Page 83 of Contentious

“What’ll we do… I mean… I can’t even imagine…”

Though he’d been avoiding his father in recent days, he put his hand on his shoulder. “Let’s not go there unless we have to. He’s a fighter.”

Corbin nodded and ran a trembling hand through his hair.

Julian realized he’d never seen his immaculately turned-out father look so disheveled or undone, but then again, none of his children had ever been stabbed and gravely injured before. “Have you called Gramps?”

“I wanted to wait until we knew more.”

“You should call him. He and Carson are close.”

“He’s close to all of you.”

“True, but there’s something extra with Carson, and we don’t want him to find out about it online.”

“I’ll call him.”

When Julian walked back toward Isla, Griffin leaned in to ask him what their father wanted.

“Details about what’s been going on with Carson.”

“What’d you tell him?”

“About how Beckett slammed into them in traffic yesterday and tried to sign her son out of school against her wishes. That’s why Carson took the leave from work.”

“And this is the same guy that stabbed Carson?”

Julian nodded. “We believe so.”

“What’re we doing about it?”

“Cresley’s friend Marlene, a former client of mine, is well connected. She’s talking to her contacts at the LAPD.”

“We’re well connected, too. Should I make some calls?”

“If you think it’ll help.”

“What do we do with Cresley and her son in the meantime? Carson wouldn’t want us to leave them unprotected with a madman gunning for them.”

Julian was suddenly exhausted in every possible way—physically, emotionally and mentally. “We’ll have to put them somewhere he wouldn’t think to look.”

“Gramps’s house. It’s not in Carson’s name, so no one would think to look for them there, and it has good security.”

“Yeah, that’d work. I’ll mention it to her.”

“So is he, like, with her now?”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t said anything other than that they’re friends, but it seems like more than that considering that he encouraged her to move her case out of our firm and over to Mom’s.”

“Wow. Two of you in one month. What the fuck is happening?”

“Look who’s talking, Daddy.”

Griffin smiled. “Best thing ever.”

“When can we meet her?”

“Soon. MK said we should wait a bit to build up her immunity before we expose her to people.”