Lessons Learned (The Gifted Realm Book 2)

by Jillian Neal

  Lawson v. Lawson

  The alarm went off at five, and Rainer’s heart raced. He moved slightly, but kept Emily cradled in his arms where he’d soothed her to sleep the night before. He kissed her forehead as she began to stir.

  “Hey there.” He refused to start this day differently than any other. He wouldn’t let his uncle have any power over his life. He felt her smile against his chest. “We have to get ready, baby.”

  She whimpered and shook her head against his chest. She always made him smile.

  “I was having a really good dream,” she fussed.

  “What were you dreaming about?” He decided he wanted this moment with her before the world crashed in around them. He wanted just a few peaceful moments of the two of them alone and safe in the serenity of their bed.

  “You,” she giggled.

  He was intrigued. “Me?”

  She sighed and then yawned deeply. “Yes, and I was just about to the best part.”

  Rainer chuckled and then slipped his hand from her back. He massaged his way to her right breast.

  “What’s the best part?”

  She gave him a delicious grin. “I’ll show you later.”

  “That a promise?”

  She nodded and clung to him. “Guess we should get this over with first, though.”

  “Over with definitely sounds good to me.”

  “And after it’s all over,” she ran her hands over his chest and made the electricity arc between them, “then I’ll bring you back here.”

  He kept one hand kneading her right breast and slipped the other to her backside. He cupped and squeezed her lush cheeks.

  “And…” he urged.

  “And while every form of media in the entire Realm searches high and low for us after the trial, I’m gonna bring you to bed and take care of you,” her voice was raspy and excited.

  It made him ache. “I can’t wait,” he kissed her heatedly as he dipped his tongue into her mouth giving them a few minutes to enjoy one another.

  Emily worked carefully on her make-up, and Rainer emerged from the shower a half hour later.

  “What do you really think Samantha is going to do? I mean, why is she testifying? She hardly even knows you!” Emily mouthed this just before she puckered her lips and applied lip-gloss. She’d been instructed not to wear lipstick.

  Rainer shook his head as he began pulling his brush through his hair. “I have no idea. What could she possibly say? She’ll be under oath, and I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve ever even spoken.”

  Emily brushed a kiss in the air beside Rainer’s jawline. She didn’t want to coat his cheek with the lip-gloss.

  Images of his father hard at work, and thoughts of his ancestors working and saving to amass the sheer amount of money that currently sat in his many bank accounts made him slightly queasy.

  “Do I look okay?” Emily quizzed. Nervous energy rolled off of her in waves. Her entire body was drawn taut.

  “You look beautiful, baby. You always do.” She’d chosen a navy-blue pencil skirt that fell to her knees, and a dressy button-down silk blouse. She’d decided to wear the blue and teal scarf she’d purchased at the beach when she and Rainer had visited at the beginning of summer. She’d declared that she wanted to wear at least one thing that was actually ‘her’.

  Though the skirt was made of a heavy material, she’d donned a slip she borrowed from her mother. She’d always refused to wear them in the past.

  “Ugh, I hate panty hose.” She slipped into a pair of very low heels.

  As Rainer retied his tie for the fifth time, he smirked, “How about as soon as I get you home, I’ll take them off of you?“

  “Yes, that’s what I’ll say. ‘Hi, I’m Emily Haydenshire, soon to be Lawson. I’ve been crazy over Rainer since I was like four, so if you all could get this ridiculous trial over with then I’d like him to take me home and take off my panty hose’.” She laughed hysterically at her own joke and effectively cracked Rainer up.

  “Come on, beautiful. We need to get going,” he took her hand.

  The trial was set for ten o’clock, and it was barely seven when they left. The traffic around the Pentagon was gridlocked between the press, and Gifted and Non-Gifted people alike trying to get to work.

  Rainer clenched his jaw so tightly it became painful as he navigated his way through the cars and eventually pulled up to the large front entrance of the Pentagon.

  Iodex moved in. They kept the press behind the ropes as Portwood moved to the driver’s side door. After Rainer emerged, he climbed in to move the car to the secured Iodex parking deck.

