Free Love Irresistibly by Julie James Page B

with them, but she was back on top of things now. The coast was clear for Sanderson and Torino, the FBI’s sting operation was on track, and on top of that, a sweet older couple had a fun anniversary story to tell about the time a nice young woman with totally awesome red shoes—she’d taken the liberty of filling in a few details here—bought them a bottle of champagne at Sogna. All in all a very pleasant, rewarding evening.
    Now everyone else needed to do their part, wrap this up, and get the hell out of her restaurant.
    All this do-gooder sweetness was going to ruin her reputation as a tough girl.
    * * *
    LATER THAT EVENING, Cade sat in an unmarked van parked in the garage outside, wearing headphones and listening in on Sanderson and Torino’s conversation. So far, they’d spent most of the dinner talking about nothing of importance: the food, the Cubs, and the TV show White Collar , of which, ironically enough, they were both apparently big fans.
    Hey, dickheads, have you seen the one where the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI plant a bug in a restaurant and catch a state senator accepting a large bribe from a hospital CEO? It’s a good one. So let’s say we cut through the chitchat and get down to it.
    Seventy minutes into the conversation, after Cade had begun to wonder if this whole sting operation was going to be a bust, Torino and Sanderson ordered dessert and two glasses of port and finally turned to the subject of the hospital’s possible closing.
    Senator Sanderson sounded wholly at ease as he began.
    “I poked around after we talked, and it seems like a few of my colleagues feel as though Parkpoint should be the hospital to go.”
    Torino, not surprisingly, sounded worried. “Do you think you could convince them otherwise?”
    “I’m a pretty convincing guy. But you understand how these things work, Charles. If I ask some of the other senators for a favor, then I owe all of them a favor in return. And for something like this. . . well, that’s a lot of favors. I need to be sure this is a cause that’s worthy of my support.”
    “I assure you, Senator. This would be a very worthy cause.”
    “How worthy?”
    Cade exchanged a silent look with Vaughn, who sat across from him in the back of the van. Come on, Senator , Cade thought as the adrenaline began pumping. Don’t be coy.
    There was a pause, and then a soft thud, possibly the senator setting down his port glass. “Two hundred thousand.”
    The words were met with a long silence before Torino spoke again.
    “Two hundred thousand, and you can guarantee that Parkpoint stays open?”
    “I know you’ve got the money, Charles. I’ve seen photos of that four-million-dollar house of yours in Lincoln Park. So just think of this as a onetime state tax to keep you in that cushy CEO job of yours.”
    A short pause, and then Torino answered. “All right. Let’s do it.”
    There was a rustle of clothing—as the video would later show, when the two men shook hands. A picture was indeed worth a thousand words.
    The senator sounded pleased with himself. “You just bought yourself a hospital.”
    Hearing those magic words, Cade nodded at Vaughn. “We got it.”
    * * *
    A SHORT WHILE later, Cade stepped into the empty offices of Sterling Restaurants. The space was quiet, and only one panel of lights was on in the reception area, likely to conserve energy since there was only one Sterling employee working right then.
    Cade cut through the hallway that would lead him to Brooke’s office. He’d texted her earlier from the van, asking if they could meet.
    They had some unfinished business to attend to.
    When he got to her doorway, he found her sitting at her desk, reviewing documents. Nine thirty on a Sunday evening and still going , he thought. This woman bested him in terms of hours spent on the job, and that said a lot.
    The desk lamp gave her just enough light to work, casting the rest of her office in soft, dim shadows. She’d changed her