Devoted Defender by Rachel Dylan

against the idea of changing my life. I thought I was a city girl through and through and that Maxwell didn’t have anything for me. But boy, was I wrong. Sometimes exactly what you think you don’t want is really what you need. And that was the case for me.”
    Annie couldn’t help but ask her about Silva. “I guess you don’t have any experience with the Silva crime organization?”
    “No. I don’t practice criminal law. But that type of thing is right up Gabe’s alley at the FBI. That’s specifically the kind of work he does. It’s good that we’re back now and can assist Caleb.”
    “Maybe he’ll be able to help us then.”
    “Definitely. Gabe values his friendship with Caleb. There’s no place he’d rather be right now.”
    “Thanks for saying that.” Hope seemed so sincere. Like she actually cared about what Annie had to say and understood some of the struggles that she was going through. And as much as it surprised Annie, she was glad to be proven wrong about Hope being able to empathize with her.
    “I hear that you’re a chef. I can’t cook a thing.” Hope laughed.
    “I’m sure I could teach you a few simple dishes. It’s all about having fresh ingredients and then knowing how to season.” It would be fun to actually cook with someone who wasn’t an experienced chef.
    Hope lifted up her hand. “You don’t understand. I’m the world’s worst cook.”
    “You have more important things to do—like being a lawyer.”
    “No. What you do is important, too. And it takes a lot of skill. I’ve always admired people who had cooking abilities. I just happen to have none.”
    “Well, I’d love to cook with you sometime. Just give it a shot.”
    “That’s a deal.”
    “I would think that being an attorney is very exciting.”
    Hope grinned. “It’s not as glamorous as it looks on TV. There’s a lot of grunt work. But I enjoy going to trial. That’s my favorite part, though it doesn’t happen as much as I would like.”
    Annie poured them each a cup of coffee and realized that her head was no longer hurting as bad as it had been.
    **
    “Talk to me, Caleb.” Gabe’s dark eyes were focused on him.
    “What else do you want to know?” He felt like Gabe was about to conduct an interrogation. And he couldn’t blame him. He knew the entire situation seemed sketchy.
    “I know we’ve been through the facts, but I need to know what’s going on in your head, and how you’re dealing with all of this, because I’ve got some serious concerns about you going on the run with Annie. I don’t think you’re fully aware what you’re up against. And one man versus the Silva network doesn’t sound like very good odds to me.”
    “This wasn’t my plan by choice. More like a necessity. After the shooting at my house, I knew I had to get Annie out of there. I had no idea that we would be followed. I’m trying to juggle multiple balls in the air right now, but my primary focus has to be on keeping Annie safe. Which means I can’t really investigate what is going on with Silva and why he seems to have this unhealthy obsession with Annie.”
    Gabe nodded. “There has to be a missing piece here. Yeah, Silva wants to get rid of Annie because she was a witness to a hit that he ordered, and heard an incriminating conversation, but there has to be something deeper. Guys like Silva don’t put this much effort into something like this. We’ve got to dig deeper and figure out what else is going on.”
    “Given the most recent events, I tend to agree with you. Normally we’d have the FBI working that angle. Put her in protective custody. But with the intel that we have that someone in the FBI is on Silva’s payroll, I just couldn’t take that chance. Not with Annie’s life.”
    “I don’t want to overstep here, but you and I have been friends for many years.”
    “Uh oh. What is it?” Caleb asked, although he had a good idea where this conversation was going.
    “Is there something going on