  After straightening his jacket, Rainer tried to draw steadying breaths as thousands of cameras clicked feverishly. He opened Emily’s door for her as Vindico and Tuttle cast and tried to shield them from the cameras as best as they could. Ramier and Ericsson did the same for Logan and Adeline as they raced up the stairs.

  “What do you think your father would say if he were here, Rainer?” dozens of reporters cried.

  “How do you and Emily plan to celebrate if you win today?”

  “Do you feel Jack Stariff will ensure you a win, Rainer?”

  “Emily, who’s that skirt by?”

  “Great scarf, Emily, could you turn so we could get a shot?”

  “Are you feeling nervous, Rainer?”

  “Have you seen your uncle since he filed the suit?”

  “Are you hoping for reconciliation?”

  “Is that Armani you’re wearing today, Rainer?”

  The endless questions sounded distant, though the reporters were fewer than four feet away. His heart was beating loudly in his ears as Vindico held the door for them. They issued through just before the reporters broke through the barricades and swarmed the entrance.

  Stariff met them at the door. He shook his head at the press. “I have never been asked so many times who designed my tie!”

  “Sorry,” Rainer offered. The sea of people they’d just shut the doors on astounded him. The last time he’d experienced so many reporters all at once was the day of his father’s funeral.

  “Don’t apologize. I’ve just never seen anything like it.” Stariff escorted the four of them onto the elevators. They stepped out on to the Senate floor.

  “I’m going to put you in one of the witness rooms. A few news sources have given their reporters a press pass, so they’ll be entering in a little while. It would be best if they didn’t have access to you until the last possible moment.”

  Rainer issued Emily into the small room near the courtroom that held a coffee maker and a soda machine. Logan and Adeline made everyone coffee, but no one spoke. The nervous energy in the room was palpable.

  A few minutes later, Rainer heard the choppers begin landing on the helipad of the Pentagon. His heart raced as he tried to recall everything Stariff had told him to do or not to do, or to say or not to say.

  Emily took his hand and willed calm into him as he gazed at her adoringly.

  “You’re gonna be fine, man,” Logan vowed. Adeline nodded her agreement.

  “Thanks.” He wondered if it was odd that thoughts of losing the money didn’t bother him, in terms of him not having it to spend. It was the thought of losing what his father and grandfather and great-grandfather had worked so hard for that made him feel like he was going to be sick.

  Time seemed to be moving too quickly, and Rainer’s heart raced as he watched the hands on the clock spin.

  “Let’s do this,” Stariff gave Rainer a soothing smile as he gestured them from the room.

  “Logan, you and Adeline will go in first. Join the witnesses on the benches in front. I’d like you and all of your brothers to sit together, as a show of solidarity.”

  “Emily, you’ll be next. Just another minute or two,” he explained as he pulled the door shut after Logan slapped Rainer on the back and Adeline brushed a tender kiss across his cheek before making their exit.

  Emily trembled as she hugged her
brother good-bye.

  “Hey,” Logan hugged her tightly. “Have I ever let you down?” She shook her head as Logan smiled at her. “Then don’t worry.”

  Rainer was unable to sit still. He began to pace frantically. His brain was frenzied. He couldn’t order his thoughts. His father, his childhood, the money, Emily, his uncle, the abuse he’d suffered the few months he lived with Stan, the Haydenshires, the Realm, the farm, his father’s grave, it all swirled in a volatile, confusing, whirling mass.

  Stariff returned a minute later for Emily. She clung to Rainer as he whispered how much he loved her and hugged her tightly. Stariff smiled and gave them a minute.

  “I love you, and if he wins then I will help you replace every single penny. I promise you.” She blinked back tears as terror seared through her.

  “Don’t cry, baby, please.”

  She brushed a quick kiss across his lips. Rainer squeezed her hand as she turned to follow Stariff.

  He broke out in a cold sweat. Anyone who might’ve been able to console Rainer was seated in the chamber room, and he’d never felt so utterly alone.

  How could my uncle do this to my dad? How could he do this to me? Fury and anguish consumed him. He fought the ache in his heart. Why couldn’t his dad have been there? He needed him.

