I’m sorry, Olivia. I understand you’re going through a difficult time, and if you need my help as your lawyer, I’m quite happy to give it, but otherwise . . .

Otherwise . . .

Otherwise, he should extricate himself from the situation. Completely and thoroughly. He’d been wrong to make this his problem, to get wrapped up in the madness, to get wrapped up in her.

He thought of leaving and felt pain. Physical pain in his gut, as if someone had sucker punched him and left him gasping.

I don’t want to leave. I don’t want her to leave.

But you need to. Leave before she does, because you know she will. You’ll drive her away. You’ll do something or you’ll fail to do something, and she’ll give up on you.

Olivia whimpered in her sleep, and when he looked, she’d doubled over, her head down, legs drawn up as if she was the one in pain.

I can’t help her.

Yes, I can. Maybe not with what happened tonight, but there is something I can fix.

He took out his phone and flipped to the second message from Morgan.

We need to talk. I’ll be home all night and the house will be otherwise empty, so we can discuss this in private and, I hope, come to an understanding. You’re a reasonable man, Walsh. I think we can reason this out.

A reasonable man. By that, Morgan meant that Gabriel could be bought off. The spark of indignation lasted only a second before cold reality snuffed it out. He had been bought by Morgan once, and there was no reason for the man to suspect it wouldn’t work again. That would not happen, of course. Whatever impulse Gabriel had to extricate himself from this situation had been crushed by the determination to prove he could fix this, he could help her, he could be what she needed.

Gabriel dropped his phone into his pocket, eased from the room, and headed out of the apartment, arming the system as he went.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ricky picked me up for breakfast. When we reached his bike, I noticed the bulging saddlebags and the smell of bacon.

“Are you up for a picnic breakfast?” he said. “If you don’t want to eat outside, we could commandeer the meeting room table at Gabriel’s office.”

“No, a picnic is great. Eating out means dining with strangers, and I wasn’t really feeling up to that today.”

“I figured you might want some privacy.”

“I do.” I kissed his cheek before I pulled on my helmet. “Thanks.”

He drove us to the Lincoln Park lily pool. One of my favorite spots. I’d mentioned that to him once. In passing.