Jeff stopped cold, when Adam- or whoever the guy was- mentioned his daughter. He was bluffing. He had to be.
Just in case, he reached for the envelope again, ripping it open and pulling out the pictures. He'd seen a few of them in his first package- shots of his home, of him on the way to the agency. But they also had shots of Ava at school. With Tristan's kids.
In Ohio, with his parents.
"Who the fuck got shafted to drive out to BFE, anyway?" Shock made him ask the question aloud, still working on dealing with the reality of it. Rage would come, later. But for now, fear was acting as a good substitute.
He was stuck staring at the pictures, until someone picked up on the other end of the phone. Glancing back at Adam, his jaw clenched for a moment before she spoke. To his credit, it was with the same easygoing tone that he'd greeted Adam with in the first place. God bless politics, for their lesson in ignoring his emotions.
"Oh, no, hey. Just calling to see if Ryan had that report done for me, about my new case's special circumstances. He'll know the one I mean. Just remind him to fax it over? Don't want to keep the kid waiting." He smiled and nodded, nervous little ticks left as other remnants of his political life. Hanging up the phone, he finally moved to sit; if the guy was going to out and out attack him, he would have probably done it at first.