  A knock sounded on the door, and he swallowed the bile that filled his throat.

  “You ready?” Stariff inquired.

  “I don’t know,” Rainer wiped his hands on his suit pants.

  “You’ll be fine. Just let me do what I do,” Stariff assured him as they entered the chamber.

  Rainer locked eyes with Emily as she mouthed “I love you.”

  Rainer hoped she knew he loved her, too, as he was unable to say or do anything but force himself to put one foot in front of the other until he’d seated himself at the table beside Jack Stariff.

  Governor Haydenshire offered him a reassuring smile from the raised Governors’ bench. Rainer accepted it gratefully, especially considering the way the week before had begun.

  He glanced to his right and took in his uncle. Stan was seated, with his lawyer, in a cheap brown suit that appeared to be several sizes too small. He was giving Rainer a simpering glower. Contempt and fight lit through Rainer in heavy doses as he returned the glare.

  Donald Mulligrew was serving as his uncle’s attorney. His reputation for being a slick ambulance-chaser was well-known throughout the Realm.

  Mrs. Haydenshire looked fit to be tied, as did Will and Garrett. Logan, Levi, Patrick, and Connor were shooting Stan glares that said that he’d better hope he never ran into any of them in a dark alley.

  Chancellor Wilshire and Mentor Sullivan, the Mentor in charge of Ioses order at Venton, both gave Rainer reassuring nods. All of Iodex offered Rainer reassuring smiles as he was seated.

  The Governors were all in their seats, though none of them looked at Rainer or his uncle.

  Samantha Peterson was preening and applying lipstick on the witness bench for his uncle. Rainer shook his head and stared back at the table. He didn’t want to see who else might be testifying against him.

  Governor Carrington banged the gavel, and Rainer felt his body flinch at the sound. He stood and shook his head.

  “I would never want anyone to say this wasn’t done in accordance with the law. So, today, we’re here to try Rainer Emory Lawson, on his character, to determine if he is deemed worthy of the estate left him by his father, Joseph Emory Lawson, the most beloved Crown Governor of our Realm.”

  He was unable to keep his anger out of his tone. “The plaintiff today is none other than Stan Leroy Lawson, brother of our dear Joseph, and Rainer’s uncle.”

  “Stan is asking that the Senteon consider assigning him half of the Lawson family estate, as he feels Rainer is unable to use the money responsibly, and he feels that he was cheated out of it as a young man when his brother was awarded the entire estate upon their parents’ death. So, Mr. Mulligrew, I give you the floor for your opening arguments.”

  Mulligrew stood. His beady eyes landed on Rainer. They were full of mocking disdain.

  Rainer resisted the urge to flip him off, by folding his hands in his lap. His father had often sat with his hands folded in his lap, and he had to hide a smile as he considered that, perhaps, this was why.

  “Thank you so much, Crown Governor,” Mulligrew drawled. “Most esteemed Governors and members of the Senteon, I intend to prove today that Rainer Lawson isn’t the clean-cut kid that we all loved to admire.”

  “As most of us saw in the papers last week, Mr. Lawson just isn’t the man his father was, and for the Realm to make such an error in judgment as to award him the entire Lawson family estate would, in my client’s opinion, be an egregious mistake.”

  “Lascivious behavior, lies, cheating, squandering, all of these concerns swirl rapidly around Mr. Lawson, and I believe, after we leave here today, we’ll all have a much clearer picture of just who the son of our great Governor Lawson really is,” he vowed before he reseated himself.

  Rainer felt like screaming, but he drew a deep breath and clenched his jaw as Stariff stood.

  “Governors, members of the Senteon,” he greeted the power players respectfully before he stood in front of the raised desk the Governors were seated behind.

  “Mr. Mulligrew is correct,” he stated as all those in the courtroom furrowed their brows, “We don’t really know Rainer Lawson. Well, not most of us. We love to snatch up papers full of half- truths, or just out and out lies about Rainer and his beloved fiancée, Emily Haydenshire,” he gestured his head toward Emily, who gave him a sweet smile.

