“Yes, she made it possible for the teenager to escape.”
“And did that anger you?”
“I’m not sure that it had anything to do with me.”
“Well, you work for the company. Ms. Harding went against security protocols and made it possible for a teenager to escape. She put everyone in that facility in danger, and you’re telling me that how you felt doesn’t matter?”
“Yes, it made me angry,” I said, trying to keep as much of the heat out of my words as possible.
“How angry were you?”
“I was upset.”
“Did you think she should be allowed back on the property?”
“No.”
“But your teammate, the one whose daughter was hurt, he forgave Ms. Harding, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“And how did that make you feel?”
What the fuck? I glanced at Cap again, trying to understand where this was all going.
“I was angry. I didn’t think he should have forgiven her, but that was-”
“Isn’t it true that you yelled at her a few mornings after the incident and told her that it was all her fault that the girl had been hurt?”
I had done that, but only Becky and Delaney were in the room at the time, which meant that they had audio feed of me yelling at Becky that morning. Lying about my anger wouldn’t help right now.
“Your Honor, I would like to play an audio recording that the police obtained from the security system at Ms. Harding’s house on that particular morning, with your permission.”
“I’ll allow it.”
The prosecution set up something quickly, all the time I was panicking. Were they trying to set me up for murder? And what exactly had I said that morning? I couldn’t remember how bad it was, but I could guess that it would paint me as being pretty fucking pissed off.
“Don’t look so fucking pitiful. You weren’t the one that was raped.”
I heard the anger and scathing tone in my voice on the recording, and there was no doubt that everyone else heard the same exact thing.
“I never meant for it to happen.”
“Who’s the fucking adult? You were supposed to be the one that made the logical decisions. She had no right asking you to help her sneak out, and you should have realized that.”
I was fucking yelling at her on that recording. This was really bad.
“It’s your fucking fault that she was out there. What the fuck were you thinking? We have security measures in place for a reason. You knew that and you made it impossible for us to protect her.”
“Tony!”
The recording stopped and the courtroom was silent. I hung my head, ashamed of how I had yelled at Becky that day. When I lifted my head and scanned the courtroom, my eyes landed on one face in particular that had my heart pounding out of control. Molly was here. She was sitting in the back, ignoring my request like she always did. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Did she hate me now? Was she thinking that I was a piece of shit?
“Mr. Russo, isn’t it true that the night Delaney died, you took her inside and murdered her with-”
“No,” I insisted.
“-a large knife and waited for Becky to return home so you could finally make her pay for what she had not only done to your teammate and his daughter, but to everyone that she betrayed that day!”
“No!” I shouted. “That’s bullshit. I would never kill anyone,” I insisted.
“But you already have. You served in the military for years. Are you telling me that you never once killed anyone in all those years?”
“I was serving my country!”
“I bet if I dug through your military record I would find any number of kills, isn’t that right?”
“Badgering the witness!” the prosecutor yelled. “Your Honor, the defense is trying to use Mr. Russo’s distinguished military career against him. The United States cannot expect our soldiers to go overseas and fight wars for us and then hold their actions against them when it suits their purpose! Not to mention that the defense doesn’t have any actual proof that Mr. Russo had anything to do with the murder of Ms. Fischer other than smearing him with one audio recording in a time of anger that doesn’t directly tie him in any way to the murder!”
“I would have to agree. The jury will disregard the defense’s last statements regarding Mr. Russo’s military career. Does the defense have any other evidence to submit in the accusation of Mr. Russo committing the murder or are you only going to use slander?”
“No, Your Honor. I have no further questions.”
“Would the prosecution like to cross-examine?”
“Yes, Your Honor.” The prosecutor stood and walked over to me. “Mr. Russo, did you go into Ms. Fischer’s house on the night of her murder and kill her and attempt to murder Ms. Harding?”
“No,” I said firmly, but deep down, I was shaken to the core. I had never dreamed that the defense would try and pin her murder on me. I didn’t even know what to say. I was deflated and barely heard the prosecutor excuse me. I stood woodenly and walked right out of the courtroom. I couldn’t look at anyone, especially not Delaney’s parents. And when I heard Molly shouting my name, I just kept right on walking. She didn’t deserve the kind of shit I would bring into her life. What she just witnessed was brutal and showed her a side of me that I never wanted her to deal with. I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew that I couldn’t go back to her. Not tonight, and possibly not ever again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Molly
I ran out of the courtroom after Tony, but he looked completely lost, like he wasn’t seeing or hearing anyone. What the defense did to him on the stand was completely uncalled for and so brutal to watch. I could see him losing all faith in himself up there, and I could tell that he was watching the reactions for at least part of the time from Delaney’s parents. He had to be completely devastated right now.
“Tony!” I shouted as I ran down the courtroom steps, but he didn’t stop. He just kept on walking.
“Leave him.”
I spun around and saw Sebastian following after me.
