She watched Cassius leave through the front door and couldn't help but feel jealous. He could do what he wanted and go where he wanted because there was no one after him. She could barely remember the last time she was able to put on her shoes and throw on her jacket and just leave.
So now she just sat on the stairs facing the door like a puppy waiting for its owner to come home.
When everything was over she would go out and visit all her favorite stores, she promised herself. Wherever they'd have her move she was going to make most of it. She'd get a job again and talk to new people. The excitement of these prospects died out as soon as the thought of having to do it all without Cassius got her down again.
"Trust me, you don't want to go outside. I had to run some errands yesterday and I got stuck in this awful rainstorm and my phone died. Wouldn't turn on at all which is weird since phones are supposed to be waterproof these days. Anyway, you should've seen Darius's face when I had to request a new one, I thought he was going to kill me."
She didn't have to look up to know it had been Nico who said it. Although she appreciated his efforts to make her feel less bad, it didn't work.
"It just sucks," she replied. "I wouldn't mind getting caught in a rainstorm again. I don't have a phone to kill either."
He moved around to take a seat next to her. "Yeah, you're right, sorry. But hey, look on the bright side. The trial's almost here. Julia is coming over with some people to help you prepare and it's just smooth sailing after that."
She wished she could tell him the thing she dreaded the most was after the trial. To just tell him she wasn't ready to let Cassius go and she didn't want the trial to happen at all. Instead, she just smiled back at him.
"Yeah, you're right. Everything will be fine."
She knew she hadn't sounded too confident in her own words when his smile faltered a little. He opened his mouth to say something but the doorbell suddenly rang, interrupting him. She knew better than to try and open it herself so she just stood up and waited for Nico to open the door.
The first one to step through was Julia, her caseworker. It had been months since she'd spoken to her but she looked exactly the same as she remembered. Her blonde hair and kind eyes were her most prominent features and Nathalia wished she could be half as pretty as her.
Julia was followed by a man in a suit carrying a suitcase and she wasn't sure who he was. They both greeted Nico who lead them back to Nathalia.
"Oh honey, I'm so glad you're okay. I couldn't believe my ears when they said there'd been a break-in at the courthouse! How does something like that even happen? You must have been so scared, I wouldn't have known what to do in a situation like that." Julia gushed. Nathalia had spent the past few months surrounded by men and almost forgot how different it was to talk to a woman again. Julia didn't hide her emotions and her face wasn't hard to read at all.
"It was a little scary but Darius knew what to do so I didn't have to feel unsafe," she replied with a small smile.
"Yes, I am so glad they picked Darius for this case, if it had been anyone else they might not have been able to get you out in time," she shuddered before grabbing Nathalia's hands. "But the most important thing is that you were gone before they got there."
At that last sentence, her blood ran cold. They'd been at the house. The house where she'd been just before that. The men that were after her had actually come close to getting her.
Cassius always claimed he had no idea what happened after they left, and she believed him. He didn't have any contact with the outside world then. But there was no way he still didn't know this. She suddenly wondered how safe she'd actually been all this time and if she was even safe now.
She quickly dispelled the thought, she lived with three bodyguards with another being outside at all times. Nothing had happened to her and nothing will.
"Anyways," Julia continued, "This is Marshall Young, he is the lead prosecutor in this trial." She gestured to the man beside her who stepped forward.
"Nice to meet you, miss. You can just call me Marshall," he said as he stuck out his hand. Nathalia took it with a quick 'nice to meet you too', suddenly feeling nervous from the number of people in the hallway.
"I was thinking that maybe we could go over the trial, I'll tell you what to expect and we can go over any questions the defense might ask. Does that sound alright?" Marshall asked.
After she'd nodded in confirmation Nico spoke up for the first time, "I prepared the conference room, follow me, folks," and let them away with a wave of the hand. She didn't want to go but she supposed she didn't really have a choice anymore at this point.
She sat down in one of the studies, exhausted from the hours of preparation. It was all getting too real and the fact she'd have to see those murderers again made it even worse. She was too tired to walk up the stairs and no one even used these studies anyway.
This particular one was simple yet elegant. Everything was covered in some type of expensive wood and at the very back of the room was a desk with some chairs. The chair she sat on was one of the two chairs on the opposite side of the room where the window was. It was so comfortable she seriously considered just sleeping there.
She watched the people on the street walk by and she wished she was one of them. She knew how dull her day-to-day life had been but the freedom was always something she'd taken for granted. And now she missed it. The creaking of a door opening made her look up but she immediately relaxed when she saw it was just Cassius. In his hands, he held a plate of food which made her wonder what time it was.
He handed her the plate before taking a seat in the chair in front of her. "So how'd it go?" he asked after she'd taken a bite.
Shrugging, she said, "I don't know, fine I guess? They told me what to do and everything but the closer we get the more I feel like I can't do this. It's just too much."
He listened closely to what she was saying and took his time answering. "I'm sure you'll do fine," he said. It wasn't a lot and it wasn't a great comfort but she knew he wasn't equipped to help her with her emotional issues at this moment. She appreciated the thought though.
She threw him a quick smile before taking a bite of her food and looking outside again. Just having him near her was enough to bring her some kind of comfort so she might as well enjoy his presence for as long as she could. Suddenly, a question popped into her head.
"Can you tell me something?" she asked. A quick nod was all she got before continuing, "What are your jobs usually like? Nico said you usually get the 'cool' stuff but what does that mean?" She said the 'cool' part in air quotes because she knew it probably wasn't the right word to use.
Cassius just shrugged before answering, "It's Nico, it could mean anything."
While he wasn't wrong she also knew he was dancing around the question. It made her a little suspicious and a lot more curious. "True, but what were your previous assignments like?"
"Nothing as interesting as Nico is making it out to be," he said. It was nowhere near the answer she was looking for and she wasn't even sure if he was doing it on purpose.
"Yes, but like, what kind of assignments? Do you always just stay with people like me? Because I feel like this isn't a very exciting assignment by your standards."
A small smile tugged on the corner of his lips. "This might be the most exciting job I've had in a very long time," he said. "But to answer your question I usually just stay with politicians and rich people who feel like there's someone after them. I think it's exciting for Nico because I usually travel with them to Europe and stuff while he's only cleared for U.S. jobs."
Her eyebrows shot up, "You've been to Europe?" It had always been a dream of her to visit the cheesiest landmarks of Europe like the Eiffel Tower and the Big Ben and all the other things they showed on TV. There were multiple things stopping her from going, for one she was broke all the time. Her job at the hotel never paid much and most of what she did make went to rent. It also didn't help that she didn't have anyone to go with.
"Yeah, it's part of the job," he said monotonically like he didn't care about it.
She wistfully looked outside again, tracking a man walking his dog with her eyes. "I wish I could go to Europe someday," she said. "I've always wanted to go."
"Maybe someday," was the last thing he said before they fell into a comfortable silence.