Prologue

"Vince, did Mr. Jackson ask for an attorney yet?"

"Yeah, Lieutenant. He's with her now." The young officer came into John's office from the hall where he'd been passing.

John took a deep breath before asking the question to which he already knew the answer.

"Who's the attorney?"

"Ms. Williamson, boss. She's been with him for almost an hour. She said she would stop by here on her way out."

"Thanks," John replied.

John hadn't seen Evangeline in person in a week, ever since the truth had come out about Cristian. He'd planned to tell her himself, but the time had never been exactly right. Then Antonio had taken a trip to the prison where Cristian was housed and had seen a portrait he had done of Natalie. He'd immediately known that his brother/cousin was indeed alive.

After some heavy discussion with Antonio, Cristian had admitted the truth; the whole truth, including how John had known the truth but had been sworn to secrecy. Antonio had been furious at first and had gone to Evangeline to get help for his brother. Evangeline had gone straight to John with the news. John then admitted to the results of the DNA test and watched as Evangeline walked out.

He hadn't talked to her since and it was weighing heavily on him. She wouldn't answer his calls. She only came to the station when he wasn't there and only to talk to Bo. He wasn't sleeping or eating well. Most of his time was spent at the gym and he guessed it was paying off. Physically, he was feeling more like a thirty year old than the thirty-eight that he was, but emotionally he was feeling every one of his years. He'd gone many a round with the heavy bag to work off some of his frustration.

"Lieutenant," Evangeline said from behind John. She had taken a deep breath before coming in the bull pen. Evangeline wasn't completely sure that she was ready to face John, but she was a professional and she would not allow her feelings for him to keep her from doing her job.

"Hey, counselor," he said in response to her greeting. John had known the moment she walked into the area. He wasn't sure if it was her scent or the staccato of her heels on the floor, but he realized in that moment how much he had missed her just being around.

"I just wanted to inform you that I'm representing Mr. Jackson so any further questions you have should go through me."

"Officer Miller told me that you were with him."

"Good. I'm sure I'll see you later," she said, turning toward the door to leave.

"Will you?" he asked, stopping her in her tracks. John walked up behind her to do what he knew had to be done. "Will you see me later? We need to talk."

"John, I don't have anything to say to you right now." She didn't turn around as she spoke.

"Well, I have some things to say to you. I need to explain. Are you willing to listen to me?" She looked up at him with a humorless smile before responding.

"John, you don't have to explain to me how you put Natalie above the rest of Cristian's family. You and Cris made her more important than everyone else who cared about him. The two of you made decisions that put him in jail for the past six months, when he needed psychiatric help to help the police find out who wanted Tico and Antonio dead. Something we still don't know. That puts Antonio and everyone around him in danger. You don't have anything to explain. Goodbye." She walked out of the station not looking back at him.

John sighed and dropped his head. Everything she said was on point, but when he promised Cris that he would keep the secret, he hadn't thought about the effect it would potentially have on everyone else involved. He'd messed up big time and he didn't know how he was going to fix it.