“In English,” Grace said.

Carson picked up a packet of papers and handed one stack to each of them. “In short. Sokolov had to tell the courts why he feels he has a case. We’ll go over this line by line, but he is trying to paint a theme that you’ve taken bribes in the past, and he says he has proof that you did.”

Grace glanced at the legal papers without reading them. “What proof?” She looked up to find Carson staring at Dameon.

Dameon had his nose down reading the papers. He paused and looked up. “My name is in here.”

Carson nodded once. “It is.”

“What?” Grace skimmed the papers again. On the second page she found Dameon’s name. “Acquired private texting conversations between Mr. Dameon Locke and Miss Grace Hudson.” Grace read the next part to herself.

DL: What can I do to convince you to keep today a secret?

GH: My price is steep.

DL: Name it!

GH: Never mind. I’ll hold onto the information to lord over you.

DL: I see how this works. Blackmail.

GH: We all have our ways and means.

Grace turned to look at Dameon. “That bastard stole my phone.”

“So this conversation did take place?” Carson asked.

“As damaging as this sounds, there’s a simple explanation for it.”

“I’m listening.”

She smiled at Dameon. “This was before Dameon and I started dating. He followed me into a nail salon, and I wouldn’t talk to him unless he was sitting in a chair.”

Dameon looked at Carson, and put a hand in the air. “I swear I didn’t like it.”

Grace laughed. “He got a pedicure and I was giving him a hard time.” She looked at the piece of paper and started to paraphrase the text . . . “‘What can I do to keep today a secret?’ He’s talking about the pedicure. ‘My price is steep.’ That’s me poking at him. This is all a joke.”

Carson was biting his lip. “Did you pay cash?”

Grace shook her head. “No, Dameon paid with a credit card.”

Now Carson laughed. “Okay, good. I need a copy of that statement.”

Dameon was smiling. “I’m never going to live that day down.”

Carson pushed those papers aside and pulled up another one. “My first thought was to throw the evidence out. Sokolov didn’t obtain it legally and the message wasn’t sent to him. Pretty cut and dry. But it might explain this.” He handed over a statement from her bank.

She and Dameon looked at it together. “What am I supposed to be seeing here?”

“Look at your savings account. I’m guessing you have online banking you access through your phone.”

“I do.”

“Then Sokolov has access to your account numbers,” Carson said.

At first glance, she saw the number. “That’s not right.”

“What?” Dameon asked.

“The amount. I don’t have twenty thousand in my savings, I only have five and some change.”

She turned the page to find three deposits of five thousand dollars each added to the account. “What is this?”

“Good question. I was hoping you had an explanation for it. The first thing that stands out is the even amount. Five thousand. The other thing is when they were deposited. These were cash deposits through a mail drop during the Christmas holiday.”

“My Secret Santa gave me fifteen grand?” Grace asked.

“Or someone is going out of their way to make it look like you had extra money you can’t explain going into your account. And since your December statement just came out, you didn’t notice it until now.”

“I would have said something if I saw it,” Grace said.

Dameon put the paper back on Carson’s desk. “So this idiot steals Grace’s phone, screenshots a private conversation, and makes up a story about me bribing Grace. And then money falls into her account.”

“Bingo.”

“Don’t banks have cameras on deposit boxes?”

Carson nodded. “Which we will subpoena if we need to.”

“Who knows about the money in the account?” Grace asked.

“Right now, just us. Michelle found it. But if this ends up in front of a judge . . .”

“So we have Michelle dig up who put it there,” Dameon said.

“Exactly.”

“In the meantime, we need to answer the complaint and at the same time toss in a lawsuit of our own.”

“Against the city?”

“No, against Sokolov. Libel, slander, theft, assault.”

“He didn’t touch me,” Grace said.

“Assault is verbal and intent, not physical. And considering how far he’s taking this . . .”

“Oh, I’m game. You don’t have to say it twice,” Grace said.

Carson sat back in his chair and folded his hands on his desk. “Now would be a good time for your relationship to become public.”

“It’s not like we’re keeping it a secret,” Dameon said.

“Nothing flashy, just a simple something in the local newspaper. Santa Clarita is a small enough town that the rich new land developer falling for a hometown girl could make the fourth page. That makes pedicures and flirty texting completely believable and might even lead Sokolov to drop his case. It can’t hurt.”

Grace stood in her mom’s kitchen chopping up the makings of a salad. It was family dinner night, something they did twice a month on average. “I’ve known Dameon less than two months. How is it possible I feel like I’ve known him for years?” she asked her mother.

Right now it was just the two of them in the kitchen. Dameon was on his way from picking up his mother so she could get to know Grace’s family.

“That’s what happened with your father and I. We dated for three months before we were walking down the aisle.” Nora offered a wistful sigh.

“You were pregnant,” Grace said, deadpan.

“Colin was early,” Nora said with a wink. “I knew your dad was the one.”

Grace dumped the cut-up carrots into the bowl and moved on to the tomatoes. “How do you know? Is there some kind of divine sign? A flashing light with arrows pointing?”

“You’re watching too much television.”

She laughed. “Seriously, Mom.”

Nora went to the fridge and removed a bottle of wine.

“What’s this?” Grace asked when she took a glass from her mother.

“Truth serum.”

They both sipped.

“Do you love him?”

That had Grace taking another sip. “I’ve never felt so connected to anyone the way I do to Dameon.”

Her mom smiled and quietly drank her wine.

“He’s smart and funny. He treats me like an equal and values my opinion.”

“He’s good-looking,” her mom said.

“Right! Like how did I land that?”

“You’re beautiful.”

“You’re biased,” she told her mom.

“How is the sex?” Nora asked.

Grace wanted to pretend shock, but that wasn’t how their family rolled. “It’s off the charts, Mom. I never have to fake anything. Even if I’m tired he makes it happen for me.”