by Alice Ward
“It’s time.” Lizzy moved up beside me and touched my back. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” My tone was clipped due to my agitation at being left out of the loop. Zek had most likely told her to keep it to herself, but either way, I was less than happy.
“You’re not fine,” she whispered to me, leaning closer to my ear. “You’re pissed, I get it. But I promise I took care of everything — restraining order, assault charges, the works. And I should have told you sooner, but Zek begged me not to. I didn’t realize things between you two had gone this far. That you cared so much.”
Pulling back, I looked at her closely, but she didn’t appear displeased or judgmental in the least. I nodded and she smiled before turning to walk into the courtroom. After a few beats, I followed.
Walking into the court room, I turned my head to see some of the partners of Jon’s firm sitting in the audience. Their expressions soured as we made our way to the front, but nothing could touch my resolve. I was going to drive him, his firm and his horrid daughter deep into the ground. How many lives had they ruined with their schemes? How many marriages? Reputations?
I took my seat on the far side of Zek, letting Lizzy have the chair closest to the action. I would play lead attorney for the case, but she had the right to trump anything and everything I did.
The judge called everyone to order, and I couldn’t help but turn and let my eyes lock onto Melissa’s. The anger in her gaze was almost enough to make me uncomfortable, but I held her in checkmate. I wanted to wrap my hands around her throat and squeeze tightly. Not only had she brought all of this shit down on Zek without cause, but she’d threatened me too. Above all of that, she’d physically assaulted him. Scarred him for life.
He glanced over at me and winked. “I’m proud of you.”
I turned my attention to him, studying his handsome face and forcing myself not to reach up to brush his chestnut hair from his face. It was getting a little unruly. He needed a haircut, but the length made him look impossibly cute.
“Thank you for the chance to do this.” I smiled. “I missed you this week. A lot.”
“Me too. Bad call on my part?” His lip lifted in a smirk.
“Horrible. I should let them take you away for missing the mark so bad.” I turned and pulled out the files I had on the case as he chuckled.
As the trial began, we sat through the normal minutia of the judge offering instructions to the jury we’d already selected several days before. I glanced over at them. Six men and six women who held Zek’s future in their hands.
Finally, it was time for opening statements and I listened intently to the bullshit Melissa’s attorney spewed out of his mouth. He was good. But I knew we’d be better. And I knew we’d be sharing the truth.
We’d agreed that Lizzy would take the opening statement, and she did, her voice commanding and words damning to both Melissa and Jon. I studied Zek’s profile out of the corner of my eye and whispered prayer after prayer that he would come out on top for not only the case we were on trial for, but the other one as well. I had no question about my feelings, only the validity of having them.
I was lost to him, completely in love all over again, or maybe I’d never fallen out. It took all I had inside of me not to reach for his hand and lean against him to show him that he wasn’t alone, nor did he have to be.
One of the attorney’s from Mills’ firm called Melissa to the stand first, as was expected. The calm she exuded was almost unnerving, but the girl was a mastermind that had yet to be discovered. Something told me that her father was well aware of her antics and tricks, and perhaps had even exploited them from time to time in similar scenarios to the one we were facing.
“State your name for the record, please. Slowly so that everyone can hear it.” The attorney moved aside, and Melissa cleared her throat and gave a tight smile and curt nod.
“Sure, Mr. Claybow. I’m Melissa Lynn Mills.”
“Miss Mills, please start by recounting the events that occurred on the Friday you had your first welcome interview with Mr. Kellington. Don’t leave out any details, and be sure to speak loud and clear.” The attorney moved back to stand beside Melissa’s father and their attending attorney.
Melissa did a beautiful job of not only recounting her version of the rape in Zek’s office, but the subsequent time in his cabin a few days later. The scowl on the judge’s face let me know quickly that she wasn’t buying the shit that was being sold in her court room. Anyone with half a brain would never have gone anywhere with Zek after he raped her the first time.
I had to hand it to Melissa’s attorney though, he brought out very specific details of the rape, and helped her to not only create a highly emotional narrative, but forced the audience to really consider Zek as a vicious monster.
My leg tapped under the table, and I let a few soft breaths out between my teeth. I had to bide my time, but my patience was running thin. Finally, Mills’ attorney gave a tight smile and sat down with no further questions.
It was my turn, and after hearing the bitch lie through her teeth, my blood boiled in my veins. Had we not been in the middle of the court room with my firm’s reputation on the line, I’d have put a few of my own bruises on her. She was vicious, cunning, and about to feel the pressure of my rebuttal to her lies. Nothing would be sweeter than getting her twisted in her thoughts and leave her looking like the liar she very much was.
I took my time walking up to her as if I were reviewing my notes a little. I wanted her to wiggle in her seat as everyone behind me watched her, wondering.
The judge spoke up, “Counselor. Please proceed. We only have so much time allotted for this case. If you have no—”
“I’m sorry, Your Honor. I’m ready. Forgive me.” I pressed my fingers to my lips and lifted my question card in front of me as I approached the pretty blonde. I paused in front of her and let every bit of aggression I had inside of me bleed into my stare.
