Chapter 218 Chapter 0217

Chapter 218 Chapter 0217
Clark strode through the Police Station, his expression unreadable, his patience already wearing thin.  
The place reeked of sweat and coffee. The low murmur of officers shuffling papers and tapping on keyboards filled the space, a dull, monotonous noise that grated against his already strained nerves.  
He had a job to do—defend Cassidy Hills.  
That alone was enough to make his stomach turn. But what made it worse? Adam was here.  
Clark could feel him before he even saw him. The weight of his presence, the air shifting with that unmistakable sense of imposing brutality. Adam was big, heavy, and carried trouble like it was stitched into his skin.  
Clark ignored it. For now.  
He pushed open the door to Interrogation Room 2.  
Cassidy was waiting.  
Not tense. Not restless. Not even remotely concerned.  
Relaxed.  
Slouched back in his chair, emerald eyes bright with amusement, his cuffed hands resting lazily on the table.  
Clark didn’t give him the satisfaction of a greeting. He set his briefcase down with deliberate precision, his every movement controlled.  
The metal door creaked open behind him.  
Clark didn’t turn. Didn’t need to.  
Adam walked in—all presence, all weight, all quiet violence.  
And then, Cassidy laughed.  
Not a polite chuckle. Not a smirk.  
A full, genuine, amused laugh.  
Clark’s spine stiffened.  
Cassidy grinned, tilting his head. "Holy shit, it’s you."  
Adam exhaled through his nose, unimpressed. "Still breathing, huh?"  
Cassidy stretched, shifting in his seat. "Barely. The accommodations are shit. Thought I told you I’d never end up in one of these cells."  
Adam’s lips curled slightly, his voice a deep, unimpressed gravel. "Guess you ain't as slick as you thought, huh?"  
Cassidy hummed, unconcerned. "Oh, come on, big guy. You of all people should know how these things go. One minute, you’re untouchable, the next, some cop is shoving your face into the pavement." His gaze flickered toward Clark, a smirk tugging at his lips. "No offense, counselor."  
Clark ignored him. But his sharp eyes flicked between them, already picking up on the familiarity.  
"You two know each other," he stated, adjusting his cufflinks.  
Cassidy let out another low chuckle, turning his emerald eyes to Adam. "You didn’t tell him?"  
Clark's eyes narrowed. "Tell me what?"  
Adam didn’t react. Didn’t move. But his silence was an answer.  
Cassidy grinned wider. "You didn’t tell your precious lawyer that we were colleagues?"  
Clark’s stomach turned. His fingers twitched.  
"Colleagues," he repeated, voice sharp.  
Adam finally spoke, his tone flat. "Ain't relevant."  
Clark let out a short, cold laugh. "Not relevant? Oh, I think it is." His grey eyes turned ice-cold. "You worked together."  
Cassidy smirked. "Not worked, counselor. We ran things."  
Clark clenched his jaw so hard it ached.  
Adam didn’t look at him.  
Cassidy, sensing an opportunity to stir the pot, leaned forward slightly, grinning.  
"So, what? You’re babysitting him now?" Cassidy asked, motioning toward Clark with a lazy nod.  
Adam smirked. "He’s payin’."  
Cassidy barked out a laugh. "Oh, that’s rich. Adam fucking King, playing bodyguard for a lawyer. You really fell off, huh?"  
Adam’s smirk didn’t waver. "Says the guy sittin’ in handcuffs."  
Cassidy tilted his head, eyes flashing with amusement. "Touché."  
Clark, who had been watching them carefully, finally spoke. His tone was lethal.  
"Are you two done reminiscing?"  
Cassidy grinned. "I don’t know, counselor. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a fellow. Let us have our moment."  
Clark’s gaze sharpened, cutting straight through Adam. "We’ll be talking about this later."  
Adam didn’t flinch. "Yeah. We will."  
Cassidy watched the exchange, the amusement never leaving his face.  
Clark inhaled slowly, exhaled even slower. \`Patience. That’s what this is going to require. An ungodly amount of patience. ´
Cassidy Hills was, for all intents and purposes, a headache wrapped in a smirk.  
