Above the Law

Chapter Thirty-Two

She sat with her hands clenched tightly in her lap.

He sat across from her. "This may sound cruel after everything you've been through, but you're not here to talk about that. Not today at least."

"Okay," she said slowly, brows drawing together.

"You're hoping that if Parker wakes up, you two will live happily ever after, and I wish that for you both, but it's just not a possibility. I know who Parker is. Who he really is. And Fisher made sure that if anything happened to him, everyone else would know Parker's secret too." Matthews paused, carefully reading Eden's expression. She tried to keep her mask in place. "Have you watched the news? Because Parker's face is on every network. Which means even if Parker pulls through, he'll more than likely end up in a cell for the rest of his life."

Her chest deflated with his harsh words. But she knew the reality of her situation. She had never gotten a happy ending before, so why was she expecting one now? Why did she hope for a better outcome when hope had never been on her side to begin with? "And Fisher? He'll get what? Three to five years? Or earlier with good behavior?" The last words came out as a snarl. She felt the anger well inside her, felt herself becoming the woman who killed Drew, not the one who was helpless to Fisher's abuse.

Matthews was silent.

"There is no justice for men like him and it makes me sick," Eden whispered darkly.

"I know." He looked down at the desk and exhaled. "I sided with Parker, not the law. But Parker isn't above the law, not to everyone. He will be prosecuted if he makes it through surgery."

"It was justice." The words caught in her throat. "All he wanted was justice."

They sat in silence, but the voice in Eden's head—her own cold voice—was consuming and calling. All she wanted was justice. And Parker had taught her how to take it. She wouldn't be weak this time. She would end it.

"I don't want to go to trial," Eden said fiercely, her voice never wavering. "I don't want Fisher to be prosecuted. Let him go."

"Let him go?" Anger and disbelief coated his words. "You cannot possibly be serious. He kidnapped you. He rap—he hurt you. He hurt a lot of other women. I can't just let him go."

Eden leaned forward, already obsessively engrossed in her plan. "You let him go, and I swear—I swear—he'll get what he deserves. He'll see justice, he will bleed it."

Her own words rang loud and cruel in her ears. He stared. She stared back.

Matthews seemed to come to a startling realization. He closed his eyes, trying to block her out, or maybe his own thoughts. He exhaled loudly before speaking in a calm, dead voice. "It was you. You killed the boy. You're the one who carved into their foreheads. I tried to deny the difference in the kills—God, were the differences so obvious—but I didn't want to believe Parker had pulled a woman into his world."

"I haven't been innocent in a long time and neither had those men. Parker's world fitted me. It made sense."

"I can't let you kill him. I just can't."

"I'm not asking you to," Eden said. "I'm simply asking you to let him go. I'm asking you to tell one of your guard dogs to roll over and fetch for me. And suddenly, Fisher won't be your problem, he'll be mine."

"You... you want me to ask one of my officers to break Fisher out of his hospital room. And then what? Where would you take him?"

"Somewhere no one can hear his scream."

Matthews shook his head once. Firmly. "No. I need him—I need to know where the prostitution ring is and where these women are being trafficked. Unless you already know this information?"

"I don't, no," Eden admitted. "But I could. I could make Fisher talk. I could make the bastard squeal like the pig he is."

Matthews frowned, his old and wrinkled skin creating a deep furrow.

"The pig thing—that wasn't meant as a jab at your profession," Eden said, though she knew he wasn't frowning because of those words. He was frowning at the ones she'd spoken before.

"What you are saying—what you're implying—"

"Is torture. An eye for an eye—"

"And the whole world is blind," Matthews nearly spat. "Eden, I have a law to abide by—"

Eden was taken aback by his tone. Matthews was okay with Parker killing, Parker tutoring, Parker getting justice, but now he chose to drawn the line? When it came to Eden's vindictive proposal, now he had to up hold the law?

"I want justice and your 'law' can't give that to people like me. Your 'law' is leaving people like me with no other options than fear and submission. Just let him go. Let him go. Please." Her voice was low and desperate, yet somehow powerfully convincing even to her own ears. "I could have shot him tonight; I could have ended it tonight. But that would be too easy, too human for a monster like him. If you let him go I can get the information you need and the justice I crave. I could clear Parker's name." The tears burned behind her eyes, but not once did she peel her gave from Matthews.

Hesitantly, Matthews sighed in compliance. "I'm not promising you anything."