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“Because they’re the reason I’m here. Or rather, she is,” she says, jerking her chin at me and still smiling. A sliver of hope tries to break through. Maybe…
“Okay, it’s time to spit it out. Start making sense,” Brooklyn huffs, crossing her arms in a very clear, no-nonsense power stance.
“No fun,” Renee mutters. She takes a big breath and then spills it. “These were all sent to me by opposing counsel. Rather,formeropposing counsel I guess. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.”
“Please,” Mason grouses.
“Summer here emailed a journalist at the New York Times several months back. Telling a rather compelling story of an omega who had been drugged and forcibly marked against her will by one of the wealthiest, most influential packs in New York. She sent medical records and an affidavit as proof.”
Silence. Even in the bond, my mates have no idea what to think of this as they stare at me in shock. Renee is undeterred. “The journalist was pretty shocked, I’d say. But did his due diligence. Researched the drug, Pack Monroe,you,”she says to me again, tapping a polished pale pink fingernail on the folder. “Then when the story was finally written, and he’d gotten approval from his editor, he saw they were arrested for kidnapping, assault, battery… you get the gist. He reached out to William Monroe, Jade’s–”
“Grandfather.”
“Grandfather,” Mason, Renee, and I all say at the same time. Mine sounding weary and Mason like he tasted something sour. I guess despite not knowing their true last name, he still had the pleasure of meeting William. An awful man. Cruel for sport.
“Right.” She nods. “The journalist reached out to her grandfather for a quote. He wasnothappy this story was getting published, or that he’d be linked to all this in the press. So he had to pull a boat-load of strings and call in several favors, but the story got pulled.”
That hope that was trying to build in my chest deflates.
“But…” My heart races. “He waspissedhe had to call in his favors for this. For Jade and that ‘high functioning moron.’ His words. So he fired the two-thousand-dollars-an-hour powerhouse criminal attorney he’d been paying out of his own pocket for and stuck them with some just-out-of-law-school, twenty-dollars-an-hour public defender. Since their own accounts are frozen, and he cut them off at the knees, their sentence has become much more appropriate.”
Silence. The pancake on the stove starts burning, and Hudson curses, lunging to turn the dial and pull the pan off the burner. Pinching his fingers together, he gently pulls the burnt pancake out of the pan.
“Nala,” he calls, making a series of clucking noises with his tongue and a hundred pounds of fluff and fur come barreling around the corner. She sits dutifully without him having to even ask, and he tosses her the burnt breakfast.
“What do you mean more appropriate?” Maverick hedges, sounding dubious about the lighthearted air the kitchen is starting to get. Hudson leans back against the counter next to Maverick and places a hand on his shoulder in silent support.
“I mean, I moved for a summary judgment, and their lawyer barely put up a fight. The judge granted it. Brody got ten years as an accessory after he threw Jade under the bus, and Jade is getting twenty-five to life.”
My throat closes up, and tears sting my eyes. Relief battles with a sense of sorrow inside me while the rest of my pack celebrates, shakes Renee’s hand, and exchanges hugs. Part of me feels that same joy, the need to raise a glass and celebrate putting three horrendous, vile people behind bars. But something about it feels…unresolved to me.
Maybe part of me wanted a big messy trial. The chance to drag their name through the mud. For that article to be published and have the whole world throw rocks at them, curse their name, and know what they put me through. What so many other people are going through because the powers that be are too scared of inciting panic to actually warn the world what hideousness is plaguing it.
We’ll tell as many people as we can, but there is only so much one pack can do.
A door closing in the distance pulls me out of my thoughts. When my eyes refocus, Renee is gone, Brooklyn having seen her out.
Mason, Maverick, and Hudson are all staring at me with varying degrees of frowns on their faces. I can feel their worry trickling through the bond, so I muster up the best smile I can. It does nothing to ease their concern, they just exchange loaded glances at it.
“I’m fine,” I say, and reach for the stack of already finished chocolate chip pancakes on the center of the island. Grabbing two, I toss them on my plate and look for the syrup.
“When a woman says she’s fine, she’s never fine.” Maverick, ladies and gentlemen, the wisest of them all.
“You forget that we now have a direct link to you, babe,” Mason says, tapping on his heart. “We can feel that you aren’t alright. So what do you need? How do we fix it?”
Brooklyn ambles back in just as he asks that, and for some reason, I have an answer. It’s staring me in the face. Suddenly, it’s all I need. But they won’t like it one bit.
* * *
“Are you sure this is what you need? I can’t talk you out of it?” Brooklyn chews on her lip, holding my hands in hers. I’m half afraid she won’t let go.
“Don’t do this, sweets. I’ve got a pint of mint chocolate chip at home with your name on it,” Maverick chimes in with a half-assed bribe. When he says it, he doesn’t even sound like he thinks it’ll work. But Hudson gives it a go, too.
“Ice cream and a movie marathon. I’ll even start up the fireplace and get some hot chocolate.”
Mason is the only one not trying to talk me out of it, leaning against the car in complete silence. They all insisted on coming, and I acquiesced that request since I knew it would be hard for them to let me do it. But I drew the line at them coming in with me.
“It’s going to be fine. You guys need to relax. I’ll only be a minute.” I try to throw as much confidence and sense of serenity down the bond as I can. Just so they know I’m not worried about it, so they don’t need to, either.
