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I shake my head. “I could. But he’d just get the new one somehow. Plus, I didn’t want to get nasty. I was hoping we could be grown-ups about this. But I don’t think that’s going to happen. I could handle the daily apology texts, but this morning he sent me one telling me how I should be with him. And that he still loves me. It’s suffocating.”
“Restraining order?” Halliday jokes, her eyes twinkling.
Despite the situation, my lips twitch. “Maybe.”
“So hear me out.” She turns from the screen and picks something up. “I picked a card for you this morning.” She holds up an intricately decorated card with the image of a man lying face down with multiple swords in his back.
“Gruesome.”
“It symbolizes painful endings and betrayal.”
“Give me the bad news, why don’t you?” I laugh.
“No, this is a good thing. It’s symbolic of the end of your relationship with Henry. Even though it ended months ago, it’s been following you around, trying to keep you trapped in the past. This is the sign that it’s all about to come to an end. The darkest hour is the one before dawn.”
“Okay,” I say, unconvincingly.
“Trust me.” Halliday smiles serenely. “The universe has spoken. You’ll be given a way out, something to bring peace and end turmoil. Don’t miss that sign when you’re shown it. Use it. Promise me?”
I return her smile, feeling anything but peaceful as my thoughts flash to Henry. “I promise.”
“Good. Now go win another case. Love you.”
She blows me a kiss and then is gone. I pick up my purse and head to the front door. As I’m closing it, my phone rings and warmth blooms in my chest at the sight of Drew’s name.
“Hey.”
“Hey, Boss.”
“You want to put me on Bluetooth and chat while you drive to work?” he asks.
“Sure, sounds perfect.”
The air in the courtroom is thick with anticipation as the jurors are led back in.
I slide my gaze over the twelve of them as they take their places. After we delivered our closing statements, the judge gave her summary, and they were invited to retire until they reached a unanimous verdict.
It took them three hours.
If he’d plead guilty, he would have been sentenced by now and enjoying His Majesty’s comforts. But because he didn’t, and he claims Chelsea consented to staying with him for that forty-eight-hour period, here we are.
I avoid looking at the defendant, a mousy-haired guy who looks like a regular Joe you’d see on the bus.
They don’t have it stamped on their foreheads. The devils walk amongst us.
I keep my eyes on the judge as I wait for her to address the foreperson of the jury.
They have to find him guilty.Please.
Chelsea caught my eye yesterday as she was escorted back to the witness room by the court usher. She was offered the option of giving her evidence by video link so she didn’t have to be in the room with the man who assaulted her. But she declined. She said she wanted to look him in the eye when he was made to face what he did.
I’m so proud of how strong she is.
Court cases are harrowing, but she’s stayed calm the entire week, even though I know some of the accusations he threw back her way—and the lewd suggestions he made about how she was flaunting herself in her social media pictures and turned up to meet him wearing a short skirt—must have been hard to stomach.
Unlucky for him, I cut that shit right down the second it started. No matter how a woman chooses to dress, it doesn’t give creeps like him the right to do anything they want.
Adrenaline pumps through my veins as the judge speaks.
