Chapter 12
MADISON
Oh my god, what had I done?
I faced Finkle. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—I don’t know what came over me. I panicked.”
Turning his back on me, Finkle opened his battered briefcase and shoved a pile of file folders inside.
Uncaring about the various pieces of paper which fell out and scattered about the floor around us or his usual crushed peanut butter sandwich.
He snapped the lid down, crushing the files. When it wouldn’t close properly, he scooped the whole mess into his arms and hugged it to his chest like a shield. “You’re on your own now. I can’t help you.”
He turned to leave.
I snatched at his wrinkled suit jacket. “Wait! You can’t leave me! You’re my attorney.”
He shrugged me off. “Not anymore!”
Before I could grab him again and plead with him to stay, there was an angry shout from the judge.
I spun to see him raise his arm and launch his gavel at me.
I ducked, and it sailed past my head.
A creepy guy who had been leering at me during the whole trial cried out. “Ow! My nose!”
Thick red blood gushed from his nose to soak the grimy Big Johnson T-shirt he wore.
If it had been a nice person and not someone who’d offered his “services” for one last fuck before I was carted off to prison, I might have cared.
My so-called attorney vanished into the unruly crowd.
Looking over the heads of the various reporters who were shouting into their phones, I found Pierce across the room.
Leaning nonchalantly against the wall with his arms crossed. The bastard actually checked his watch. Then winked at me.
Two guards clasped their hands around my elbows and dragged me backward.
My friends called out from somewhere in the crowd, desperate to reach me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Pierce.
Bile burned the back of my throat. What if the jury had been about to find me not guilty?
The great Pierce Worthington would not have tolerated that insult.
I had played right into his hands.
What better way to turn the judge and jury against me than to get me to stop the verdict myself?
Hailey and Rylee screamed my name as they waved their arms and pushed back at the people rushing past them.
I pulled against the guards’ grasp as I rose on my toes. “Hailey!”
One guard twisted my arm behind my back.
He forced my forearm against my lower back and shoved me out of the courtroom.
“Ouch! Please, you’re hurting me!”
“Did you hear that, Steve? The entitled little princess is complaining.”
They pushed me over the threshold of the same small conference room I had been brought to earlier.
I tripped and fell forward against the table, pushing the edge into my side.
The guard named Steve grabbed me by my hair and pulled me upright before dragging me over to a straight-backed wooden chair. He stepped behind me and snatched my arms back. Cold metal clasped around my wrists as he handcuffed me then slammed me down into the chair.
The room spun, adrenaline flooded my veins as the panic squeezed my chest. I fought for every short, rapid gasp.
Both men stood close, towering over me. The one whose name I didn’t know leaned down to lift the hem of my skirt. He rubbed the fabric between his thumb and forefinger. “Don’t you just love when the pretty ones wear skirts to court?”
“My attorney will be here any second.”
They both laughed.
“Barry Finkle? That idiot is halfway back to his mommy’s basement by now.”
He let go of my skirt and grabbed the chair’s armrests.
He was so close the stench of his breath was overpowering. “After that little stunt you pulled, I wouldn’t be surprised if the judge ordered a thorough strip search.”
The other one slapped him on the shoulder. “I agree. Anyone who’s desperate enough to disrupt court like that is probably desperate enough to have smuggled a shank or weapon in. I think we should strip search her here and now to be sure.”
His hand was on my hem again, pushing it higher. I kicked out, catching him on the shin.
He retaliated by slapping me across the face. “Bitch.”
My head snapped to the right as the chair rocked up on two legs, then settled again, as my mouth filled with a metallic tang. My hair came loose from its bun, partially obscuring my view.
He took off his gun belt.
Then reached for his pants. “Time for your first lesson in prison obedience.”
I swallowed past my dry mouth, getting ready to scream even though I knew no one would hear me.
Just when I thought all hope was lost, the door burst open.
Pierce?
I hated the way my heart leapt.
It wasn’t him; it was the judge.
He was so angry he was already shouting at me in mid-sentence by the time he crossed the threshold. “...book at you. Obstruction of justice. Assault. Contempt of court. And—and—anything else I can think of.”
“I’m sorry, I—”
“Sorry? Sorry? Let me tell you what, young lady. You’re going to be sorry. I don’t give a hot damn what the jury verdict is. You turned my courtroom into a fucking circus. I’m a laughingstock. I’m going to throw the fucking book at you. You won’t see the light of day until you’re eighty.”
The judge wheeled away from me with a disgusted huff. “Get her out of my sight.”
One guard cleared his throat and elbowed the other.
Taking the hint, the other one spoke up. “Your Honor, we were thinking we should take her down to the tombs and do a proper search of her person.”
The judge nodded, his swollen jowls jiggling with the movement. “That’s a good idea, do it.”
Without a backward glance, the judge stormed off, slamming the door shut behind him.
The guards fist-bumped each other. “Your pretty ass is ours now, princess.”
My salty tears stung the heated and bruised skin of my cheek.
I uselessly twisted my wrists in the handcuffs till they were raw and chafed.
As the guards closed in around me and hauled me out of the chair, the door opened again.
I didn’t even bother to look over. What was the point?
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to mentally separate myself from the physical horror I was about to endure.
A hand touched my chin, raising my head.
The touch was gentler than I would have expected.
My eyes sprang open and clashed with the intense silver stare of Pierce Worthington.
The air in my lungs froze.
He tilted my head to the side, surveying my red cheek.
Without taking his eyes off me, he asked, “Who did this?”
The one who’d grabbed my skirt puffed out his chest. “I did, sir. The murdering bitch deserved it for getting mouthy with me. Don’t you worry. We know what she did to your brother. She’ll get more of that when we get her down into the tombs.”
I tensed my body to keep from trembling.
He released my chin and stroked his knuckles down my cheek.
An almost affectionate gesture. Some new game?
He moved me away from the table then stepped back and unbuttoned his suit jacket. After he shrugged out of it and tossed it onto the table, he faced the guards while rolling up his sleeves. “Gentlemen, we have a problem. You have harmed someone I consider my property.”
His property?
HIS PROPERTY?
The guards exchanged a confused look but caught on quickly.
The first one lunged, overextending his arm in his effort to punch Pierce in the face, but Pierce was too quick for him. He bent low and punched the guy in the ribs, before rising and giving him a brutal uppercut, which sent the guard flying backward to land with a hard thud on the linoleum floor.
Pierce rounded on Steve. The one who’d actually hit me. He raised his clenched fists.
Steve pulled his handgun, aiming it at Pierce’s head. “I’m going to enjoy shooting that arrogant rich boy smirk off your face. You waltz around here like fucking God, but you’ll die like any other bitch.”
Pierce’s gaze hardened. “I was just going to beat you to within an inch of your life for touching her. Now I’m going to kill you.”
I screamed as Pierce lunged for the guard.