Chapter 36

He had been interested in the Preston case. Even though he had less experience in that specific area than Attorney Kerr, he had been willing to give it a shot. Now, seeing how much trouble Kerr was having, he was glad Cedric had intervened.

He would have not only tarnished his own reputation but also potentially lost the case for the Prestons.

Cedric let out a short, humorless laugh.

Then he ended the call and tossed his phone onto the small table. The Preston case was being handled. Liliana still hadn't come home. Was she waiting for a personal invitation?

His dark expression melted into the night. The cigarette burned slowly between his fingers. The cool wind did little to calm the heat coiling inside him. It was late when he finally went back to his room.

He didn't sleep. The bed was filled with the faint, sweet scent of Liliana. He, Cedric Forrest, was losing sleep over her. Not because he missed her, of course. He was a man in his prime, and it was her body he missed. Nothing more.

The thought of how she had changed recently, so defiant and unyielding, filled him with a fresh wave of irritation. How could she, how dared she, keep this up?

The next day, at Zephyr Group, Cedric arrived at the office early.

When Timothy came in to report the day's schedule, he was exceedingly cautious, barely daring to breathe. He was afraid Cedric would bring up yesterday's incident. But his fear didn't stop Cedric from doing just that.

"Did she say anything when she left yesterday?" Cedric asked, rubbing his wrist nonchalantly.

Timothy answered honestly. "Mrs. Forrest said thank you."

"Just 'thank you'?" Cedric's face darkened. If she said thank you, she knew that getting a lawyer from Chase & Associates was because of him. She couldn't even be bothered to apologize in person, and now she was passing on her thanks through a third party?

"I told her I didn't deserve her thanks, since I was only able to arrange the lawyer because of you, sir," Timothy said quickly, trying to read his boss's inscrutable expression. Cedric was clearly furious with his wife, but his reactions were always so strange.

Cedric's body went rigid. "She thanked YOU?"

Sensing danger, Timothy quickly backpedaled. "She meant to thank you, of course! But you left in such a hurry!"

It was too late. For the rest of the morning, Cedric was a storm cloud of fury. The office rumor was that he was angry because of what had happened to Sylvia. An 'informant' Juniper had planted in the company quickly relayed the news to her." was livid but held her tongue when she saw how worried Liliana was about Hale.

"You've been up all night. You need to rest."

Liliana had spent the entire night in the living room, researching how similar cases had been handled. Proving a staged accident was. nearly impossible without ironclad proof. Her meeting with the victims family had been a disaster, but she understood their grief and anger. She didn't want to provoke them further, so she decided to focus her investigation on the victim herself.

"I'm not tired. Hale is still in custody. I need to find evidence as soon as possible."

She had already received a call from Vida that morning, demanding to know why Hale wasn't out yet. Vida didn't care about the complexities of the case, she just assumed Lilianas was being cheap or not trying hard enough. Liliana's attempts to explain had been futile. Vida had ended the call with, "Your father said if you can't get Hale out, don't bother coming to see us again."

There was no reasoning with them, so Liliana didn't try. The words stung, but she wasn't doing this for her parents. She was doing it for Hale, the one person who had always been a good brother to her.

"Did you and Cedric finalize the divorce yesterday?" Juniper finally asked. With everything going on with Hale, she hadn't had a chance to bring it up.

Seeing Liliana getting ready to leave again, she couldn't hold back any longer.