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“I can’t enter it as such,” the judge said. “It will be incumbent upon Miss Chong to willingly refrain from attending that day.”
“My brother got work detail the other days,” she replied with a slight smirk. “Look like we both want the same day.”
“Your Honor, as I understand it Miss Chong has been flooding the media with propaganda about herself and Miss Ross’ boyfriend,” the lawyer continued. “I would request that she discontinue this behavior since it’s just another form of harassment. I was given to understand the protection order was clearly explained to her, but so far she seems disinclined to desist.”
“Is that right, Miss Chong?” asked the judge sternly, flipping through more documents that attested to Mia’s behavior.
“Your Honor, I know for a fact that Miss Ross came to Archer’s house intending to become his surrogate mother,” Mia said flatly. “It’s not illegal to tell the truth when some reporter jams a microphone in your face…”
“Your Honor? May I approach the bench?” Athena demanded as she strode forward from the back of the room.
“Who’s this?” he asked the bailiff.
“Athena Caldwell, sir,” he said. “Archer’s mother.”
“By all means,” he said. “If you can shed some light on things, it would be very helpful.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said. “For the record, I am the mother of Archer Devonshire, who is currently in the prison and is indeed the father of Kady Ross’ unborn child. As Archer’s mother, it would seem I’d know which of these young ladies he calls his own, and I can assure you that although I heard the tale of the surrogate mother story straight from both Archer’s and Kady’s mouths, he and Kady are most definitely a couple. More to the point, Mia Chong isn’t even Archer’s friend, let alone his lover, and although Mr. Blank here has advised us against it, my son Archer had a statement prepared in which he asks for relief from Miss Chong and her behavior. A formal document has already been filed restraining her from any further slander where he is concerned.”
“Pull up the new document, will you?” the judge said to the woman at the computer, and she quickly did so.
“Sir, it should be on screen now,” she said.
The judge read the file. “Miss Chong, it would seem that your behavior over the past months despite the restraining order far exceeds its limitations. I’m going to have to remand you back into custody and have you undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Miss Ross, you’re free to go.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Kady as she hid her triumphant smile. She and Robert walked out again side by side, and a flurry of reporters pounced.
“Miss Ross? Are you satisfied with the outcome of today’s hearing?” asked one of them, and she couldn’t help but stop and answer the question.
“Yes, sir, I am,” she said. “Miss Chong has been acting in a very erratic manner and spreading lies throughout the media, and it’s about time somebody took notice of it. I believe recently she even tried to tell everyone that she’s having Archer’s child, but he and I were never apart long enough for that sort of thing to have happened. Clearly it’s part of her delusional state. I wish there was more that I could tell you about all of this, but—“
“Miss Ross?” said a female reporter with a smirk. “Are you aware that Mia Chong and Archer Devonshire were lovers in college?”
“I don’t really care if they were,” she replied, sighing, suddenly glad to have spent the other night digging through information on the Internet and coming to that conclusion on her own instead of being startled by it in front of a bunch of cameras and gossip hungry reporters. “Archer fully admitted to me that his behavior in college was less than exemplary. Next question, please.”
The same woman pushed forward as she said, “Miss Ross, are you aware that Parker Chou sold the services of his sister Mia and two of her friends to Archer Devonshire on more than one occasion during that time? Perhaps that’s why Miss Chong thinks of herself as belonging to him. A man like that deserves to be in prison.”
“Do you have any proof of what you are saying, ma’am?” Kady wanted to know, the temper in her voice growing as she began to lose patience with the woman.
“Robert, really,” Athena said as she came out, interrupting any answer Kady would have given. “Take Kady to the car. You know better than to subject her to these hounds.”
“Yes, Miss Caldwell,” he replied, grasping Kady by the arm.
The woman slid a card into Kady’s pocket and their eyes locked. Kady nodded slightly, and then she was gone.
Chapter 37
Kady was finally alone for the evening. Nervously, she slid the reporter’s card from her pocket and stared at it. Did she really want to hear what this woman had to say? What it if shattered her reality? What if it ruined all of the dreams she’d begun to hope would become a reality? What if Archer was not what he seemed?
Her fingers were already dialing the cell phone before she even realized what she was doing. The voice of the woman greeted her ear as she held it to her ear.
“I knew that you’d call me, Miss Ross,” she said, slightly condescending on the other end of the line. “I think maybe you and I have both been trying to piece together the same puzzle from different ends. Would it be possible to meet somewhere and maybe fit them together at last?”
“I’m not at liberty to do something like that openly,” Kady said softly. “You need to understand where I’m coming from here, Miss Cooper. I love Archer, and whatever he may have done ten years ago, and whatever involvement he’s had with anything more recently, I can only go by what I see. He was tired of what he had become—a jaded wreck of a man—and now he has a chance at something better. He is no longer the playboy party animal the media once knew him to be. We sit home watching sitcoms all night, for goodness sakes.”
“You also need to understand something, Kady,” she said. “I’m not trying to get Archer into trouble here, I’m just trying to determine what is true, and what is false. People are begging to know the whole story, and I just want to give it to them.”
“And you’ve spoken to Archer about all of this?” Kady scoffed. “You had him confirm that what you’re trying to push off on the public is the real truth?”
