Dark Horse: The Kingmaker Saga #5

by Miller, London

  Why?

  It was certainly the question Elsie had been asking herself since she was made aware of the problem between the two of them. Because she knew what it meant to be hurt by the one you loved most—she understood how easy it was to sink into that despair until you lost your way and the only way out was to hurt as you had been hurt.

  But everything about the way Uilleam and Karina responded to each other didn’t fit that mold. Yes, they hurt each other in unspeakable ways, but beyond the malice, there had still been more.

  She already knew Uilleam loved the Ashworth girl because from the very beginning he had pulled his punches where she was concerned. Had it been anyone else, they wouldn’t have gotten this far in destroying his reputation.

  This was something he allowed her to do if only because, in some way, he had felt he deserved it even before he knew the reasons behind her actions.

  And Karina ... if she truly despised him for what he had done—as any woman would, truthfully—why had she never been able to pull the trigger and end things permanently.

  It seemed as if she was playing a game as much as he was.

  So, in the end, there had to be a reason for her actions, and maybe if Elsie found that reason, she could finally put both of them out of their misery.

  She was benevolent that way.

  Winter studied her for a long while, as if she could find the answers written in Elsie’s face, but ultimately, she sighed and picked up her keyboard once more. “Have you any idea what hospital she was seen at?”

  Elsie rattled it off, watching as the monitors came on one by one, a line of code appearing on each one before the screens mirrored one another.

  She had always found the work of hackers interesting. They always made it look so simple, but there was a complexity to it that she had never been able to understand. And in her experience, they all had a story as to how they had gotten involved in this particular trade.

  And as young as Winter was, Elsie was certain the story wasn’t a very good one, though perhaps it had ended on a happier note considering the man who was all but her shadow.

  She couldn’t recall the name Kit had given him when he explained who would be waiting at the loft for her when she arrived, but if she had to guess, it had something to do with his predilection for not speaking.

  “Alright,” Winter said after a moment of furious typing. “I have the file, but there’s nothing here.”

  Elsie focused on the monitors, taking a step forward to better see as she read off the documents going up one by one.

  It wasn’t so much that nothing was there, but rather that someone had taken a monumental effort to make sure that what was there was insubstantial.

  It was as if the document had been blacked out in places and whatever was left behind had been re-typed and added to the digital folder.

  Elsie had already suspected that much had been hidden about Karina’s injuries that day, but now this only confirmed her suspicion. “Her primary doctor—Herbert Instok—find me what you can on him, and if there are any other personnel members listed in these files, find me them as well.”

  Winter glanced over at her with a frown. “That might take a while.”

  Elsie glanced down at her watch, noting the time. “I have nowhere else I would rather be.”

  Because whether she had everything she needed or not, she was on the right track and it wouldn’t be long now before she found exactly what she was looking for.

  14

  Check

  Uilleam had never been overly fond of the governor’s wife though it wasn’t any fault of her own mostly. A part of it was due to her association with her husband, but it was mostly because he saw beyond the façade of her being the perfect wife.

  She was no innocent, and after the performance she’d put on at the press conference--led by Karina to be fair--she had almost everyone fooled. Then again, the grieving widow did make for good television.

  Even now, she was giving an Oscar worthy performance, sitting in the front row on the side of the prosecution. dressed in black from head to toe. Two men--security, if he had to guess--sat on either side of her, both glaring at him as if he were still a threat.Well … they weren’t entirely wrong about that, but it wasn’t as if there was anything he could do to harm her presently. Oh, but if he had the chance, he would certainly make her understand why acting against him hadn’t been in her best interest.

  Uilleam turned his glass around in his hands, his gaze darting over to Jennifer where she was busy doodling on the notepad as opposed to writing out any list of questions she might have had. Either Elsie had far more confidence in this woman and knew something he didn’t--or his fate was left in the hands of someone who would have him strapped to a chair with needles in his arms.

  Unable to just ignore what she was doing, he cleared his throat, making it clear he wanted her attention. “D’you have notes of some sort?”

  “Hm?” she asked, distracted by the puff of clouds she was drawing. “Oh, notes? Absolutely.”

  He waited, expecting her to pull them out since he’d made it clear he was curious but when she didn’t do anything of the sort, he decided that Elsie was clearly punishing him for some unknown slight and this lawyer was recompense.

  But there wasn’t much he could do about it now.

  This was just the hell he would have to live in.

  As the proceedings began, Uilleam took a much needed breath, reminding himself that despite her idiosyncrasies, Jennifer was rather good at what she did considering she had managed to get him a bail and had gotten them this far.

  It shouldn’t matter that he didn’t know what her plan of attack was today now that the prosecution was calling the governor’s widow to the stand, he needed to believe in the process.

  Even if it turned him gray in the end.