“You told Mr. Claybow that you were an intern at Kellington Investments, right?”
She glanced over at Zek as I asked. “Yes. I was one of Mr. Kellington’s interns.”
I leaned over in the same direction to get her attention back on me. “Mr. Kellington doesn’t have private interns. We’ve check the corporate records of the company. You were an intern for the company, right? Or did you get a special contract?”
“Oh. No. I guess I was an intern for the company. I just thought—”
“Right. You thought you belonged to him.” I nodded as the judge called me out and went on. “Tell the jury about how you had a special project that was assigned by Mr. Kellington. Remember, you told me that it was a job that only you and he were working on. That you visited him all the time because of it.”
The lead attorney from Mills, Canterbury and Viking stood up behind me and hit the table. “She’s leading the witness.”
“I am.” I turned to the judge. “But only to establish how the girl might have thought that she belonged to Mr. Kellington. These are all facts from her own lips.”
The judge looked down at the girl. “Tell us the situation in your own words, please.”
“Sure.” Melissa’s voice shook as she regurgitated the same thing she’d told me about working directly for Zek. I left the idea sitting open for everyone to contemplate how silly the girl was and moved onto the idea of her being willing to go anywhere with someone who had just raped her.
She fumbled more than once, and I kept pressing until she did nothing more than mumble. My last point was perhaps my favorite.
“Am I to understand that you’ve had other cases similar to this one? Other men that you’ve claimed to have raped you only to settle out of court for millions of dollars?” I asked, knowing I would get called out and warned, and I did. But it was well worth it. The jury should have the knowledge that the woman before them wasn’t a sweet and innocent as she appeared. She was a scheming bitch, and striking my comment from the record wouldn’t change a damn thing.
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“I’d like to introduce tapes from Mr. Kellington’s office. They will show that Melissa only stopped by once during the time under review. She didn’t go into Mr. Kellington’s office, and to our knowledge via the records and documents seized from his computer, there was no project.” I turned to her as she paled. “Do you want to change your statement earlier regarding the project you say Mr. Kellington had you working on just for him?”
“No. Your tapes mean nothing.” She crossed her arms over her chest and gave me what some might consider a warning glare.
“No? What was the project, Melissa? I mean, it was the reason you were spending so much time with your rapist, right?”
She ignored my poke and the judge gave me another warning. I’d be on thin ice soon, but I was almost done. Melissa was edging toward the end of her song and dance, and pretty soon the mask would slip. That’s all I needed.
“It was an ROI project. That’s return on investment.” She shrugged.
“How long did you work on it?” I clasped my hands in front of me, trying to keep my voice even and calm.
“Weeks.”
“Who was the project for? A specific client?”
“Yes.”
“What was his name?” I glanced at the judge who was about to interrupt again. “I’m getting to a point.”
“Make it quick.” The judge turned back to Melissa.
“I don’t know his name.” She shrugged.
“A smart girl like you who worked on a client for two weeks doesn’t remember his name? How can that be? I would forever remember the name of the client if the project had me in front of someone who had taken my freedom and violated me in the most heinous of ways.”
“It was several clients. Besides, there is a confidentiality agreement with us.”
I turned and tilted my head at Zek. “Mr. Kellington, mind if she tells us who it was?”
“I’d love to know.” He shrugged.
“Counselor. No outside influence.” The judged turned to Melissa. “Who was the client? I’m curious.”
She sat there for a few minutes, looking around the room as her cheeks colored pink. She was losing it, and we were close to having front row tickets to the show.
Her attorney stood up and spouted some Fifth Amendment shit at us, and the judge shut us down, but the point was made. She had no clue about the project, because there wasn’t one.
Zek sat stiff beside me, his face a mask of indifference. I couldn’t imagine what he might be feeling. The girl had made him into a monster in front of the crowd, but I would bring them back. I had no doubt. I just needed to pull out a few wild cards, which I worked to do next.
I proved the truth with camera footage that Jon was involved in something nefarious where Zek was concerned. The ace in the hole was having Celia testify to her relationship with Jon Mills. She was straight forward and told the judge and jury that he’d talked her into helping and she was ashamed of herself. Her testimony did more than anything else could.
We spent two hours in the court room battling back and forth before Zek got on the stand, grilling not only Mellissa, Celia and Jon, but several other minor players in the intern pool as well. If Zek was nervous, he never showed it. His demeanor remained calm, and he admitted to sleeping with Melissa, but repeated himself over and over that he would never hurt a woman, no matter how much the prosecuting attorney tried to force an admission of guilt.
“One more thing, Mr. Kellington.” I slid my hand over the railing in front of him as he watched me. Weariness hung on him far more than I’d seen in the last few weeks.
“Sure. Anything you guys need.” He crossed his hands in his lap.
“How did you get the scar on your face?” I turned to the jury and ran my finger across my cheek. “This one here. Do you see it?”
They nodded, and I did as well. “Right. Where is the scar from? It’s new to me.”
“I was attacked by Melissa a week ago at my home. She was rather upset, and I guess she felt that her only form of revenge would be to harm me. I don’t know.” He shrugged and kept his eyes locked onto me.
