I spend the rest of the day internally battling my moral dilemma. I put in a call to the D.A. that is handling Marko’s case and decide to go talk to Jaxon about this.
I knock on his door and see that he’s talking to Cole. Great. Just what I needed, a cherry on top of my shit sundae.
Cole opens the door and barely glances at me before Jaxon invites me in. Cole exits and I shut the door behind me.
“Everything okay at the police station? Were you able to get him out on bail?” he asks as he’s scrolling through his computer.
“Yes, I’m waiting to hear back from the D.A. about agreeing to let him out on bail, but I wanted to talk to you about this case...” I start to fidget and wring my fingers together.
He glances up at me, giving me his full attention. “What’s up?”
“Well...you see. My client is the man who currently has a hit out on my childhood-friend-slash-sister’s-ex-boyfriend-slash-future-sister-in-law and—”
Jaxon holds out his hand to stop. “Wait, sorry. What are you saying?”
“I think I have a conflict of interest on this case. The client is Marko, as in—”
Realization dawns on him. “Marko from the Forgotten Children.” His lips go into a thin line. “Faye had mentioned him when we last spoke. He’s the one who’s after the Wind Dragons?”
I nod. “And technically the Knights of Fury, too.”
I don’t want to lose my career before I’ve even started it, but nothing is more important than family to me. Family is why I became a lawyer in the first place. I knew I was going to get into tricky situations being both family to an MC and a lawyer, but Faye always somehow made it work, and now I need to do the same.
“Sir, I know I can be professional, but I don’t think it is in the client’s best interest if I continue representing him.” What I really want to say is I don’t want Marko to kill me when he finds out who I am. I’m hoping Jaxon picks up on that without me having to admit it.
“Natalie, you’re right. And I think you’d be in danger if you continue representing him as well. Let me be clear, I trust you’d be able to offer effective counsel, but I wouldn’t do that to you. I’ll have Cole take over his case, but you’ll need to assist so Marko doesn’t think anything is up. Can you give him all your notes and where you left off?”
I’m so relieved I don’t even care that I have to work with Cole. “Yes, of course.” I stand and make my way back to my desk.
“And Natalie?” I stop and turn back to Jaxon. “I know I don’t have to tell you this, but you are still covered by attorney-client privilege even if Cole is handling the case. Under no circumstances can you let anyone, and I mean anyone, know where Marko is and what you know about his case.”
Normally I’d be offended by this reminder, but I see what Jaxon is doing. He’s helping me with my moral dilemma. He’s taking the responsibility so that I don’t have to make the decision.
“Understood.”
Now I just have to figure out how I can keep my mouth shut.
I head straight to the bar after work, and find Cara and Decker already sitting there with Atlas and Aries, drinks in hand.
“Hello, everyone. Where’s CJ?” I ask, sitting down next to Atlas with a forced smile. I don’t know whether to hug him, kiss him or do nothing, so I do the latter, just like I would with a friend. Tonight was meant to be a fun dinner, but now with the Marko thing hanging over me, I feel sick.
“He canceled on us, said something came up,” Atlas replies. “You look beautiful, Natalie.”
“Thank you,” I reply, as he checks me out from head to toe. I dressed especially cute today, in a nude pencil skirt and white blouse. “Aries, nice to see you again,” I say to his brother.
“You, too,” he replies, his kind green eyes smiling. He’s had a haircut, his blond locks shorter than they were the last time I saw him. The twins are dressed similar, in jeans and white T-shirts, leather boots and their cuts.
“What do you want to drink?” Atlas asks, bringing my attention back to him.
“I’ll have a vodka cranberry, please.” He orders my drink, while I turn to Cara. “How was your day?”
“Not bad, and you? What happened with Cole?”
All three men suddenly turn to us, interested. I texted her and updated her on my day, like I usually do, but I wish she hadn’t brought it up in front of them.
“He just went about his day and didn’t even look in my direction. We had to work on one case together, but we just pretended nothing ever happened.”
“Coward,” Cara mutters.