  “I would, however, like to know when, in this Realm that Rainer’s father gave his life to preserve, did it become unlawful to inherit hard-earned money and use it as we see fit?”

  “I would like to bring light to the fact that anyone voting against my client today is taking Crown Governor Lawson’s final wishes, and throwing them away flippantly, like he didn’t matter at all.”

  “You see, the people I’ve brought in for testimony today do know Rainer Lawson. They know him better than any of us do. These are not people who have flipped through a tabloid and formulated an opinion of a man they’ve never even met.”

  “So, I agree with Mr. Mulligrew. I do believe that, at the end of the trial, we will all know Rainer a little better, and we’ll be proud that we do. He is a fine man who gave everything to this Realm, at a very young age, and now some of you want to deal a final blow, it seems.” He narrowed his eyes at Stan.

  “I believe Rainer had given us enough. You see, it wasn’t just his parents he gave us. He’s given us his service in his work for Elite Iodex. He’s given leadership and mentorship as head of Ioses at Venton Academy.”

  “And then there’s so much more that’s been taken without his permission. His privacy, his childhood, his fiancée, they’ve all been up for grabs, it seems,” Stariff grew angrier the longer he spoke.

  “Rainer couldn’t even take Miss Haydenshire away after their graduation to ask her to marry him without the Realm feeling they should be invited along, via harassing photographers and reporters. I think, when we’re finished here, we’ll all agree that what Rainer hasn’t willingly given us, we’ve simply taken and that needs to stop here and now.”

  Stariff returned to his seat. Rainer was thoroughly impressed.

  Mulligrew stood again. He begrudged Stariff a simpering huff as he called Stan Lawson to the stands.

  “Let’s do this,” Stariff huffed under his breath as Rainer felt the electricity crackle around him. The courtroom had him wired. He was ready to fight, and Rainer finally drew a full breath as he understood what made Jack Stariff the best lawyer in the Realm.

  “Mr. Lawson, could you please tell the court when it was that you became so concerned about the inheritance?” Mulligrew’s nasally voice was overly sympathetic.

  “I read in the papers that Rainer’d asked her to marry him,” Stan pointed his fat finger at Emil
y. Nodding Mulligrew waited. “And, listen, we all know women is trouble,” his uncle spat stupidly, as over half of the Senteon were female.

  Stariff chuckled, which he turned into a cough quickly. Mulligrew grimaced but said nothing.

  “I’m just trying to protect my nephew. He didn’t even make her sign one of them prenup things to protect the estate. He didn’t even tell me he’s gonna propose, even though I’m his only living relative,” Stan pretended to be devastated as Rainer rolled his eyes.

  Mulligrew turned to the Senteon and shook his head. “Now, for the record, the approximate value of the estate is close to a billion dollars. Can any of you imagine having that kind of money at twenty-one years of age, and then not having your girlfriend sign a prenuptial agreement?”

  This went on for several long minutes, with Mulligrew hammering home the fact that Rainer hadn’t asked Emily to sign anything before their engagement.

  He took his seat, and Stariff was vibrating in his dogged desire to question Stan. Rainer watched as Stariff moved fluidly in front of the Senteon and the Governors.

  “Mr. Lawson, could you tell the court the circumstances under which custody of Rainer was taken away from you and given to Governor and Mrs. Stephen Haydenshire?” Stariff demanded. “I’ll remind you that you’re under oath,” he narrowed his eyes in on Stan.

  “Uh well,” Stan stammered as everyone in the courtroom braced. “Like I said, Rainer never liked me. My brother turned him against me, so he went off crying and wailing to them,” he gestured to the mass of Haydenshires seated on the benches. “And next thing I knows, he’s being taken away. Just like that.”

  Stariff nodded and moved back to the table where Rainer was seated. He withdrew several papers from a folder.

  “Governor,” he raised the papers and asked that they be admitted. Governor Carrington nodded his agreement.

  “Mr. Lawson, what I’m holding in my hands is the custody hearing for Rainer when he was fourteen years old. The date on this document is just six weeks after his father’s death. Rainer had shown up at school with a black eye and badly bruised face left unhealed.”