Trust

by Sherri Hayes

  Something snapped in the distance, and I knew he was closing in. I had to run faster.

  My heart pounded in my chest as I moved through the vegetation, searching for something . . . anything that would allow me to escape. I had to find a way out. I had to get away. I had to—

  A hand clamped down on my shoulder, and I screamed.

  “Brianna? Brianna, sweetheart, wake up.”

  I opened my eyes and saw Stephan hovering over me. His brow was creased with worry.

  “That’s it. It was just a dream. You’re safe.”

  Flinging myself into his arms, I clung to him as I tried to calm down. A dream. It was only a dream.

  As my breathing returned to normal, I felt sticky and in desperate need of a shower. I didn’t want to let go of Stephan yet, though. Not yet.

  “Shh. I’ve got you.” He brushed my sweat drenched hair away from my face, my neck as he caressed me. Every touch eased the fear that had been racing through my veins.

  “Someone was chasing me. I couldn’t . . . I couldn’t get away.” I wrapped my arms tighter around Stephan’s waist.

  “Do you know who it was?”

  I shook my head. “No. I couldn’t see him. I just knew I had to get away.”

  The panic started to grip me again, and Stephan readjusted us so that he was leaning back against the headboard. He brought me with him, positioning me so that I was lying almost entirely on top of him. “I’m right here. No one is going to hurt you, love. No one.”

  Stephan continued to console me, his hands never stopping their ministrations, and eventually I closed my eyes and fell back to sleep. The only reason I knew that was because when I opened my eyes again, there was sunlight streaming in through his bedroom window. Before, it had been dark.

  I blinked several times before tilting my head back to look up at Stephan. His eyes were open, and he was watching me. “Thank you.”

  He smiled and leaned down to brush his lips lovingly against mine. “It’s getting late. We need to get showered and dressed soon, or we’re not going to make it on time.”

  My heart sank in my chest as I recalled what today was. We had to go to the courthouse.

  “Hey. It will be okay. And when it comes time for you to testify, I’ll be right there. You can look at me the whole time if you want.” He rubbed his thumb against my cheek. “You can do this, Brianna. I know you can.”

  “But what if I can’t?”

  Stephan smiled, but his face looked more sad than happy. “Do you want to testify?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you will. Somehow you’ll find a way. You are the strongest person I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, Brianna. If anyone can do it, you can.”

  I hiccupped and began to cry. Stephan held me, letting me get it out of my system.

  All too soon, it was time to get ready. We showered together, dressed, and Stephan insisted I eat some toast. My stomach was churning, and I felt as if I were going to throw up.

  Emma had arranged for us go to through a side entrance, so we were able to avoid most of the reporters. Since there were a few hanging out inside the courthouse, we couldn’t sidestep them entirely. As soon as they saw us, they descended.

  Stephan held me tight to his side as Emma guided us down the hallway. Before too long, Agent Marco, along with a security guard, appeared and ushered us into a room, out of the reporters’ reach. Agent Marco firmly closed the door in one reporter’s face. “Sorry about that. They’re vultures.”

  Neither Stephan nor I responded to Agent Marco. I was trembling again. How was I going to do this?

  “You can both stay in here until they’re ready for you. Did you want anything? Water? Coffee?”

  “Water. Thank you.”

  Agent Marco nodded at Stephan and glanced down at me. I saw a flicker of sympathy behind his eyes before he left to go get the water. The first few times I’d met Agent Marco, I hadn’t liked him. He still wasn’t my favorite person, but I had to admit that since I’d agreed to testify, he hadn’t been such a hard nose. At least to me he hadn’t.

  Several minutes later, Oscar entered the room bringing the bottles of water Agent Marco had gone to fetch. He was followed closely behind by Lily, Jade, Cal, and Logan. The room wasn’t huge, and with all the additional people it felt even smaller.

  Stephan guided me to a chair and then pulled another one up beside it and sat down. Emma took one of the water bottles and handed it to Stephan. He unscrewed the bottle before handing it to me. “Take small sips. I don’t want you getting dehydrated today.”

