Falling Hard (Billionaires in Disguise: Lizzy, #1) by Blair Babylon Page A

testify, and now he’s getting out.”
    “You’ve warned them, though.”
    He nodded. “I called every last one of them
and told them that he’s getting out. I’ve been on the phone for
three days, contacting all of them and walking them through their
options. I offered them police protection, but that’s damn near
useless and they know it. Most of them cussed me out. Some cried.
The social contract failed them. Most are leaving the state, which
means that if we ever do manage to build a case against this guy
again, those witnesses are gone.”
    She rubbed his back. “I’m sorry.”
    “So am I. God, so am I.”
    A bad thought formed in her head. “Are you in
any danger?”
    Theo shrugged. “He’s got a long list of
people who are actually a threat to him and a business to rebuild.
I imagine I’m pretty low on his list. I’m just a failed assistant
county attorney.”
    Lizzy leaned and wrapped her arms around him.
Theo was a far cry from the joking guy at the party. Her unrequited
lust problem with The Dom faded to pastel colors.
    Lizzy should attack this like a philosophy
problem. “So if that was the best option, what were the other
options?”
    He shrugged. “Go to trial with tainted
evidence. If his lawyers had figured it out, and they would have,
the judge would have declared a mistrial. His lawyers would have
seen how our case was put together. A later trial would have been
harder. The witnesses who testified at the mistrial would still be
in danger, plus they would have already testified so he would know
exactly what they were going to say and how important it would be
to get rid of them. Plus, I might have gotten disbarred, and then I
couldn’t put him or other bad guys in jail. In the worst case, the
judge might have dismissed it in such a way that we couldn’t
prosecute him again.”
    With prejudice, Lizzy thought and
rubbed her hand down his spine. “That sounds even more fucked up.
Any other options?”
    His voice dropped, as if the security cam
didn’t have damn good mic on it. He growled, “Kill him myself.”
    “I’m going to veto that one,” Lizzy said.
“He’s not worth your soul.”
    “They sucked out my soul, and what’s the life
of one scumbag versus the lives of maybe a dozen innocent
witnesses?”
    “Then you would go to jail, and then you
wouldn’t be able to put more bad guys in jail.”
    “But the social contract failed these
people,” Theo said. “They were supposed to be safe. The villain was
supposed to go to prison. I know this is hopelessly idealistic, but
those people shouldn’t be killed because they were victims of
crimes and then were going to do the right thing and stand up in
court. That’s worse.”
    “If this guy is as much of an asshole as you
say, and I assume he is, there’s other evidence out there. You
haven’t burned the other evidence. Double jeopardy shouldn’t apply.
You can build a new case against him.”
    Theo glanced at her with a ghost of a smile.
“Double jeopardy?”
    She shrugged. “We debate in class. I watch
TV.”
    Theo nodded. “I still want to punch
something.”
    “Not me,” Lizzy said. She glanced at the
security camera. The red light blinked at her like one of the
winking security guys.
    “Oh, hell, no.” Theo frowned at her like she
had said something particularly insipid. “I need a heavy bag and
some gloves. Going to the gym will settle me down. If you wanted to
come along and hold the bag for me, that would be cool.”
    Oh. “You box?”
    He nodded.
    Boxing would explain all those tight muscles
that she kept feeling under his clothes. Those weren’t gym muscles.
Those were functional muscles.
    Theo’s wild gold eyes had calmed down a lot.
Maybe he had just needed to get all that out of his system. Lizzy
had one client, Dr. Gliniecki, an oncologist, who spent his hour
sobbing while she held him.
    Theo’s day did sound truly horrific. She
paused, thinking. “I know something that’ll settle you down.”
    Her