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“No, when we had sex then and whenever we’ve had sex since, I’ve always wanted himjust as much as he wanted me,” I responded, making sure they understood from my tone how much I desired him.
Mario cleared his throat, and his voice rasped when he spoke into the mic. “No further questions, Your Honor,” he said before returning to his seat.
Taking a deep breath, I straightened up in my seat, trying my best not to make eye contact with them while I was on the stand, though I ached for them.
Like throwing cold water on a flame, however, my father took to the podium again. I was preparing for my mother to cross-examine me since my father examined Jared, but it seemed they had their own strategy going. With my mother, I knew she’d be harsh, and I could prepare to fake resilience with her. But my father took me by surprise with the way he handled Jared, and now I was worried about the way he’d handle me. It shouldn’t keep shocking me how similar my mom and dad were even though he seemed like the victim. He knew better, and he didn’t do better.
“Hi, Tiffany,” my father said when he approached the podium.
“Please, Mr. Levine, call me Ms. Levine,” I said, wary of being manipulated.
That seemed to hurt him with the way his face crumpled, and his voice got hoarse. “Right. Ms. Levine. How are you doing today?”
“You don’t actually care, so let’s just get this over with,” I said.
Interestingly enough, the judge didn’t say anything to put me in place and when I spun around in my chair to look at her, it seemed like the only thing she was missing was a bucket of popcorn. Ugh. Great. I had become their laughingstock. But I wouldn’t let it worry me like it would worry my mother. I didn’t want to be anything like my mother if she could go to these lengths for the sake of reputation.
My father composed himself. “Ms. Levine, you mentioned that when you were first employed at Crawford & Beam, Jared Crawford didn’t want you there. Is that right?”
“Yes,” I responded.
“So, if Mr. Crawford didn’t hire you, who did?” my father asked, dropping his brows in confusion.
“As senior partners, Mario and Anthony were able to hire me,” I said.
“Is that right?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, crinkling my brows at him.
“Interesting,” he sighed. “So, correct me if I’m wrong, but are you telling me that if it wasn’t for Mario and Anthony, you wouldn’t have gotten a job at Crawford & Beam?”
Oh, I saw where he was going with this. Ugh. This was exhausting.
“Yes, D…Mr. Levine,” I said.
“And what happened after that? Was Jared Crawford okay with you being employed there without his approval?” my father asked.
“Objection, speculation,” Jared’s heavy voice tumbled into the microphone, moving over me like waves.
“Your Honor, I’ll rephrase the question,” my father said.
The judge nodded.
“At any point did he express his disapproval over you being employed at his company by Mario and Anthony?” he asked.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Yes.”
“Were you grateful to Mario and Anthony for getting you a job at Crawford & Beam?” my father asked.
“Of course, I was.” My voice was a monotone of boredom.
“So, is it safe to say that you were grateful to Mario and Anthony for your job, but you were still on Jared Crawford’s wrong side?” he asked.
He kept asking the same questions. Why didn’t he just get to what he actually wanted to ask already? Taking a deep breath in and out, I tapped my feet in impatience. “Yes,” I responded.
“Was it a case of you feeling as if you owed Mario and Anthony? That you wanted to find a way to repay them?” he asked.
And there it was. At least the first bomb.
