FULL NOVELXO : Chapter 78
Third person
“I’m not going to sugar-coat it. The evidence against you is quite substantial. We are looking at a long and difficult trial ahead.” The lawyer met his client’s fiery gaze hesitantly. He hadn’t been looking forward to this meeting.
“Well, that’s what I have you for, is it not? To argue against that evidence?”
“Yes. Of course. But we must be realistic. It’s not just how much evidence the prosecutor is going to present
– and there is a lot of it. It’s how strong that evidence is, as well.”
Scarlet snatched a piece of paper out of her lawyer’s
hands. It was a photocopy of a document that had already been submitted to the court. The apparently damning evidence that the lawyer was talking about.
She looked over the document, of course recognizing it. It was some of the evidence that Alexander had dug up somehow and given to the King weeks ago.
Time-stamped transaction records that showed deposits to Scarlet’s overseas bank account, totaling the exact same amount of money that had recently gone missing from the royal fund.
She crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it back at her lawyer.
He frowned, watching passively as it bounced off his chest and rolled down the length of the table, coming to a stop right on the edge.
“I have been framed,” Scarlet said flatly, giving the lie
hardly any effort. “By my power-hungry stepson.”
“You can continue to plead innocence – that is your right,” the lawyer replied. “And I will continue to fight for you as well as I can. That is my job. But it’s also my job to warn you: things are going to come up in the courtroom that will not look good for you, and which will be difficult to argue against. Not only this.”
He pointed to the paper ball. “They are building a strong case already, and they haven’t even finished investigating. I’m sorry, Scarlet. These are just the facts.”
The Queen stood, pressing her palms flat on the polished mahogany table as she did so. “I don’t care if it’s difficult,” she said, enunciating each word carefully. “Like you say, it is your job to defend me. I expect you to do it from now on without complaining about how hard it is. I simply will not go to prison for this.” She pointed a steady finger in the man’s face. “I
will not. Not if there is anything that can be done about it.”
“Of course, Your Highness.” The lawyer bowed his head. “We will do absolutely everything that we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Scarlet stayed behind in the boardroom after her lawyer scurried away. She paced the length of it, her mind and legs equally restless.
Scarlet stayed behind in the boardroom after her lawyer scurried away. She paced the length of it, her mind and legs equally restless.
She was growing more desperate every day. She could sass and lie to and intimidate her lawyer all she wanted, but she wasn’t an idiot. She knew she couldn’t behave like that in court.
The money and power she worked so hard for – she had lost so much of it. She could not bear to lose any more. And she could not stand behind a witness podium and allow a prosecutor to make her look like a fool in front of the entire nation. She’d been humiliated enough already.
And if she was found guilty, the King would beat and imprison her.
And if, in the course of the trial, her worse crimes were revealed, the King would kill her, too.
But there was one last-resort option that Scarlet could use to put an end to all of it.
It was a kind of ripcord – one she did not want to have to pull. Doing so would have a lot of unpleasant consequences.
Unfortunately, the only other option was to gamble with her life before the royal court and the Alpha King.
And her lawyer was right. Her odds there were not looking good.
“Scarlet.” The voice that answered the phone was deep and drawling. “Well, well. What a pleasure it is to hear your voice again.”
“I wish that I could say the same, Donovan.”
“Come now. You needn’t be tart with me already. Not when you have just called me to ask for a favor. That is why you are calling, right? You only think of me when you need something.” He snickered quietly.
Scarlet attempted to suppress an unladylike groan of exasperation, irritated already. She didn’t wholly succeed – the sound just came out muted from behind her clenched teeth. “I’m sure you have heard
“Yes, I have.” She could hear the smile on Donovan’s lips as he said this.
An image of his smiling face crowded her mind suddenly. His pale, chalky skin and black, deep-set eyes. She shivered at the memory and shook her head, willing it away. “I only have a question.”
“Hmm? Please, please. Ask me anything you like,” he said, in a way that sounded more than a little dirty and completely condescending.
“Are you in a position to pay for information, if I had some to offer?”
“Mm.” He kept her waiting through a long pause, then asked, “What kind of information, lovely?”
“I may be able to arrange… something like the last time.”
The fact was, Scarlet had nothing to offer. Right now, Alexander and the King Pack were living safely behind the walls of the very palace where she also resided. She could not set them up to be ambushed, not while they idled there enjoying a glimpse of peacetime. As far as stealing information from her stepson… Scarlet had unfortunately lost access to his office when her reckless maid got herself caught trespassing through the secret passage. Alexander had sealed it over afterward.
But she could rustle up something. Scarlet prided herself on being able to make things happen in the palace. She could find a way to compromise the King Pack. If it was something their enemy was interested
Donovan chuckled. “And how very well that worked out for us, the last time, hm?”
“Don’t blame me for losing a war that started with an advantage in your favor,” Scarlet snapped. “The information I traded you did work out well for your side. What happened afterward is your responsibility.”
“Of course, of course,” he cooed. “Hm. And now, you ask if I am in a position to pay you?”
“Yes. That is what I asked.”
“Did you have a price in mind?”
The sounds of Scarlet’s own breathing echoed back at her through the phone. The other end of the line was silent. It had always unnerved her, the way the
“Double what you paid me last time,” she said at last.
The dry, breathless chuckle came again. “You are dreaming, sweetheart.”
“How about this,” she countered without missing a beat. “I will bring you something, and you can tell me what it’s worth to you.”
“Hmm. Well, I must admit I am intrigued. I will look at your offering, sure, my dear. We will meet in person, though. That is my only condition.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Can’t? Or don’t want to?”
“Donovan. You know it’s too dangerous.”
“And it’s not dangerous for me to have this conversation with you?” he snapped, his tone suddenly razor-sharp. “No more calls. You will wait for me to contact you, and you will meet me where I say, when I say.”
Scarlet had to pry open her clenched jaw to answer.
She had no choice but to agree.