The fact that he and Adam shared a history only made it worse.  
Clark dropped his briefcase onto the table with a sharp, deliberate thud. The sound cut through Cassidy’s amusement for a brief second—just long enough for Clark to assert who was actually in charge of this conversation.  
“Enough games,” Clark said coolly, flipping the latches of his case open. “If I’m going to keep your sorry ass out of prison, we need to start working. Now.”  
Cassidy leaned back, unbothered. "Oh, come on, counselor. Where’s the fun in that?"  
Clark shot him a look over his glasses—razor-sharp, precise, and completely unamused. “Fun?” He let the word sit there, filled with every ounce of disbelief he could muster. “You’re looking at twenty-five to life. Do I look like I’m here for fun?”  
Cassidy just grinned. “Depends. Define fun.”  
Clark snapped the file open with a sharp flick of his wrist. His voice was ice. "Killing six men isn’t self-defense, Hills."  
Cassidy shrugged. "Didn’t say it was."  
Clark paused. His eyes lifted, piercing. “Then what are you saying?”  
Cassidy’s emerald eyes gleamed. “That if you’re smart, you’ll make it sound like it was.”  
Clark hated that he had a point.  
He adjusted his glasses, flipping through the case file. Names, dates, photos of bodies left in a neat, efficient mess. Gunshot wounds to the head. Close-range. Clean. Cassidy didn’t shoot to wound. He shot to end.  
Clark let out a slow breath, dragging his fingers down the bridge of his nose. \`This case is a nightmare. ´
Adam, who had remained quiet until now, leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Watching. Always watching.  
"You tellin’ me you ain't got a defense lined up already?" Adam finally spoke, his voice low and weighted.  
Clark didn’t look up. “I don’t build cases on bullshit.”  
Cassidy laughed under his breath. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”  
Clark shot him a glare. “You think this is a joke? You walked into a warehouse and executed six men. That’s not self-defense. That’s a massacre.”  
Cassidy tilted his head, voice calm. “They were armed. Dangerous. Holding twenty people hostage. One of them was Arthur."  
Clark didn’t blink. Didn’t let his expression shift. "Are you expecting me to argue that it was heroic?"  
Cassidy smirked. "A little flattery never hurt a defense."  
Clark snapped the file shut. "You know what does hurt a defense? A client with a big fucking mouth.”  
Adam chuckled from his corner. "Ain't wrong."  
Cassidy turned to him with a dramatic mock gasp. "Et tu, brute?"  
Adam shrugged, unimpressed. "Man, you shot six people. You don’t get to act offended."  
Clark exhaled hard, rubbing at his temple. “Alright. Enough.” He straightened, regaining control. "Here’s the reality, Hills: You’re guilty. We all know it. What I need to do is make the jury see reason."  
Cassidy raised a brow. “Oh? And what reason would that be?”  
Clark’s voice was cool steel. “That you were the lesser evil.”  
The room stilled slightly.  
Cassidy studied him.  
Adam’s expression remained unreadable.  
Clark continued, voice measured. “You saved twenty hostages. That’s twenty testimonies saying you walked in and got them out alive. Six dead men, sure—but let’s be honest, no jury’s going to weep over dead criminals.”  
Cassidy’s smirk widened. "Now you’re thinking like a lawyer."  
Clark ignored that. "Here’s the catch—" His fingers tapped against the folder. “The prosecution is going to frame you as a vigilante. A dangerous criminal who took the law into his own hands.”  
Cassidy stretched lazily. "They wouldn’t be wrong."  
Clark’s teeth gritted. "And if you say that on the stand, I will personally see to it that you get the maximum sentence."  
Cassidy’s laughter was genuine. “Fuck, Clark. You’re good at this.”  
Clark gave him a flat, tired stare. “I know.”  
Adam, from his place against the wall, watched Clark for a long moment before finally speaking.  
"This whole thing—you doin’ this? Defending him?" His brown eyes flicked to Clark, unreadable. "That a favor?"  
Clark met his gaze head-on. "No."  
Adam’s lips curled slightly. "Then what’s he paying you?"  
Clark didn’t blink. Didn’t hesitate.  
