"There is one more thing," Logan said. Maggie tensed right back up again making Eli growl. "It's not bad news, just news," he said roughly, his eyes as usual missing nothing in either Eli or Maggie’s reaction. "We finally have a divorce court date." The grimness did not leave his voice, but Logan managed to convey dry sarcasm with his tone just the same. "In three days."
Maggie huffed out a breath. "How did you manage that?" They all knew that Stephen had deep pockets and connections he had been using to stall the divorce. Maggie had expected it to be six months out when she did finally get a date nailed down.
"We didn't." Lucas said even more grimness in his tone and his eyes frosting.
“Right.” She huffed out a laugh that held not an ounce of real humor. “A warrant is issued for my arrest and suddenly I have a quick court appearance to finalize my divorce."
"Like Xena said," Lucas answered. "Baxter was thorough."
Eli looked down and caught his mate’s eyes on him. He struggled to get the anger off his face. The last thing she needed right now was to know just how close to the surface his beast really was.
She wrapped her hand around his biceps. He winked at her and she laughed just a little, some of that returning tension easing. Then she blew out a breath and nodded at something in her own head. Turning back to the rest of the room, she leaned a little more into his side. "So, we need some food because Eli and I missed breakfast. Then we need to come up with a plan of action that preferably does not involve me being arrested or putting off my divorce any longer than it already has been put off." She paused and then went on dryly. "Though obviously the staying out of jail is going to be my first priority, but not by much."
"I could rip Baxter's head off and shove it up his ass," Eli said nearly smiling at the happy thought. He wiped his hands back and forth and showed them to the room. "No divorce needed. Clean slate."
Maggie made a delicate little sniff and looked less than pleased with his idea. Eli had no idea why, it sounded like a solid plan to him.
"Let me rephrase" she said mildly enough but with a brow quirked that said she meant every word. "Keeping everyone out of jail is the priority." She stressed the word everyone and gave him a little glare. Fucking adorable. "Let's try to keep this within the legal and moral code of conduct, shall we?"
This time it was his turn to snort, and there was nothing delicate about it, or his humorous tone. "Morally I have no problem with killing that fucker, and if he was, say killed by a wild beast that somehow got onto his property and into his house, it would not exactly be against the legal "code of conduct" either." He air quoted code of conduct just to watch her reaction. She did not disappoint him, narrowing her eyes further at the move. She placed her hands on her hips and raised her little chin high. Then gave a clear and to the point "No."
"No?" he asked giving her the grin that said she was too adorable for words and watching her reaction to it. If she was a cat she would have hissed at him, but Maggie was much too ladylike for that. Instead her voice went all lady of the manor when she said in a voice meant to command.
"You are not killing anyone. In any form." She threw up her hands, looking disgusted and haughty at the same time. "I cannot believe that this conversation is even necessary. Of course, you are not killing anyone."
"Wellll," he said stretching out the word, and trying to present just the right amount of pout into his voice and smile to spark her already simmering temper. Hell, it was better than the worry she had been fighting a moment ago. The woman did lady of the manor sexier than any other woman he had ever seen. And he had met actual European Royalty who were also feline shifters, so that was saying something. "Seems kinda arbitrary and mean to say I absolutely can't kill Baxter. Once I rip off his arms and legs, killing him would be considered the right thing to do. Morally. Otherwise it's just torture."
Maggie opened her mouth to blast him and then shook her head, throwing up her hands and moving away from him. "I can't talk to you when you’re like this."
Eli chuckled and enjoy the sway of his mate’s hips in her sleek skirt as she sashayed away from him.
Rebecca, who had been dealing with her own anger and fear for her friend laughed and shook her head at him when he looked away from his mate and caught her eyes. He winked at her which made her laugh again before she followed Maggie to the sitting area and the phone that sat there. "I'll order food. I have a feeling we're going to need the sustenance and figuring all of this out is bound to take a while."
Since Eli wanted nothing more than to get his haughty mate alone and fuck that sass right out of her the words were not welcome ones. He grimaced but resigned himself to a long wait. If he wasn't going to get to kill the bastard Baxter he was going to have to think long and hard of a suitable alternative action, because no way was the fucker coming out of this unscathed. He had no doubt he would be able to work his magic and clear Maggie of the bogus charges, but Baxter was still going to pay for putting that look in her eyes for even a moment. And when Eli was done with him he would be wishing for the cool finality of an easy death.
Of course, if he came after Maggie physically when his elaborate plans failed, well, Maggie would just have to deal with it, because the fucker would die horribly.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"I need to do this on my own."
"No way in hell."
"Eli..."
"No way in hell," he said again with more bite to the words, interrupting Maggie before she could argue. Again.
She gave him her I mean business stare but all he did was growl.
"You know I find it Fuckin adorable duchess when you get that lady of the manor look and try to boss be around, but it's not happening. You are not going into that courtroom with just a lawyer at your back, even if he is a wolf. He’s not one of ours. No.Way.In.Hell," he repeated just for good measure.
