Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
No. Molly tried to push that thought aside and concentrate on the trial.
Speaking of her ex, Zach had hobbled into court with a cast on his right leg and another on his left arm. He was also wearing a neck brace and a pitiful “poor-me” expression obviously designed to sway the judge and jury in his favor.
When he took the stand, her ex had painted a picture of a wanton, cruel and unprovoked attack.
“I was just sitting there, working at my desk when he came busting into my house, your honor!” he cried, giving the judge an aggrieved look. “He beat me within an inch of my life and stole all my computer equipment—worth millions of dollars—for no reason!”
The judge, an older woman with short, steel-gray hair and a no-nonsense look on her face had only nodded and pushed up her spectacles.
“Noted, Mr. Wyndham,” she said dryly. “Please go on.”
Zach went on for several minutes about how he couldn’t understand why Torus would beat him up. Molly just stared at him. Had his lawyer not told him they were countersuing under the revenge porn laws?
Maybe he was banking on the fact that she would be too embarrassed to talk about the videos in court. If so, he was wrong. She’d been humiliated so often she was out of fucks to give. It might not be a very nice saying, but it was the truth. She was willing to go through the pain and embarrassment at least one more time to show the world what a bastard her ex truly was.
After Zach’s side had presented their case—with the attorney using various xenophobic slurs and calling the Kindred “alien vermin” and “invading scum”—Councilor Paige had finally gotten the chance to speak.
Molly had watched as the Kindred’s head attorney absolutely tore into her ex’s defense.
“So, Mr. Wyndham, you claim my client had no reason whatsoever to attack you and take your computer equipment—is that correct?” she asked.
Zach nodded his head.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
From the corner of her eye, Molly saw Zach’s attorney—an older man in an expensive looking gray suit—shaking his head. She understood what was happening then—her ex had always been what her Mom called “bullheaded”—meaning he wouldn’t listen to anyone else’s advice. Clearly his attorney had told him it was a bad idea to go with this defense and pretend that he had no idea why Torus would attack him, but Zach had decided to do whatever he wanted.
“So you think the fact that you sent a compromising video of Molly Byrne—who happens to be your ex-wife and my client’s current Mate—had nothing to do with the fact that my client, Commander Torus, came to exact revenge?”
Zach frowned.
“What video?”
“Mr. Wyndham, please don’t play dumb with me,” Councilor Paige had snapped. “I’d like to remind you that lying on the witness stand is perjury. Now I’ll ask you again—did you or did you not send a compromising video of Molly Byrne—which you took without her knowledge—to my client, Commander Torus?”
Zach got a sulky, mulish expression on his face.
“Yeah, so what if I did?” he demanded.
“You sent that video to Molly’s boss—who also happens to be her husband or ‘Mate’ to use the Kindred’s terms,” Councilor Paige said. “You sent it to him just as you sent it to every other employer that Molly has had in the past five years. You did it to hurt and humiliate her and to make her lose her job! Which I will show had happened multiple times in the past,” she went on, speaking to the jury.
“So what?” Zach demanded again. “It’s not like I hurt her or threatened her or anything—he can’t come beat me up just because I sent him a video of her! That’s not a reason to go into that weird berserker state—that ‘Rage’—my lawyer said so!”
Molly thought Councilor Paige was going to contradict him but she only said mysteriously,
“We’ll go into the causes of Rage later in this trial. Right now I’m just trying to establish that you sent a compromising video of Molly Byrne to Commander Torus and to every other employer she’s had in the past five years.”
Zach had gotten that mulish expression on his face again and Molly had been sure he was about to lie. Councilor Paige must have thought so too because she frowned warningly at him and said,
“I want to remind you that I have witnesses that will corroborate what I just said.”
“Okay, yes, fine—I sent it,” Zach had snarled. “But she deserved it! That bitch left me high and dry with no warning! She deserted me when I needed her the most!”
Molly had to fight to keep her face neutral. It was true that she had saved up her money until she had enough to live on her own and afford an attorney for a no-fault divorce and then she had slipped away in the middle of the night. But that was because she was sure that Zach wouldn’t let her go otherwise. He liked controlling her too much to ever let her leave.