"He’s paying."  
Adam’s grin sharpened. "Good answer."  
Cassidy whistled, looking between them. "Damn. That’s cold."  
“It’s necessary.”  
Clark pulled a stack of neatly arranged documents from his briefcase and placed them on the table between him and Cassidy with a controlled, deliberate motion. The weight of them landed with a dull thud against the metal, a sharp contrast to the lazy smirk still playing on Cassidy’s lips.  
Cassidy eyed the stack with mild curiosity, his emerald eyes flicking up to Clark. “What’s this? My will?”  
Clark gave him a flat, unimpressed stare. “No, unfortunately. Just your contracts.”  
Cassidy raised an eyebrow but leaned forward, cuffs jingling slightly as he slid the top page closer. His smirk only widened as his gaze ran down the words.  
“A legal representation agreement…" He hummed, tapping a cuffed finger against the page. “Oh, look at that—‘non-refundable.’ Cold, counselor.”  
Clark adjusted his glasses. “I don’t work for free.”  
Cassidy chuckled under his breath. “Clearly.” He flipped through the next document. His amusement grew. “And what’s this?”  
Clark didn’t blink. Didn’t smile.  
“Your agreement to pay Adam.”  
Cassidy stilled. The silence stretched for a beat. Then, very slowly, he laughed.  
A genuine, amused, full-bodied laugh.  
“Are you serious?” Cassidy asked, shaking his head. “You’re making me pay for your own babysitter?”  
Clark didn’t blink. “Yes.”  
Cassidy smirked. “And what makes you think I’ll sign that?”  
Clark leaned forward slightly, his voice low, sharp. Lethal.  
“Because I wouldn’t need a babysitter if it weren’t for you.”  
Cassidy’s smirk flickered. A split second of something real. Something calculating.  
Clark’s voice was smooth, effortless, but undercut with an edge of venom. “The moment I took this case, I became a target. And that’s on you, Hills. So if I have to deal with Adam looming over me like a fucking shadow, you’re paying for it.”  
Cassidy let out a long, amused sigh, tapping a finger against the paper. “I’d argue that Adam’s presence is a bonus, not a problem.”  
Clark exhaled hard. “Sign the damn contract.”  
Cassidy tilted his head, pretending to think about it before grinning.  
“Well, when you put it like that—” He took the pen Clark handed him and, without another word, signed his name with a slow, exaggerated flourish.  
Clark watched him with mild disgust.  
Cassidy flicked the contract back toward Clark and leaned back, stretching lazily. “There. Happy?”  
Clark flipped the document over, checked the signature, and nodded once.  
“Ecstatic.”  
Cassidy grinned. “I can tell.”  
Adam, silent up until now, exhaled a short, amused breath from his corner.  
“Man,” Adam muttered, shaking his head, “this is the funniest shit I’ve seen in a long time.”  
Cassidy shot him a mock glare. “Don’t look so smug. You’re on my payroll now.”  
Adam smirked. “Yeah, yeah. Just remember—I don’t take IOUs.”  
Cassidy chuckled, but there was something sharp behind it. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”  
Clark snapped the briefcase shut, gathering the signed documents with practiced efficiency.  
“This concludes our business for today.” He stood, dusting off his suit with an air of finality.  
Cassidy stretched his arms, as much as the cuffs allowed, and smirked. “What, no goodbye kiss?”  
Clark gave him a cold, slow blink. “If I could bill you for every second I waste, I would.”  
Cassidy barked out a laugh as Clark turned toward the door.  
Adam pushed off the wall, falling into step beside him as they walked out.  
Just before the door shut behind them, Cassidy called out with a grin in his voice.  
“Can’t wait for our next session, counselor.”  
Clark didn’t dignify him with an answer.  
But as he and Adam stepped into the hallway, he exhaled deeply.  
Adam glanced at him, amused. “He gets under your skin, huh?”  
Clark adjusted his glasses. “He gets under everyone’s skin.”  
Adam smirked. “Yeah. But I think he likes getting under yours.”  
Clark shot him a glare. Adam just chuckled.  
The case had barely started, and Clark was already exhausted.