Maggie fought for her usual calm. An argument with a determined male was almost as bad as trying to get a cat to do what you wanted it to do. In this case she was up against both in the form of one stubborn feline shifter. But she was not going to back down on this one. No matter how many times he kept repeatedly growling at her and looking all ferocious with weird color shifting eyes she was not going to budge. But they were running out of time and arguing was not working.
She raised her chin and met his gaze allowing her cold barrier to creep up so that she was completely encased in cool calm. Then she spoke slowly as if to a child, letting him see this time he was not going to win, and gave him an argument that he could not refute, since telling him what she wanted to do was not working.
"Eli, I am walking in there alone so that Stephen still thinks he has the upper hand. If Stephen thinks he still has the upper hand and his plan is working he will let this divorce go through, just so he can humiliate me in a complete and final way in front of the press he has no doubt invited to the proceeding.” She took a breath and then went on in the same purposeful way. “If he realizes I might not be the downtrodden victim he expects, one who has absolutely no one on her side, he will fight the divorce because he can, just to be vindictive." Maggie raised both her fists and twisted them together as if she was bending metal with her bare hands. "And I want him completely and totally crushed when he realizes he didn't beat me, in any way. Not still holding this divorce over my head."
Eli looked down at her little fists and a small amount of his usual humor seeped through his anger. "He's going to know as soon as you walk in the room looking all beautiful and untouchable that he hasn't beaten you." Eli wrapped his big hands around those tiny fists and smiled showing a lot of teeth. "Unless he's a fucking moron as well as being an asshole fuckwad."
"I'm going to try and look less ferocious when I enter the courtroom," she assured him with a straight face, fighting the smile that his crude insults and humor were trying to force out of her. He chuckled at her and she had to clear her throat and really concentrate to go on coolly. "He might believe I am being stoic to save face, but if y
ou go in there." She pulled her hand away from his and motioned to all that was Eli in what she secretly had started calling his plain clothed commando look as soon as she had seen him in full bodyguard mode. "He'll know he has not managed to isolate me and that I have some serious muscle at my back. Even if he assumes you are just hired security it will make him hesitate."
She had expected him to don a suit at least for court but the closest he came to that was a button up white collared shirt that he left loose at the neck and had not bothered to tuck in. His pants were black slacks rather than shorts or jeans, but the fabric was thick and rough to the touch and paired as they were with the combat boots on his big cat feet they reminded her more of a military dress uniform than formal attire. With his height and brawn, not to mention sheer animal magnetism and good looks, there was no way he would walk into that courtroom with her and not be a threat to a man like Stephen. "If he thinks you are something more to me he will dig in like a leach about this divorce just to be a bastard."
"I can be discreet."
The silence that followed his statement was so absolute Eli finally looked away from her and around at the rest of his pack that surrounded them. Even the lawyer drinking his coffee and looking over her case looked up at his words and showed clear doubt on his face. He was a brown haired, brown eyed good-looking wolf shifter in a well-cut navy suit that Griffin had found for them when it was clear the divorce lawyer that had been working Maggie’s case was ducking her calls. This one at least was smart and knew how to handle shifters like himself. When Eli gave him a hard look that would have petrified her original full human lawyer, Josh just showed his teeth and went back to his paperwork.
Maggie rolled her eyes at the posturing even as Eli turned back to his pack. Since they had still needed to finish the security work and had a new baby at the island they had divided their forces. Cleo, Shawn, Liam, Ian and of course Eli had accompanied her as her security force. Presently they were at one of the Lionsgate properties. A downtown high-rise apartment that any of the pack were welcome to use when they were on the East Coast. It was opulent and large, in neutral shades of grey and white and fully furnished. Taking up an entire floor of the building, it was modern and screamed money.
Maggie missed the smell of the ocean and the sounds of nature.
The East coast had always been her home, but it did not feel anything like a home coming. She had serious doubts that she would want to return to it. Which was just as well since Eli was close to his pack, and from what she had learned, they operated on the West Coast.
Right at that moment, all his pack that were present were looking at him like he was delusional. He narrowed his eyes at them all. "What?"
Every one of his pack mates, and the lawyer who had known him only a short while, showed clear doubt at his words.
Eli growled. "I can be discreet."
Ian snorted, then started to laugh, ducking behind the quiet Liam to do it when Eli growled at him for it. "What the fuck is so funny?"
Maggie finally allowed herself a smile, until she realized that by winning, which she knew she had just from the looks on the rest of Lionsgate, she was going to be in that courtroom alone. She lost the smile. Then made sure only determination showed on her face. She was still doing it.
***
The courthouse itself was daunting as was the littering of press vans that were parked outside. It had been too much to hope that they could handle this without a media circus, but they had not only assumed there would be one, they had counted on it, so she could hardly complain.
Still, even after everything that she had been through that morning and knowing there was a plan in effect, it did not make that walk through the security and metal detectors of the courthouse any less nerve-wracking.
She had nothing to be worried about, she knew it logically, they had already made enough moves today to stop what Stephen had in mind. But she knew better than anyone, her soon to be ex-husband was capable of anything. The only thing she did know for sure was that he was already in the building. Something the young Liam had verified before they came. At least he had showed up. Now she just had to face him down and get her divorce.