  I did as instructed. They were all watching me.

  Emma was the one to speak first. “The prosecutor has been laying out the case against Mr. Pierce. So far he’s concentrated mostly on the financials, although the last two days included testimony from the family and friends of the other two missing girls.”

  Glancing up at all of them, I saw the looks on their faces. It wasn’t encouraging. “Was it bad?”

  This time it was Oscar who answered. “We’re not allowed to give you specifics, but the defense did a good job of tearing holes in most of what was said.” He paused. “I think you need to be prepared. Both of you. They are going to come after you with everything they’ve got.”

  As if sensing my unease, Stephan pulled me to him, cradling me against his side. “You’ll come get me when they’re ready for me?”

  Emma nodded, and both she and Oscar left.

  Our friends paired off in opposite corners of the room, almost as if they were standing watch. Occasionally someone would comment or ask a question, but for the most part, everyone appeared to be lost in their own thoughts. I wanted this to be over, behind me, so Stephan and I could get on with our lives.

  Right before the clock struck noon, Oscar popped his head into the room and asked what we’d all like for lunch. When he returned with our sandwiches, he informed Stephan that he would be up soon. I nearly lost the two bites of my meal I was able to choke down, and it was only Stephan helping me breathe through the panic and nausea that helped keep the food down.

  Less than an hour later, there was a knock on the door before Emma, Agent Marco, and a guard walked in. Oscar wasn’t with them, so I assumed he was already in the courtroom waiting.

  “They’re ready for you, Mr. Coleman.”

  Stephan nodded and turned to face me. He held my face between both of his hands and rested his forehead against mine. “I’ll be right back.”

  I nodded.

  He faced Lily, and there was some sort of unspoken communication between them. She nodded and stepped forward.

  Reluctantly, Stephan stood and trudged toward the door where Agent Marco and the guard were waiting. Lily quickly filled the seat he’d vacated moments before. Stephan paused at the door, looking back over his shoulder. His gaze met mine. There was an almost scary quality to his eyes, and I knew right then and there that he wasn’t scared of facing all those people and telling them what he’d done to save me. He was going to put his entire reputation on the line by admitting he’d broken the law—that he’d bought another human being.

  “Stephan?”

  He froze. “Yes, Brianna?”

  “I love you.”

  Stephan’s eyes hardened, and he marched back across the room to where I sat. Lifting me out of my chair by my arms, he planted a hard kiss on my lips and then circled his arms around me, hugging me to his chest.

  Before he released me, he palmed the heart that hung from my collar and looked into my eyes with an intensity that made my heart hammer in my chest for reasons that had nothing to do with fear or panic. He didn’t speak, but I heard what he was saying loud and clear. I was his. He was mine. Whatever happened, nothing would change that.

  Stephan

  I didn’t make it more than three steps outside the room we’d been holed up in before the questions began flying from reporters.

  “Why are you here, Mr. Coleman?”

  “Are you testifying?”
r />   Questions began mixing with other questions until I was no longer able to distinguish one from another. They all wanted to know the same thing, though. Since Agent Marco had publicly announced that I was no longer a person of interest in the case, one by one the media had begun going elsewhere for their stories. Whether I liked it or not, that was once again going to change.

  Keeping my chin up, my shoulders back, and my eyes forward, I followed Agent Marco to the courtroom. He peeked inside before opening the door. I watched him nod to someone inside the room, and then he stepped inside, motioning for me to follow.

  As I slipped inside the large courtroom, away from the flashing cameras, the first thing I noticed wasn’t all the people in the seats or even Ian Pierce himself. It was Brianna’s father. He was being led past Ian and out a side door. What struck me most wasn’t that he was there—I knew he had been scheduled to testify—it was the look in his eyes as he stared at Ian. I’d never seen that look from Jonathan Reeves. If looks could kill, Ian Pierce would be a dead man. Maybe, just maybe, Jonathan Reeves was beginning to grasp the horror his daughter had lived through.

