CHAPTER FORTY
Veredictum
I can’t belieeeeeeeve this is happening ;o #SHOCKED (@deisebloombastic)
The minutes felt like hours. The jury had been deliberating for some time, and there was still no sign they were coming back.
My clothes were scratchy. The rose felt like it weighed a ton around my neck.
Dante was talking with Joe, Célie, and Candice.
Or maybe he wasn’t even paying attention—he kept staring obsessively at the door where the jury would emerge.
It was the first time I’d felt afraid. The case wasn’t strong enough to hold up on its own, but it also wasn’t weak enough to fall apart completely. And if it collapsed, it could take everything down with it.
“Everyone in their places,” the bailiff announced.
Dante rose to stand beside me.
“Whatever happens…” he whispered.
“Don’t make me promises, please. I don’t want promises,” I replied with a lump in my throat.
The judge returned, as did the jury. In the seconds that followed, the air seemed to be completely sucked out of the room. The judge reread the charges and the finer details of the case. I felt my feet sinking into the floor.
When the judge called the jury for the verdict, I felt myself being pulled under, and my reaction was to grab Dante’s arm.
My hand slid toward his and our fingers intertwined.
It didn’t matter anymore what people might think.
The boundaries that had held us back until now didn’t matter.
In the next second, everything could become nothing.
“On the charge of first-degree murder, the jury finds Dante Marino…” the judge began.
The first juror stood and held out the paper that contained Dante’s future and mine. And ours.
Everyone seemed to be holding their breath.
“By unanimous decision, the jury finds the defendant… not guilty.”
The explosion of reaction didn’t come right away—or maybe I was the one perceiving the world differently. At a different pace.
I looked at Dante, and he couldn’t react.
“Is it real?” he asked me, still incredulous.
I smiled. A lot. Absurdly.
“Everything here is real.” I lifted our joined hands and placed them on my chest, over the rose.
Dante didn’t move forward, but his gaze kissed my soul.
“Earlier you asked who protects me,” he whispered, pulling our hands toward his mouth. His lips brushed my fingers gently. “You, Helena. You save me every day.”
And then everything had sound and color again. Mrs. Darwin was screaming indignantly. Mr. Darwin kicked his chair and stormed out. Joe and Célie were celebrating with Candice, and Dante’s father just watched us from afar. When his eyes met Dante’s, I saw him give a brief nod.
Perhaps that was the most genuine and intimate gesture his father had offered him in years.
We were practically carried outside, where the crowd was going wild.
On the courthouse steps, a group of journalists approached us.
“How do you feel after weeks of being the main topic of conversation and TV programs, finally being acquitted, Dante?” the journalist asked.
“I feel like I need to disappear for a while,” Dante replied, looking at me with that same look that always knocked me off my feet.
“Doctor, is it true that you and Mr. Marino are in a relationship?” another reporter intruded, shoving the microphone in my face.
“I’ve never heard anything more absurd,” I said, smiling at Dante.
“So does that mean the Dantezettes can still dream about Heritage’s most coveted bachelor?” he asked, turning to Dante.
“The talented Dr. Torres may have won my freedom, but my heart remains imprisoned. No bail,” he said, winking at the camera. We escaped to the parking area reserved for lawyers while Célie took the spotlight and made sure our firm got plenty of publicity.
Before we got in the car, Dante pushed me against the side of it and grabbed me by the waist, pressing his body against mine.
“It was torture controlling my instincts.” He held my face, and his mouth claimed mine as his body pressed against me, wishing we were naked somewhere far away.
“Good thing you did. Or my problem would be even bigger,” I said with a smile. Dante kept my face between his hands.
“Do you think Quinn will come after you?”
“It’s possible.” I shrugged. “But I’m not afraid.”
“Really, counselor?”
“I always knew I was good,” I replied. “But this whole thing made me feel invincible.”
“You looked like a badass warrior,” Dante said with a grin.
“I felt like a badass.”
I pushed him away.
“Do you still have my keys?”
Dante pulled the keychain from his pocket.
“Perfect. You drive.” I walked around the car and waited for him to open the door. When he did, I got in the passenger seat.
“And where are we going?” he asked, pressing the button to put the top down.
“Anywhere we can get naked.”
“I can do that right now.” He pulled at his sweater.
“I’d prefer this time without the gear shift poking my ass.” I made a face and he laughed.
“Okay.” Dante started the car and revved the engine of my Jaguar.
“I think he likes you,” I said, seeing the view from my car from the passenger seat for the first time.
“I have a deadly charm.”
“Focus, Mr. Marino.”
“Okay, Dr. Helena.” With a half smile, Dante accelerated and we took off to find somewhere I could scream that this man was mine.
Dante took me to a city overlook where the big Heritage sign stood.
“How many women have you brought here?” I asked, lying naked on top of Dante’s body, inside the letter A.
“Believe it or not, none.”
I sat up to look at him, completely unconvinced.
“I’m serious, Helena.” He caressed my arm. “I used to come here alone to think. I feel small here, and it puts everything in perspective.”
“Did you come here that night?” I asked.
“Yes.” He stared at the horizon. “I was here when Maressa called to tell me what had happened.”
“Why didn’t you just call the police?”
“My sister was high. My father took her home, but she managed to come back.”
“Does she really not remember what happened?”
“No.” Dante settled me against his chest and kissed the top of my head. “And I didn’t want her to remember.”
I sat up to look at him.
“Your sister could have gotten off… maybe she didn’t even do anything.”
“We’ll never know.” Dante looked at me. “Besides, if anyone was to blame for what happened, it was me. I was the one who pulled away from everyone, leaving Maressa alone.”
“And getting locked up would have solved that?”
“Maybe not. But I would have had less guilt to carry.” He shrugged. “Selfish as hell. I know.”
“Human.” I touched his chest. “That makes you human.”
Dante looked at me in silence.
“You shouldn’t have done this.” Dante’s eyes dropped to my necklace and he hooked his finger around the rose, pulling it. The pendant slid, tightening the piece around my neck, turning it into a kind of collar.
“Accused you of being human?” I teased.
Dante pulled, forcing me to lie on top of him. My hardened nipple dragged across his abdomen toward his chest.
“Chosen me.”
I smiled and leaned over him. I felt my breasts brush against his chest.
“I didn’t choose you.” My lips brushed his, and he closed his eyes. “I chose Helena.”
He smiled. A delicious, wicked smile from someone who understood exactly what I meant.
Being with Dante wasn’t a rational choice that Dr. Helena would have been capable of making. Nor was the wild Helena that Dante needed in court. So somehow I learned to balance the two. And that made me powerful… and addicted to that power.
Dante wasn’t just the man I loved, but the man who had taken me out of the glass dome and returned me to my nature.
“I would have loved to protect you in the glass dome forever… but I’m glad I didn’t, because watching you bloom is a magical spectacle.”
Our mouths teased each other.
“Did I become a beautiful black rose?”
“No, Helena.” His teeth grazed my chin. “Your color will always be red.”
The End.