“But he’s-”
“I know, but you need to leave him alone. If you go up to him right now and try to talk, he’s just going to say some horrible shit to you and try to push you away.”
“I don’t know how to just let him walk away. It’s not the way I am.”
“I know, but trust me, he needs time to think about what just happened in there.”
“If I give him time to think about it, he’s going to start believing everything that guy just said. He already feels like Delaney’s murder is his fault.”
“I know,” he said, with a tinge of guilt in his own voice. “I know that’s how he feels, but I’m telling you, he needs space. Going to him right now will only end up hurting both of you.”
I didn’t want to leave him alone, but he had a point and I didn’t want to make things harder for Tony.
“You didn’t believe any of that, did you?” Sebastian asked.
“Of course not. There’s no way I could ever believe that Tony killed Delaney. He may not have loved her or even had a relationship with her, but I know what kind of man Tony is. He’s good and he would never purposely hurt someone unless he had a damn good reason.”
“I’m glad you know that. Because when all this is over and the dust settles, he’s going to need you.”
“I know.”
“But you’re going to have to fight for him. I can guarantee that right now he’s thinking that you’re better off without him.”
“That’s not true. I need him just as much as I know he needs me.”
His eyes softened and he nodded. “I know, and that’s why I knew you were the one for him. You know, we all kind of wondered, but I can see it now.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I was glad that he was on my side.
“What’s going to happen now with the case?”
> Sebastian sighed, running his hand across his beard. “I don’t know. The prosecutor will have to convince the jury that the defense is just scrambling to blame anyone. Becky will be testifying tomorrow. That could be pretty brutal.”
“Will Tony show up for that?”
“I don’t know. After what happened today, I think it’s pretty likely that he’s gonna rabbit.”
“What does that mean?”
“He’s gonna run. I don’t know where, but I doubt he’ll stay around here. He’s not going to want to be anywhere near this place. Can’t say I blame him either. The shit they spewed in there, that’s enough to shake any man to the core.”
Panic bloomed inside me. If Tony left, I wouldn’t be able to find him. I wouldn’t be able to pull him back in.
“I have to go. I have to find him,” I said, searching behind me to see where he went.
“Molly, just wait-”
“No!” I turned and took off. Whether he wanted me to wait or not, I couldn’t do it. Tony needed me and I wouldn’t let him down.
✯✯✯✯✯
“Has Tony been in?” I asked Gus as I rushed to the bar.
“No, why would he?”
“He’s gone. I can’t find him.”
Gus leaned on the counter, “Molls, I told you that you couldn’t push this with him.”
“This isn’t about me pushing a relationship with him! They tore him apart in court today. You should have seen him. It was torture to watch.”
“Well, where would he go? What about his family?”
“His family is across the country. I don’t know his parents and I don’t want to alert them by calling.”
“Molls, you have to calm down,” he said, coming out from behind the bar. He placed his hands on my arms and rubbed them lightly. “What happened in court?”
I took a deep breath and spilled. “They accused him of murdering Delaney. They used his military career against him and said that he’s killed before, so he was capable of it now. You should have seen him up there. He looked devastated.”
“Alright, well, if it was me, I’d want to be alone. I’d be questioning my life and all the decisions I made. I’d be questioning what my future looked like.”
I felt like I’d just been sucker punched. “You mean, you’d be questioning who was in your life.”
His eyes were sympathetic and the gentle touch of his hand on mine told me everything I needed to know.
“Do you think he’ll cut me out of his life?”
“Molls…only he can answer that. Just give him some time to work it out.”
“That’s what his boss said, but what if he makes some drastic decision and I never see him again?”
He sighed and chuckled as he shook his head. “I never thought I’d say this, Molls, but maybe you need to go track him down and do that thing where you make sure that he knows that you’re not going anywhere.”
“If only I could find him,” I huffed out.
He grinned wide. “I have faith in you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Tony
I walked around the city for the better part of what was left of the day. I couldn’t stop replaying the defense’s words in my head. It was like a bullet to the gut, slowly killing me with every time that I replayed it. Logically, I knew that what I did in the military, I did for my country, but it made me really start to think about the things I had done since I got out.
Not too long after I got out, I ran into Maggie. I had killed men that night. I did it to defend myself and her, but I barely knew her. She could have been the evil party, and I didn’t even stop to think things through before taking out those men. I didn’t regret it, but what did that say about me that I could take a life so easily?
And there were definitely things that I had done on jobs that could be seen as questionable. At the time, it all seemed necessary to get the job done, but now I wondered if there was a different way to handle all of it. Could I have talked the person down? Could I have knocked the person out instead of using lethal force? Could I have just walked away instead of continuing to do things that would push me further into a darker world?
That night that Delaney died, I nearly killed a man in the ring. I had been so angry and in a blind rage, I beat that man to a bloody pulp. I hadn’t even cared if he died. I just needed the release that I knew I would get in a fight. Thank God, Storm had the sense of mind to take us to an underground fighting ring. If any one of my coworkers had stepped into the ring with me that night, it might have ended with them beaten on the ground.
