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This isn’t about you.
My own voice rang in my ears from the argument I’d had with Mother months earlier, stabbing me like a knife through the heart and stealing my breath.
“Tell the truth, Miss Reed,” the attorney said, causing me to blink. “Did he or did he not scream, ‘I’ll fucking kill you,’ before punching Mr. Bradshaw in the face as that video so graphically shows?”
My eyelids slammed shut. Tell the truth, one of the few things of value Mother had instilled in me. Lloyd had demanded it—suggested it would set us all free.
“The accused has stalked you since he moved to Alaska,” the attorney went on as I fought to find words. “Listened in on your phone conversations. Performed unwanted sexual advances. He pushed you for what he knew wasn’t legal in the state of Alaska at the time. Isn’t that right?”
The blood drained from my face. “Wh-what?”
“According to Jenny Lind—” the attorney went back to his desk, shuffled some papers until picking one up “—Gideon Destil forced you to your knees the same evening after the fight—”
Mother literally hissed from where she’d sat beside Lloyd after following me into the courtroom.
“He didn’t force me,” I hastened to correct the man, my stomach clenching tight as my fingers on my lap.
Jenny had spilled my secrets.
She sat behind Devon and his family, her head bowed.
“So, you willingly performed fellatio on the accused?”
Oh God.
I squeezed my eyes shut, swallowing against rising bile as Lloyd shushed my mother who whispered harshly.
The judge smashed his gavel onto his desk. “Quiet in the courtroom!”
His booming voice silenced Mother but not my mind.
What has Jenny done?
“According to Miss Lind’s testimony, you walked into the bathroom on Mr. Destil masturbating,” the attorney stated once given the okay to return to questioning me, and I cringed. “He asked if you wanted to help him…and you told him no.”
I couldn’t speak.
“He ordered you to your knees and threatened to tell your mother that you had snuck out to attend the party if you didn’t obey his command.”
“I-It was consensual,” I managed to rasp without vomiting.
“Giving in to a man’s lust due to a threat is not consent.” The prosecuting attorney paused while I fought to breathe, my ears ringing in the stifling silence hovering over the entire courtroom. “He has attempted to intimidate our client countless times, shoved him into lockers.” He continued spewing truth as I cowered in my chair, desperately trying to keep from heaving. “Mr. Destil told Devon Bradshaw on two accounts that if he touched you, he would kill him, and almost a dozen witnesses confirmed that fact earlier this morning.”
Throat tight, I couldn’t speak.
This isn’t about me…
“Do you know all of this to be true, Miss Reed?”
Closing my eyes, I swallowed against the dryness attacking my throat. I wanted to lie, needed Gideon free. Needed him filling space with me, feeling the fine hairs raise on my neck whenever he entered a room.
I longed for him in a way I’d never wanted anything in my life.
I opened my eyes, my gaze snagging on Mother, her lips pinched tight and her gaze full of fire that promised punishment of the worst sort.
Tell the truth, I could hear her thoughts, or so help me God…
Glancing to Lloyd beside her didn’t offer any comfort. His eyes held a softness Mother’s never had, and his small nod encouraged me to do what was right.
