“On what?”
“You.”
There was no hesitation in his answer, and the smirk from before was all but gone. The imposing man simply stared back at her as if his one-word response had made perfect sense.
To him, it apparently had. To Cassie, not so much.
“Me?” She searched his darkening gaze. “How does it depend on me?”
“The more open and honest you are with me from the beginning, the easier my job will be.”
“Keeping secrets is the Montgomery family’s specialty, Mr. Nash. Not mine. If there’s something you want to know, all you have to do is ask.”
“Okay.” Leaning forward, he lowered his voice so only she could hear. “Did you kill your husband?”
“No.”
“Do you know anyone who’d want to kill you?”
“No.” She frowned, her throat working to swallow down the terrifying thought. “If I did, I would have pointed the cops in that direction from the beginning.”
Those eyes remained locked with hers, the touch from their lasered gaze electrifying as he continued to stare. Studying. Assessing.
Judging?
But as Cassie looked back at him from across the table, she realized there was no judgement there. Curiosity, sure. But no judgement. Which made her wonder…
“Do you believe me, Mr. Nash?”
“Does it matter?”
The irony of his rumbled response wasn’t lost on her. Cassie couldn’t even begin to count the number of times she’d been asked that very same thing by her own clients. Not as much withthe corporate cases, but the pro-bono work she did on the side was a different story altogether.
In those cases, more often than not, her clients almost always asked if she believed them to be innocent or guilty. And each time, Cassie’s automatic response was always the same…
My opinion on your guilt or innocence is irrelevant. What matters is whether I believe we can win with the evidence presented to the court by the prosecution.
It was the same response that had been drilled into her during law school. From practically day one, they’d been taught to never share their personal feelings with their clients.
Because feelings had no place in a courtroom.
That ideology had never quite settled well with her. But being a rule-follower by nature, she’d trusted her professors when they claimed it was the best way to practice law.
She could still hear the kind but stern man’s voice, even now…
Facts and reasonable doubt, Cassandra. Those are the only two things that matter when trying a case. Everything else is simply fluff that serves no other purpose but to distract you.
The man had been a successful attorney for over two decades and was someone she’d admired throughout her entire collegiate career. So Cassie had taken to heart her trusted mentor’s advice, and that was exactly how she’d practiced law ever since.
Oh, she wasn’t cold or heartless or anything like that. Just always made sure to keep that professional wall between herself and her clients. It was the best way to prevent being blinded by emotions. Or so she’d believed.
But now…
Things look a whole lot different from the defendant’s seat.
And if Archer Nash was the person she was entrusting her freedom to…if this was the man who was supposed to keep her safe…then yeah. His opinion of her mattered one hell of a lot.
“Call me crazy,” she finally answered him, “but I’d feel a whole lot better if my bodyguard didn’t think I was capable of cold blooded murder.”