group, and Harper was at their core. It didn’t make Robin feel any less foolish for giving the man her heart.
“Kelsey?” Jessica crooked her finger at the petite woman. “I like you, but you’re fucking this up. Look, I’m with you, I think this Harper guy might not be all that bad, but he was a dick. I mean, the case made him a dick. Whatever. Just, stop helping. You aren’t me.”
“Wow.” Kelsey laughed. “You’re a real firecracker when you aren’t drugged up, aren’t you?”
Diha turned her back on them and faced Robin. “Are you thirsty? Would you happen to know where the vending machines are?”
It was a ploy. One no one in the room bought, but Robin wasn’t terribly picky right now. She didn’t want to be the butt of Jessica or Kelsey’s jokes right now. Diha seemed like the easiest one of the three to deal with, so Robin decided to go with it.
“It’s a little confusing,” she said. “I’ll show you.”
“Thank you,” Diha said with a smile.
They left the room and headed past the guards stationed outside in the hall.
“I’m not very good at that sort of thing,” Diha said softly when they were alone. “And I’m sorry about Kelsey.”
“Why’d you come then?”
“Officially I’m here to give this back to you.” Diha held out a velvet jewelry bag. “It’s the necklace Harper gave you.”
“The one with the microphone and GPS tracker in it?”
“The GPS tracker that told us how to find you, yes.”
Robin took the bag and shoved it in her pocket.
“I removed the devices personally,” Diha said.
“Okay, so what else?” Robin was being too brusque, but it was that or break down and ask the question she wanted to know. How was Harper?
They walked around a corner and stopped in front of the vending machines.
“I guess… I really did want to meet you.” Diha turned to face Robin. “Harper’s like… He’s the brother I never wanted. When I first met him, he made me so uncomfortable, but that was because I was used to people not paying attention to me. He didn’t make fun of me. I wasn’t the butt of his jokes. He made me part of the team in a way I hadn’t been before. So, seeing him this upset makes me…”
Diha shrugged and turned to study the selection of drinks.
“Kelsey said he tried to protect me. What does that mean?” Robin asked.
“He made decisions about planting listening devices in your parent’s home. Or more importantly, where he wouldn’t put them. He made the supervising officer delete audio not pertaining to the case. And he argued that you should be brought in, to work alongside him. I’m probably not supposed to tell you any of this, but… Harper cares about you.”
Robin turned and leaned against the wall.
What was she supposed to do with this information?
“I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to sort this all out. If you ever want to talk to someone who’s been in your shoes, I know of a woman. She’s dating Harper’s best friend.” Diha tilted her head to the side. “They’re practically married.”
“If Harper cares so much, where is he then? Why are you and Kelsey here to tell me how much he’s hurting?”
Diha blinked at her a few times. “Well, I assume that’s because you said you didn’t want to see him. Harper can be stubborn and pig-headed and utterly obnoxious, but he’s also good at listening to what you want.”
Robin stared at the wall while her insides were torn in half.
Her life was a wreck because of Harper. She’d lost her family and her dignity because of him. But it wasn’t like her family had been there for her.
If she chose Harper over them, did that make her a bad person?