  Uilleam had wondered to himself why they would bother calling the woman at all considering what little knowledge she had of the governor’s affairs, but he also knew that she made for good character assassination since she played the grieving widow so well.

  From the moment she had taken the stand with a tissue clutched in her hand, he could all but feel the sympathy the jurors felt for her.

  Here was a woman who had lost her husband because of a man like Uilleam—destructive and angry, money hungry, and willing to do whatever it took to maintain his criminal empire.

  Everything they said about him was true.

  Yet, they could prove none of it.

  But sometimes it wasn’t about the truth—the perception was the only thing that mattered.

  By the time Jennifer stood for cross-examination, Uilleam was almost sure the jury was ready to convict him from Mrs. Spader’s testimony alone.

  “Mrs. Spader, are you familiar with a woman by the name of Canina McDaniel?”

  For the first time since this whole process began, Uilleam looked up from his hands, his own curiosity getting the best of him. Because while she had asked him for any relevant information pertaining to the governor, he hadn’t thought to mention the mistress who, as far as he knew, had been a plant from Karina.

  The woman’s lips pursed, the first sign of displeasure she’d shown since she’d gotten up on the stand. “The name sounds familiar, but I’m introduced to so many people that many names sound familiar to me.”

  Jennifer nodded pleasantly. “Canina McDaniel is the name of your husband’s mistress.”

  “Object—”

  “We would like to submit into evidence both text and voice conversations between Mrs. Spader and the woman in question.”

  In that moment, Uilleam knew exactly the strategy they were going with.

  It wasn’t about proving that he was innocent—a near impossible feat considering how guilty he actually was—but it was about providing another potential suspect.

  And who better than the widow of the man in question?

  “Do you recall sending these texts to Miss McDanial?” Jennifer asked, happily ha
nding over a copy of the documents both to the judge and to Mrs. Spader.

  She took her time pulling on her reading glasses. “I don’t recall, no.”

  “But you acknowledge that these were sent from your phone, correct?”

  Reluctantly, she answered. “Yes.”

  “And could you read the highlighted text for me, Mrs. Spader?”

  It was abundantly clear that if the woman wasn’t being forced, she wouldn’t have. It was written all over her face.

  “I would appreciate if you severed ties with Michael.”

  Jennifer nodded. “Please continue.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  “And could you read the final highlighted text, please?”

  “I’ll make you both regret ever attempting to humiliate me.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Spader. By chance, do you remember this conversation now?”

  Oh, how quickly the tables had turned. What sympathy she had garnered had all but dissipated.

  She was no longer seen as just the pitiful widow who hadn’t known about her husband’s many misdeeds.

  She was no innocent by any means.

  And even as she attempted to muster tears, the damage was done.

  They would have a hard time proving Uilleam did business with the man let alone that he’d had a reason to murder him.

  But his wife … at least they had a reason to suspect her for why the governor had gone missing in the first place.

  15

  Want

  Sitting quietly in the back of the room, Karina was careful not to draw attention to herself as she watched the scene play out on the trio of monitors suspended from the ceiling.

  She wasn’t looking for anyone’s opinion on what she was doing—and she certainly didn’t want anyone trying to dissect what she was thinking while she watched—her only concern was the ongoing trial that only served to make her anxiety worse with each day that passed.

  Despite her actions, this was the last thing she had expected to come of what she had done. In fact, she had banked on the fact that Uilleam was the Kingmaker and capable of making even the worst of circumstances disappear.

  There wasn’t supposed to be a trial of coverage of any sort. And if she had had to wager a guess, she would have assumed Uilleam would have stayed in hiding for far longer than he did instead of appearing back in New York mere mo the later when the accusations were still fresh in everyone’s mind.

  For the first time in what felt like ages, she didn’t know what he was thinking. He certainly had to have a plan of some sort—he wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t—but the fact that she couldn’t figure it out bothered her more than anything.

  Not to mention, this was also the first time she wasn’t in control of the narrative.

  Even now, Katherine stood at the front of the room, her manicured hands perched at her waist, her gaze focused on Uilleam. Except, she didn’t look nearly as concerned as Karina felt.

  Quite the opposite. She looked as if she had swallowed a lemon, and her expression was only getting worse with each minute that passed.

  In part because, despite what she initially believed, Uilleam’s attorney wasn’t nearly as incompetent as she has seemed that first day in the courtroom.

  She might have been slight of frame, with glasses that always slid down the bridge of her nose, and hair an understated flat shade of brown, she was good at what she did.

  She didn’t merely work with the facts, she also presented an alternative to what they all knew was true and managed to create the impossible—reasonable doubt.

  “What have you found on her?” Katherine asked one of her associates at the front of the room, not bothering to hide the irritation in her voice.

  Karina tipped her coffee to her lips, letting the warm, sweet liquid sit on her tongue for a bit before she swallowed.