  “Who is the prosecution’s next witness?” The judge’s voice drew my gaze away from Reeves and back to the front of the room.

  “The prosecution calls Stephan Coleman to the stand, Your Honor.”

  Standing up a little straighter, I walked confidently to the front of the room. The bailiff met me once I passed by the tables where the lawyers and Ian were set up, and escorted me to the witness chair. “Please raise your right hand.”

  I followed his instruction and lifted my right hand so that it was level with my shoulder.

  “You do swear that the evidence you shall give relative to the cause now under consideration shall be the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you God.”

  “I do.”

  “You may sit.”

  Lowering my arm, I sat down. It wasn’t the most comfortable chair, but at least it had some padding to speak of. Thoughts of padding brought back the comment Brianna had made regarding Ian’s spanking bench. I directed my gaze to the man in question and hardened my stare. He smirked back at me. Unless he knew something I didn’t, he was being overly confident given the circumstances.

  “Can you state your name for the record?”

  Reluctantly, I turned my attention back to the prosecutor. “Stephan Coleman.”

  “And Mr. Coleman, do you know the defendant?”

  “Yes. I do.”

  “How do you know Mr. Pierce?”

  “I met him last May at his home. We’d conversed over the phone on two separate occasions prior to the meeting to set it up.”

  “And what was the meeting about, Mr. Coleman?”

  When meeting with Agent Marco and the prosecutor to prepare for trial, they’d instructed me to look directly at the jury when I delivered this next piece of information. Every last one of them was staring right at me, waiting for my answer. “I met with Mr. Pierce to inquire about purchasing one of his slaves.”

  Several gasps were heard throughout the courtroom, including a few from those among the jury. It was followed by a flurry of commotion, and the judge banged his gavel several times to restore order. “Silence.”

  Once things quieted down, the prosecutor continued. “So you met with Mr. Pierce at his home to discuss buying one of his slaves?”

  “Yes.”

  “And how did it come to your attention that Mr. Pierce had a slave to sell?”

  “A friend of mine ran into Mr. Pierce and his two slaves at a party, and the subject came up that Mr. Pierce may be willing to part with his newest slave for the right price.”

  “And your friend brought this to your attention?”

  “Yes, he did.”

  The prosecutor let my confirmation linger for several moments. “So your friend told you about Mr. Pierce and his slave—the one he may be interested in selling for the right price—and you went to meet Mr. Pierce at his home.”

  “Correct.”

  “Could you tell us about your meeting with Mr. Pierce?”

  I nodded. “When I arrived, a young woman, who I later learned to be Alex, invited me into the house and took me to a room where Mr. Pierce was waiting. After greeting me, he dismissed Alex, leaving us alone in the room. I introduced myself, and we briefly discussed my reasons for coming. He followed that up by asking if I would like to see the merchandise.”

  The prosecutor cleared his throat. “To clarify, the merchandise being discussed is a person? A young woman?”

  “Yes.”

  He nodded. “Continue. What happened next?”

  “Mr. Pierce called Alex back and instructed her to go get Brianna and bring her to him. It wasn’t long before Alex returned with another young woman. The woman, Brianna, was instructed to stand in the middle of the room while I inspected her.”

  “Inspected her, Mr. Coleman?”

  “That’s right.” I wasn’t going into detail. The experience itself had been humiliating enough for both me and Brianna. I couldn’t see how knowing every move I’d made would be beneficial to the jury.

  “What happened after you ‘inspected’ her?”

  Again, I looked at the jury. “He asked if I liked what I saw and offered to let me try out her oral skills if I wanted.”

  There was a collective gasp, and the judge was once more banging with his gavel. “Now that’s enough. One more outburst and I will begin removing people from the courtroom. Is that understood?”

  He leveled a stern gaze over the expanse of the room before looking over at me and nodding. “You may go on, Mr. Coleman.”

