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)
“I didn’t know either and it would have been useful information to have,” the lawyer said grimly. She put an arm around Molly’s shoulders. “Hey—are you all right?”
“I will be.” Molly sniffed. “I just…I couldn’t deal with it.”
“I know it’s been rough but the trial is almost over,” Councilor Paige said encouragingly. “We’re basically finished. We just have closing arguments and the jury is going to be sent away to convene. Then you and Torus can leave and go back to his ship.”
“Okay.” Molly nodded automatically and ran a shaky hand through her hair. “Thank you. How…how do you think it went?”
“Pretty well, actually,” Councilor Paige said. “I’ll call you and let you know when the verdict comes back but I can tell you right now, I’m fairly certain we have this in the bag. The jury hates your ex—he comes off as arrogant and abusive. And they love Torus. So I don’t think it will take them long to decide.”
“Great…that’s great,” Molly mumbled. But inside she was thinking that she wasn’t going back to Torus’s ship. In fact, she wasn’t going anywhere with the big Kindred. She was going to let him go—set him free.
She’d been on the fence about continuing their relationship before but now she was absolutely certain. Her life was going to be lonely and sad without the big Kindred, but that was better than staying with someone who was only hanging around out of pity. Molly didn’t want that—she had too much pride and self-respect. She’d lived alone before and she could do it again.
Lifting her chin, she followed Councilor Paige out of the ladies’ room. She would make a clean break and end it, she promised herself. She owed it to both Torus and herself not to drag things out.
41
TORUS
“Molly? Molly, where are you?” Torus was getting nearly frantic by the time she finally came back into the courtroom with Councilor Paige. He couldn’t reach her mentally, no matter how hard he tried. In fact, it almost seemed as though the TET link had been severed. But she wouldn’t do that, would she? No matter how upset she got, she wouldn’t just cut him off. Right?
He had finished testifying and was sitting in the main part of the courtroom again. Molly came up and sat beside him but she wouldn’t look at him. Torus put an arm around her but while she didn’t push it away, she didn’t lean into him either. In fact, it was like putting his arm around a block of wood—she was completely non-responsive.
He sent a few more mental messages and then noticed the side of her neck—the TET device was gone. No wonder he couldn’t reach her! He tried to get her to look at him, but Molly stared straight ahead, not saying a word or even glancing in his direction.
Finally the lawyers gave their closing arguments. The lawyer for Molly’s ex-Mate tried again to paint her as an opportunistic female who only wanted his material wealth and made immoral videos of herself on purpose.
However, Councilor Paige refuted this strongly. She reminded the jury again that Molly hadn’t gotten anything in the dissolution of her marriage—she had left without a penny, only seeking to get away from the constant mental, emotional, and physical abuse.
“But Zachary Wyndham continues to abuse her—he’s been harassing her and doing his best to ruin her life and make certain she can never hold down a job again,” she told the jury, who were watching her intently. “He has sued my client for ten million dollars for the loss of his computer equipment and for pain and injury. But I submit to you that Molly is the one who has been injured here. Her reputation has been ruined, her livelihood has been taken away, and she was driven to the brink of suicide—all because Zachary Wyndham was angry that she wanted to leave his constant abuse and make a new life for herself.”
The jury murmured among themselves and Torus saw some of them shooting looks of dislike at Molly’s ex-Mate, who sat across the courtroom from them with a look of sullen anger on his face.
“Molly lived like that for five years,” Councilor Paige continued. “Five years and no one was willing to help her. Because Zachary Wyndham is rich and famous, no one would take him on. Until Commander Torus came into Molly’s life, she was at the mercy of her ex-husband. But when he saw what was happening, he stepped up and he went to make things right,” she went on, motioning to Torus who shifted uncomfortably.
He hadn’t expected to be drawn as the hero in this scenario and he wasn’t sure he deserved any praise. He had only done what any Kindred whose female was threatened would have done. But Councilor Paige wasn’t finished yet.