The Traitor ✓ (Book Six)

Chapter Eight

The rest of our drive is more peaceful-  especially when we get to the more populated area of town. The noise would annoy most people, but I'm so used to it that it doesn't affect me. In prison, the walls were so thin( though I'll admit, strong) that I could hear everything.

  Noise became like background music when I was trying to sleep- or now, when I have to peak through the crowded roads to see the street signs. Maria helps, directing me down a few main roads and a side one. The courthouse is much smaller than the ones in New York and D.C, but large enough to be functional. I park as close as I can- ten rows down where we still have to walk.

  As son as Maria gets out of the car again, I'm on high alert. Leaving the house is dangerous; there are so many ways it could go wrong. A tornado could suddenly come and pick a person up- we saw it when one passed straight over Lauren's motorcade during the campaign and killed Ella, who had to make a split second decision to save Mina's life.

  So as we walk,  I allow my eyes to zoom in on every little thing that could be a threat. A man and his lawyer are standing right outside the main entrance, arguing. Just behind them, a feral cat is curled up in a ball- seeing the world the same way I do. Then on the roof, a Judge sits eating his lunch, legs dangling off the side. Every now and then, I'd do the same thing at the White House. The views offered from that height are unmatched, impossible to recreate on the ground.

  I take a deep breath and hold the main door open for her. All sorts of people are in the lobby- lawyers, judges, people waiting on a public defender. Maria fits right in, and her presence commands attention.

  Simply from the way she carries herself, anybody could tell she's a badass. I knew the first time I laid eyes on her- and I mean that in a platonic way. She marches straight up to the front desk Secretary.

  "Maria Hernandez-" She smiles. "I'm here for a meeting with my client. He should be in room four?"

  The Secretary sets her book down and looks over at the computer. After she's pressed enter, she nods. "Can I ask who this is?" She gestures to me.

  "New bodyguard. Father hired him." She answers for me and turns around, clearly knowing where she's going. I raise an eyebrow at the man in his sixties eyeing her ass before I follow her. He doesn't stop, but he doesn't act on it either- having overheard our conversation.

  Maria presses an elevator button leading to the third floor. The doors close behind us and we're alone again.

  "So what's he like? Your client?" I ask.

  She tilts her head and shrugs. "Let's just say he's not...very stable. He's not the worst one I've ever worked with, though. His victims were all men."

"Well...it's still a good thing I came then."

  I don't know what else to say, so the rest of our short elevator ride is silent. I have to remind myself that we aren't friends, that I'm an employee of her fathers at the most. I mean nothing to her, even after that near death experience- and she shouldn't mean anything to me either.

The doors ding open.

"So... are we gonna tell him about what happened?" I blurt out. She pauses in the middle of the hallway and steps aside to let another lawyer pass. "I'd rather not. He can get...overly protective even though I am twenty six years old."

I nod. I know the feeling of an overbearing parent, one that pressures you into doing things a certain way. I haven't been around them long enough to gauge if that's what she meant- but I know mine was.

I had to be perfect from the second I was born. The tutoring and personal trainer worked for a while.... until I finally got away from them and fell into a depression I got so good at hiding that the polygraph tests couldn't detect it. Even the tester, who wasn't supposed to comment on our results- said I did unnaturally well.