Before I even knew where I was, I looked up to see the Taco Bell that I used to work at. I had subconsciously made my way over here, and now I was staring it down, wondering if this was where I belonged. Should I be allowed to even work somewhere that had guns? Maybe I should be working in some low-end job like this, where the only thing I could hurt was a taco.
I sat there in the parking lot, staring at that fucking Taco Bell sign for the better part of the afternoon and into the evening. My phone was constantly buzzing, but I never checked it or bothered to even see who was calling. I didn’t care at this point.
Finally, when it started getting dark, I picked my ass up and walked back toward the courthouse to get my truck. I took off down the road, not really sure of where I was going, but I found myself on a familiar road and just kept driving. Three hours later, I pulled into Molly’s parents’ driveway. I wasn’t sure exactly why I was there or what I was going to say, but something told me that I should be there.
I must have sat there for a good half hour before the porch light turned on and her dad, Henry, stepped out. Sighing, I stepped out of the truck. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I made my way up the porch and sat down in the chair beside him. We didn’t say anything. He reached into his cooler and handed me a beer. We sat there for the better part of an hour before I finally spoke.
“Before I met Molly, I was seeing this woman. It wasn’t anything serious. We were out one night and when I took her home, I was called back to work. I dropped her off and found her later that night, butchered on her living room floor.”
“Shit,” he swore, taking another beer from the cooler. “What happened?”
“Her neighbor was some kind of psycho. Her roommate was attacked also, but she survived. Today was the trial and I had to testify. I thought it would just be about the timeframe of the murder, but when I got on the stand, everything was blown to hell. The defense attorney accused me of murdering Delaney and used my service record against me.”
I grabbed another beer and leaned back in my seat, staring off into the night. I wasn’t gonna lie, I was fucking terrified to hear what Henry had to say about the fact that his daughter was with someone that was being accused of murder. He didn’t know me. He didn’t know whether or not I was guilty. Prosecutors got the wrong man all the time. It wouldn’t be that farfetched to assume the same had happened here. I mean, I already admitted to being with her that night.
“Son, why don’t you tell me why you’re here.”
I took a deep breath and prayed he wouldn’t say what I feared. “If you don’t want me with Molly, I’ll walk away. I know how this looks and I know that your daughter could do better than a guy like me.”
“And what kind of guy would that be?”
“A guy that didn’t protect the person he was with,” I said bluntly.
He grunted and took another drink. “Are you saying you wouldn’t protect my daughter?”
“I would do anything for her,” I said fiercely.
“What’s changed? When you came down here a few days ago, you looked like a deer in the headlights.”
“I had my eyes opened. The night I met her, I was drunk and full of self-loathing. I didn’t even remember her. So, you can imagine how freaked out I was when she started showing up everywhere.”
He chuckled, nodding his head. “I imagine you thought you found yourself a stalker.”
“Something like t
hat. But then I remembered part of that night. It was partly what she said to me, but I’m not gonna lie, I was also mesmerized by her. She’s…everything.”
He smiled, nodding along like he was in on the secret. And I’m sure he was. “Her momma is the same way. That woman ran over my life, taking what she wanted, not worried at all how it looked. My friends couldn’t figure out why I didn’t just walk out of the church. The truth is, I could have walked away. I think deep down, I didn’t want to walk away. Diana has a way of making me feel like I’m on top of the world. I mean, she’s totally insane. She’s a terrible cook, and I’m pretty sure that one of these days she’ll kill me with one of her creations. But she’s got a big heart and she loves me something fierce. I never in my life would have imagined that I would snag someone that would love me like she does.”
I smiled, because that’s how Molly made me feel. With her, I felt needed and loved. I felt this hope inside me that I could be the man she already thought I was, and that wasn’t something that I ever wanted to let go of. But today had really thrown me for a loop. It made me question who I was and if I was the man for her.
“So, does that mean I have your permission to be with her?”
He looked at me strangely. “I think it’s funny that you think I have any say in what the woman does. If she wants to be with you, she’ll find you, and probably a lot faster than you expected,” he said, nodding toward the driveway where a car was turning in.
My head swiveled to his and I stared at him in confusion. “How did she know?”
He shrugged. “Hell if I know. But are you really that surprised?”
He stood and clapped me on the shoulder. “Trust yourself. My daughter wouldn’t fall for some loser that wasn’t worth her time.”
He walked inside just as Molly got out of her car and rushed up the steps of the porch. “Thank God!” she said, throwing herself into my arms. I squeezed her tightly to me and swore that after today, I would never let her go again. She was all I needed, and she came running to find me when she knew I was lost. That wasn’t the type of woman that a guy gave up on. That was a woman that you held onto for the rest of your life because you knew you would never find a treasure like her again.
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