As far as Stephen knew he had all the power here today, so there was no reason to assume he had come up with a further plan to spite her. Not when he thought she was still trapped in the last elaborate web he had spun for her. The others had assured her that they could handle this without her presence, but no way was she missing this court date if she could help it. Not unless she had no choice in the matter. And thanks to a whole lot of work and some magic Eli had instigated, she had a choice. Of course, now that she was walking the halls of the courthouse and could see what was waiting for her at the court double doors, she wondered if hiding had not been the right idea after all.
"Last chance to make a run for it duchess," Eli said directly into her ear. She had not said a word, but since he could probably feel how tense she was getting with the hand he had at the small of her back, it was no wonder her guessed her doubts. "We can handle your fuckwad of an ex while you wait in the car."
Even as he said the words the swarm of reporters caught sight of them and descended. "Too late," was all she said.
Maggie very carefully wiped all expression from her face and gave them nothing as they came at her with so many questions she could not have answered if she wanted to. Since he had made the same offer when they started out this morning he should not be surprised at her answer, she thought. Since it was the same one she had been giving him since they boarded the first leg of the journey. While she appreciated him and his pack’s willingness to fight her battles, and everything they had done up till now to assure her victory, this part, like the rest she had faced that morning, she would do herself.
She did not take for granted what her security detail brought to the table though. Not when even now the youngest Gibb was body blocking the reporters on one side and Liam was taking the other. Behind her both Shawn and Cleo were keeping anyone else from coming at them from that direction. What it meant was that despite the overwhelming number of press that, no doubt Stephen had arranged, she made it to the courtroom doors without delay.
Once they were past, the bailiff at the door kept the press from following her as she went alone through the half wall gate that separated the court from the rest of the people waiting.
The judge did not look happy, so she did not take too long to look around before her lawyer escorted her to their seats with apologies for their tardiness. Stephen was already there with about six lawyers all of whom looked as severe and daunting as their client. But then the lawyer that Griffin had found for her was no slouch either. He was also, along with being an attractive well-dressed male, a wolf shifter. So, she had no doubt he could handle the rather excessive show of force her husband was putting on.
Josh had walked her through everything she could expect and done all the paperwork she had not even known was necessary for a divorce like hers.
Stephen was shocked to see her, though he hid it quick enough behind those cruel grey eyes. Then he just looked satisfied. She watched him motion to someone she could not see, and she figured from the look in his eyes he had planned for her showing up, though clearly, he had not expected it.
If it was anyone else she would wonder that the man would go to such lengths for what should have been a simple divorce. But she knew Stephen, and just how petty and vindictive he could be. They might think they have everything covered and he could come up with something completely new for them. Or her really, since she was the one he was trying to destroy. Lucky for her he did not yet know that she was no longer facing him alone. Between that and what they had already done that day, she should have the upper hand. For once. She looked away from his smug face and swore she would not look again.
"I take it you are Margaret Baxter?" The judge was an older greying man with thin lips and steely eyes. He looked none too pleased to have his court room disrupted. "You are very nearl
y ten minutes late."
Maggie cleared her throat and gestured behind her to the doors blocking out the sound of the reporters that had attempted to follow her. "As my lawyer said we had a little trouble getting inside." Which was partially true. But they purposefully waited until the last minute to join the court. They were taking no chance that Stephen would stall the proceedings yet again before they began. "I apologize for wasting your time your honor. I, more than anyone, am anxious to get this divorce settled."
Judge Connelly eyed her closely as if he was trying to match her appearance of cool serenity to whatever he had read about her. "I did notice that the wait on your divorce proceedings seemed to have been stalled an extended amount of time. That was the only reason I agreed to add the case to my docket when it was presented to me so precipitously, and with such a degree of unusual haste."
Maggie shrugged and kept her face neutral. "I had some questions on both accounts myself, but I do appreciate finally having a chance to get this done. I am as anxious to be divorced as I ever was."
The judge motioned to the table across the aisle from Stephen and his bevy of attorneys.
She allowed Josh to pull out her seat and sat. After that there was not much to do but let him do his job. He had a nice voice, did wolf shifter Josh, solid and earnest.
She let him do his back and forth with the lawyer across from them until the judge said her name.
Once he had her attention he and spoke to her directly. "According to your attorney you are not asking for anything from the marriage besides what resides in your trust funds? And all properties that you came into the marriage with?"
"I have land that was passed down to me from my grandparents," Maggie said carefully. "And two safe deposit boxes that I would like to retain control of. Stephen can keep everything he brought to the marriage, either from before the marriage or during."
"You are aware that by law and by the agreement in the prenuptial arrangement you are entitled to a substantial cash settlement as well." The judge looked from her to Stephen and his lawyers who were looking a little red faced at that. "Yes, yes, I see that you are contesting her right to that money on the grounds of alleged infidelity, but I also see that no infidelity is proven." He raised a brow at the attorney when that man attempted to speak. "Heresy and rumors are not evidence in a court of law."
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