Having him trust me the way he did was heady, powerful. It turned me on, and yet the woman he beckoned me to be wouldn’t take advantage of him, but hold him long into the night. He needed a heart to wrap himself around, and I was soon to offer up mine. If the week away from him taught me anything, it was that I didn’t want another one. I wanted him.
I turned and nodded at Lizzy. “I’d like to introduce to the court evidential article twelve. The recording from the night Mr. Kellington was attacked by Melissa Mills.”
Melissa shot up from her seat. “You can’t do that! You can’t record me when I don’t know it. This is contempt of court.”
The judge banged his gavel. “Sit down, Miss Mills. I want to hear this conversation.” She glanced over toward Jon, who was seated next to his daughter looking perfectly ill. “You’d better keep control of your client or you both will be held in contempt.”
He nodded, and Lizzy stood, walking the phone up to the front. “It’s ready. Just push play.”
I took it from her and turned to the guy who’d come to help me. We plugged it into the speaker system and hit play. The conversation was interrupted by a lot of shocked sounds, but nothing was quite like when Melissa jumped up and scrambled toward the front, threatening to cut my throat.
The case was closed with more drama than I’d ever seen in the middle of a court room. The prosecution had very few questions for Zek seeing that my offense had been a defense. We didn’t need to prove the rape. We needed to defame Melissa and the rest would unwind on its own.
It was a pleasure to say, “The defense rests.”
The judge calmed everyone down, and Zek and I walked to our seats while the judge gave instructions to the jury and dismissed them for deliberation. This was the hard part, waiting for a decision. But we didn’t have to wait long. The jury took no time at all to come back out. We were called back into the courtroom in less than fifteen minutes.
As court was called back into order, the judge asked the foreman if a decision had been made. An older gentleman nodded and said, “Yes, Your Honor,” before handing the slip of paper to the clerk for the judge to read.
My heart thumped in my chest as the judge asked Zek to stand. Lizzy and I stood with him. Then it was time.
The foreman stood and turned from the judge to face Zek. “We, the jury, find the defendant, Mr. Zek Kellington, not guilty of...”
The rest of the words were lost as the crowd went wild, but Zek’s shoulders simply slumped as he pressed his hand to his face.
I leaned over and pressed my lips to his ear. “Good job. One down. One to go. We got this.”
“We do. Don’t we?” He turned to me, and I could see just how bad he wanted to kiss me. The feeling was mutual, but it would have to wait.
“We have to celebrate. Let’s go out.” Lizzy turned and pulled Zek into a tight hug.
“Let’s go back to the house. I’ll ride with Alisa since you guys brought me with you today, and you can grab Mark and bring him with you.” Zek glanced back at me. “You’re good coming over, right?”
I nodded. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
CHAPTER TEN
Zek
I sank down into the passenger’s side seat of Alisa’s car and let out a long exhale. Relief was mine for the minute. I knew we still had a battle on our hands, but after getting through the rape trial and coming out victorious, I wanted to rule the world. It felt like there might be a fighting chance to get through the next conviction, should it come. If justice ruled supreme, then I wouldn’t find a way out of the trading case, but I had to hope.
“Thank God the verdict went in our favor.” Alisa got into the driver’s seat and pulled out of the busy parking lot. “I wanted to wrap you up in a hug and kiss you a thousand times when we won, but I’m not so sure that would go over too well with the press.”
I chuckled and reache
d for her hand, pulling it into my lap and wrapping my fingers around hers. “Thank you for believing in me. I would never hurt a woman. Not in a million years.”
“I know that.” She glanced over at me, her blue eyes filled with compassion. “You don’t ever have to say that again. I know the kind of man you are.”
“Good.” I squeezed her hand and let my head drop back as I closed my eyes. “I should have called you this week. You’ve been the only thing on my mind. I almost went stir-crazy several times.”
“Same.” She laughed softly. “I thought maybe you were upset about the conversation with Ben. I didn’t plan that, and I’m honestly sorry you had to hear it.”
“No need to apologize, Alisa.” I turned and opened my eyes, wanting to see her. “You guys had a life together. I was jealous only because I’d love to have those stories to tell.”
“You will. One day.” She pulled her hand from mine and slid her tight grip around the steering wheel. “I want to talk about us.”
“Oh yeah? What about us?” I knew she didn’t like me playing coy, but I was done making assumptions. They never worked out too well for me.
“I think if you’re up for it after we get through the next trial, I’d like to take you out for dinner.” She gave me a cheeky grin.
“You taking me out? That seems a little backwards.” I let my eyes run down her profile and over her shoulders, catching the large swell of her breasts as my body woke up and need teased me.
“Yeah, well, I want to take you out. Are you denying me?” She pulled up to the house and parked beside Mark’s old car.
“No. I’ve decided that if you want it, you get it.” I got out of the car and walked to the front, stopping only to pull her into my arms. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did today. I never once doubted you.”
She ran her fingers down my face as a cute little frown tugged at her mouth. “I’m going to ask for the maximum bail to be posted for that bitch for cutting you and it shouldn’t be a problem after her little scene today.”
