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“Well…yes. She did say something like that.” Principal Jenkins cleared his throat. “But there were too many angry parents. I had to make the decision to let her go.”
The story was the same with every employer that Councilor Paige had gotten to testify. They all commented on what a good teacher Molly was and how she was so good with the children in her care. But once they saw the video of her, they decided she had to go.
Molly felt sick as she watched the last five years of her life replayed. It reminded her of every humiliation she had suffered—every job she’d lost and every time she’d had to move to someplace new that nobody knew her. All because Zach was a vindictive son-of-a-bitch.
She knew that Torus must be feeling her emotions because he squeezed her hand comfortingly and put an arm around her shoulders as they watched the parade of witnesses.
Then it had been Molly’s turn on the stand. She had a horrible case of nerves and her stomach felt like it was filled with ice cubes but she lifted her chin and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Councilor Paige had walked her through her experiences—how she’d had to move again and again and kept losing jobs every time Zach located her and sent out another compromising video to her current employer. Then she’d asked for the details of the latest time he’d sent it.
“How did it make you feel?” she asked Molly. “You thought that you’d finally escaped your ex-husband’s influence and then he somehow found you and sent the video again—this time to the Kindred Mother Ship.”
“I wanted to die,” Molly said honestly. “I thought—if he can reach me even after I’ve left the planet, what hope is there?”
“So you became suicidal. And you told Commander Torus this, correct?” Councilor Paige asked, raising her eyebrows.
Molly nodded.
“I did,” she said in a low voice.
“And it was after admitting this to him that he went into Rage for you and went down to Earth to confront your ex-husband, Zachary Wyndham, correct?” the lawyer asked.
Molly had nodded again.
“Yes,” she answered. She saw the members of the jury looking at her—some with sympathy. But she didn’t want their pity—she wanted justice, damn it! She kept her head high.
After that, Zach’s lawyer got to ask some questions—and that was where things got rough.
“Isn’t it true, Ms. Byrne, that you only married my client for his money?” he demanded.
“What? No. We were both in college when I met Zach,” Molly said. “He didn’t have any money then—we were both just broke college students.”
“Ah, but you could see his potential—you knew he was going to be rich!” Zach’s lawyer exclaimed.
“Objection!” Councilor Paige said, frowning. “Your Honor, I’m not sure if the opposing council is attempting to paint my client as a ‘gold digger’ but I’d like to point out that Molly Byrne asked for nothing when she left Zachary Wyndham. She didn’t get a cent from him in their divorce.”
“So noted.” The judge had frowned at Zach’s lawyer. “Please keep your line of questioning relevant to the case, Councilor.”
Zach’s lawyer had next tried to shame Molly.
“Tell us about these videos that you claim my client took of you,” he said to Molly. “How do we know that you didn’t make them yourself?”
“Because I would never do that!” Molly exclaimed. “Those videos were of private moments. I thought I was alone—I didn’t know that Zach was watching me and recording everything I did!”
“And what were you doing exactly?” the lawyer probed. “Was it self-abuse?”
Molly’s face had gone hot but she’d kept her voice steady.
“I was masturbating,” she said. “I’m not ashamed of that but I didn’t ask to be recorded doing it and I certainly didn’t ask to have videos of me doing it sent out to every single employer at every job I’ve had since my divorce!”
That had been the worst of it—at least as far as Molly was concerned. It was mortifying to have to admit to pleasuring herself on the stand in front of witnesses, but she had known it was going to come up. Once she was finally allowed to go back to her seat, she truly felt like the worst part of the trial was over.
But now it was Torus’s turn to take the stand. After he was sworn in, Councilor Paige started by asking him about his relationship to Molly.
“She’s my Mate—what you humans call my ‘wife,’” he said simply.
“So you feel extremely protective of her, is that right?”