  It made sense that Katherine would either attempt to blackmail the woman or straight up threaten her, but she also had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy.

  “Parents died in some sort of accident—I’m still waiting on the full details for that. She had an older sister that lives down in Georgia, but from what I can find, the two are estranged and don’t really speak. Attempting to use her at this point probably wouldn’t do any good.”

  Karina didn’t mean to smile when the girl finished speaking, but it was hard not to find the entire situation amusing considering this was the outcome she’d been expecting.

  There was a reason Uilleam had chosen this woman, even if it didn’t make sense to anyone else. And for a trial like this, he would need someone others couldn’t manipulate into doing their bidding.

  If she had to guess, Katherine wouldn’t be the only one trying to find dirt on the woman to use against Uilleam.

  As it stood, they weren’t the only powerful enemies that had a vested interest in the outcome of this trial.

  Karina focused back on the monitors, her gaze drawn to Uilleam and the way he toyed with the pen in his hand. It was always during the quiet moments, when the next witness was called or there was a pause on proceedings where he looked the most thoughtful.

  Sometimes, she thought he looked a little somber, though she wasn’t quite sure why.

  By the time they were going to recess, Katherine snatched the mic from her ear and tossed it on the table.

  “Someone explain to me how he’s managed to circumvent all of our work here and yet has no access to communicate with anyone.”

  There was no right answer to that, even Karina knew that, but that didn’t stop anyone from stammering over their replies in a bid to shift her anger to someone else.

  “We’ve worked too hard and come too far to allow a Runehart to remain in the most prominent position with the Table.”

  “Don’t you mean after the hurt he’s caused?” Karina asked, speaking before she meant to.

  While the others might have been glad the attention wasn’t on them for the time being, a HR e could feel the shift in the room. And for the first time, she wondered if any of them were on the same side.

  This wasn’t the only time her mother had said something similar—Karina still remembered their breakfast together quite a while ago when Katherine had referred to Poppy’s death with what felt like indifference.

  She’d dismissed her thoughts at the time, sure she had been sensitive and overreacting, but now … she wasn’t so sure.

  It was starting to feel as if Katherine’s quest for revenge against Uilleam suffered from her own, and she had no idea what to do with that thought.

  “Of course,” Katherine said smoothly, turning to face her. “I didn’t think it needed to be said.”

  But every other reason did?

  “Besides,” she continued. “You more than anyone should be upset by this turn of events. It was your child after all.”

  Karina was proud of herself for hiding her flinch, and worse, she hated she had to hide it in the first place. She wanted to believe it was merely because Katherine was anxious about the upcoming outcome of the proceedings—that it was merely stress that had her acting so cruelly—but that was no excuse.

  Even Uilleam during his worst days would have never said something so heartless.

  Keeping her wits about her, Karina moved to her feet. “I warned you against doing this,” she said. “An injured animal will do anything it takes to survive.”

  It was merely the way of the beast.

  Had she expected him to just keel over and succumb to his fate? Katherine had to know better.

  “Then we need to put him down like the dog he is,” Katherine snapped, losing all semblance of patience, the mask falling.

  Karina was coming to realize that they weren’t, in fact, on the same page when it came to Uilleam and what they would ultimately do to him.

  They haven’t different ideas, as they always had.

  The only difference now was, she didn’t have the first clue what to do about it.

  * * *

  At this
point, she was starting to suspect her reasons for calling were entirely selfish though she wasn’t ready to admit this to herself just yet.

  But nothing else made sense.

  They were enemies, even if she refused to admit as much to herself. He should have been ignoring her calls, or using her for his own gain, but he was doing neither.

  If she called, he answered.

  She didn’t know what to make of his attitude and sudden change of demeanor.

  She wasn’t completely foolish—she knew the man she was dealing with. He was capable of things most others could only dream about, but there was something different about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

  For the hundredth time that day, Karina picked up her phone before setting it back down again.

  The first time she called, she could chuck it up to petty emotion. It wasn’t as if she had truly felt jealousy where Uilleam was concerned considering his attention had always been on her.

  But if she called now, it wouldn’t be because she needed to, but because she wanted to.

  She wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to know he was alright. She wanted him to know she regretted how far this all had gone though she knew she could never admit as much out loud.

  There were a great many things she wanted to say to Uilleam, she just didn’t know where to begin.

  And after the blow up with Katherine earlier, Karina wasn’t feeling like herself.

  Deciding to ignore the consequences, she grabbed her phone once more and dialed his number from memory.

  If he didn’t answer, it would be fine. She could pretend like this moment of weakness had never happened.

  But as she readied you end the call after the third ring, the call connected.

  “Poppet.”

  She closed her eyes the moment she heard his voice. It really wasn’t right that he had such an effect on her—that the mere timbre of his voice turned her inside out.