AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Given his demeanor and the way he carried himself, none of this was a surprise to me. Now, I know him a little more. Well, enough to add to my original assessment.
Confident.
Chivalrous.
Considerate.
These things about him have forced me to reevaluate Hayden. Only, I’m more confused, more torn than I’ve ever been. How can the same person who defamed my father be the same man who demands that people show me respect?
My mind is quick to retrieve images from the past, things I haven’t allowed myself to relive for fear I wouldn’t be able to function. And I need to if I’m going to survive. Tonight, I can’t hold them at bay. Like a cracked dam bearing the weight of water, I crumble under the pressure, and my brain is flooded with unwelcome memories.
The piney scent of the newly polished wood invades my senses, and my head pounds all the more because of it. Or perhaps it’s due to the strained atmosphere in the courtroom? Regardless, there’s no relief to be found. I clench my hands in my lap until nails dig into my skin. The pinprick of pain grounds me.
But it’s nothing compared to the agony within my soul.
Like the rest of the people here, I sit in silence as the prosecution’s lawyer, a tall man with blue eyes and glossy black hair, circles my father like a dog, ready to tear him to shreds.
And then he does. It’s verbally, but from the way I flinch every time, it might as well be physical.
My father is on the stand, his back straight and his chin lifted. Considering he’s a man fighting for his life and reputation, he holds himself quite well, a politician through and through. Like my father, the attorney displays no emotion, his handsome face a complete mask.
If only I was able to compose myself as effectively.
I failed miserably, and I blame it entirely on Bennett. When I saw the lawyer for the first time in the hallway, I hadn’t been aware of his identity. All I could do was stare at the man in a complete haze of yearning. It wasn’t just the beauty of him. I’d been drawn to the way he looked at me.
As if I were a woman and not the porcelain doll I’d been treated like my entire life.
Even Adam, my fiancé, had never gazed at me with such unconcealed lust. Sure, he’d been pressuring me to sleep with him, but it wasn’t the same thing.
Adam wanted me.
Bennett would consume me.
“Senator Green,” Bennett says, his voice as smooth as satin, “isn’t it true that you were having an affair with your secretary, Ms. Hall?”
My father slowly nods. “Yes. I loved her.”
Bennett lifts an ebony brow. “We have eyewitnesses who saw you with Ms. Hall on the day of her death. They also heard you two arguing. Is this true, senator?”
I shake my head as though to answer on behalf of my father. Deep in my heart I know he’s a good person. Whether or not he had a fight with Kristen, there’s no way he would’ve killed her. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters to me.
“I was with Ms. Hall,” the senator says, “but we were discussing campaign strategies for my upcoming election. The argument was merely a difference in opinion as to how we should proceed. In the end, she agreed with me.”
Bennett tilts his head. “Did she really? So you’re telling me it had nothing to do with her being pregnant with your illegitimate child? A scandal that could cost you the election?”
“I was planning to marry her!”
“Then why was she found murdered in your bedroom later that evening with handprints on her neck? With marks that matched the shape and size of your hands?”
The lawyer places a photo directly in front of the senator and taps the image, his long fingers directing my father’s attention. He stiffens. And remorse flickers in his eyes.
Is it because he’s guilty or due to the devastation of it all?
I have to believe my father’s innocent, or nothing will make sense. But the thought of him going to prison for the rest of his life…
My chest seizes as my lungs contract, thinning my breaths until I’m wheezing. Stars appear in my vision, partially blocking out the scene before me, and I blink rapidly to clear it without any success. I close my eyes and press my fists against them while taking a long, deep breath to combat the rising panic.
My father is a good man. This will all be over soon. Bennett rattles my certainty with every silver-tongued word he utters, and I haven’t even taken the stand yet…