  “Thank you.” Turning back to face the prosecutor, I went on with my story. “I declined his offer and asked how much he wanted for her.”

  “Did you buy the young woman from Mr. Pierce?”

  “Yes. I did.”

  “And what was this woman’s name, Mr. Coleman?”

  “Her name was Brianna Reeves.”

  The prosecutor nodded. “One more question, Mr. Coleman. Why did you buy this young woman from Mr. Pierce?”

  “My friend, the one who saw her at the party, got the impression she wasn’t there of her own free will. After seeing her myself, I agreed with his assessment. I couldn’t, in good conscience, leave her there.”

  “Why not call the police?”

  “And tell them what? I had no evidence, just my gut telling me something wasn’t right. I had to do something, and I did.”

  The prosecutor had me confirm that I had been granted immunity for my participation in a crime in exchange for my cooperation. Some of the jurors looked disgusted. Others had a mix of interest and confusion on their faces. Human trafficking cases in the US weren’t an everyday occurrence. I’m sure a few of them were at least trying to decide whether or not to believe my story. They were trying to figure out if the man on the other side of the table was capable of selling another human being. I knew for a fact he was. He was capable of that and a lot more.

  Ian’s attorney kept it brief. He had me state my name, my profession, and to reiterate how I’d met Ian. I thought he was going to return to his seat after that, but he stopped and pivoted on his heel, facing me once more. “How old are you, Mr. Coleman?”

  I was confused, but I answered him. “I’m twenty-five.”

  “And as a twenty-five-year-old man, you have certain . . . needs, shall we say?”

  Although I had a feeling I knew what he was trying to get at, I wasn’t going to make this easy for him. He was trying to defend the enemy, after all. “If we’re being literal, we all have needs. You’re going to have to be more specific.”

  Instead of answering my question, he asked me another. “This woman you supposedly bought from Mr. Pierce, do you currently have a relationship with her?”

  Ah. I knew where he was going. “Yes. I do.”

  “And would you classify that relationship as being an intimate one?”

  I took a deep breath and answe
red, attempting to keep my frustration out of my tone. The prosecutor warned us this was a possibility. The defense was going to be grasping at straws. “Yes. Brianna and I developed a relationship . . . an intimate relationship. She’s my girlfriend.”

  “And she lives with you, does she not?”

  “Yes.”

  “I see. So you’re here testifying against a man who you claim held your girlfriend against her will. A man who you say then sold you the woman you are, by your own admission, currently living with.”

  Gritting my teeth, I spat out my answer. “Yes.” I was beginning to understand what Oscar was talking about. With a few simple questions, Ian’s attorney had planted the seed of doubt as to my motives.

  “Thank you. That will be all for now.” He returned to his seat and ended by asking the judge for permission to call me to testify again at a later time.

  As I stepped down off the stand, irritated and in desperate need to hold Brianna in my arms again, the judge announced a fifteen-minute recess. I supposed he wanted to give everyone, including the media that was sitting inside the courtroom, the opportunity to vocalize their shock over what they’d heard since he’d put a stop to it earlier.

  The only thing I could concentrate on was getting back to Brianna. That was easier said than done, though, when I was waylaid from leaving the courtroom by the prosecutor. “You did well, all things considered.”

  “Thank you, but I’m not so sure about that.”

  He shrugged. “We knew the defense bringing up your relationship with Ms. Reeves was likely. How’s she holding up?”

  I glanced over my shoulder to where Ian was being taken out of the courtroom through the side door Reeves had disappeared through earlier. “As well as can be expected. She’s nervous, and rightly so.”

  “I’ll do my best to protect her, but they are going to go on the attack. I’m surprised your cross-examination wasn’t worse than it was.”

  “He wants to call me back up on the stand later.”

  “Yes. That’s not unusual. And he will probably do the same with Ms. Reeves as well. It will give him time to dig up dirt . . . try to catch you in a lie or find something to tarnish your reputation in some way.” He paused. “Any skeletons in your closet I need to know about?”