“Probably some. I have two pretrials hopefully, but nothing else in court, so if you do…”
“No. Not today,” Julian said, smiling at Rosie.
Julian and I exchanged a look—one of those rare, silent negotiations we’d mastered over the last year.
“I can take her,” he said gently. “My two o’clock just moved and I can push the others. You’ve got enough on your plate.”
“You sure?” I asked, already half-reaching for Rosie’s backpack.
He nodded. “Yeah. Go save the city or whatever it is you do.”
I smiled despite myself and crouched to zip up Rosie’s coat. “You be good for Daddy, okay?”
“I’m always good,” she said, then paused. “Except when I’m not.”
Julian laughed, and I stood just as Rosie turned to him with a sudden brightness in her voice. “Oh! I thought I saw Key’s car!”
My heart stopped.
Julian blinked. “Key?”
“From brunch,” she said. “He was in the kitchen when I had forgot Carty. You know, the day Mami fell down the stairs and she got that bruise on her neck?”
The nurse eyed us, but didn’t say anything.
“You remember, right, Mami?”
Julian looked at me. “What’s this now?”
“The window guy,” I said, hating myself for it. “He came back.”
“He has a funny name,” Rosie said. “He said it was like a musical key, but I think it’s more like a door key.”
“Can’t wait to meet this famous key-man,” Julian said, wrinkling his nose.
The nurse kept watching us. I didn’t love it.
“It was weeks ago,” I said. “And—he just dropped something off. It wasn’t—” I trailed off.
“Got it,” he said, voice tight.
Rosie tugged on his hand, already ready to go. “Can we get bagels on the way home?”
“Sure, peanut.”
He didn’t look at me again as they walked out the door.
And I didn’t exhale until they were gone.
Chapter Twenty: Kieran
Ihad to do something about Ruby.
I had to make sure Tristan didn’t get to her. I had to make sure the FBI didn’t get to her. I had to make sure she was fucking untouchable…for our daughter, at least. I didn’t care if she didn’t want to speak to me, I needed to speak to her.
Not just because of my overwhelming need to see her—though that was certainly a factor—but because I needed to protect her.
I had to.
