by Jillian Neal
Dan’s mind shifted slightly. He wondered what she was picking up on. If he’d summoned black, then Ramirez had committed far more crimes for Nic Wretchkinsides than Dan realized. He’d either committed a murder or a rape.
His heart sped and rattled against his rib cage. He longed to go to Fionna, to take her away from all of this. Her color seemed to be holding. She was smiling and speaking to Logan’s grandparents, but she was drawing measured breaths. She pulled her wool wrap tighter around her, trying to block the chilling energy from her exceptionally strong Receiver strains. Being able to pick up on every strain of emotional energy made her incredibly powerful, but in the presence of dark energy, it also made her weak.
Dan saw Garrett watching her closely as well. She was holding her own. Ramirez was a criminal, no doubt, but he clearly hadn’t summoned black or she would have shown signs of that.
The memory of freezing-cold snow dripping down his neck while he’d scrubbed the vomit off of her beautiful face on Christmas Eve sent another icy chill through Dan. He should never have taken her out to Felsink to get his sister out of jail. He should never have done any number of the things he’d done to and with Fionna Styler.
The doubt crept back in whenever she was away from him. She deserved someone that she could openly admit to dating. Someone that could be seen with her, take her places, hold her hand, and buy her things. She deserved to be treated like the princess she was. She deserved someone so much better than he would ever be, but my God, he loved her. Every single thing about her set his world on fire. His sun rose and his moon set by her. He wanted no part of a life without her in it.
Determination rooted in his veins once again. End Wretchkinsides, get her. The mantra echoed through his mind and sizzled down his spine. It set in his chiseled musculature, swirled in his gut, pounded with the determined beats of his heart, and etched his soul.
~Logan Haydenshire~
A minute later, Jack marched confidently into the courtroom, shooting Candy glares that had her suddenly looking rather concerned. Adeline followed Stariff inside. Her eyes sought Logan’s. A small smile formed on her lips as soon as she saw him.
Lucas had his arm around her in a tender, fatherly embrace. He slid her chair out for her and took the seat beside her, placing her between himself and Stariff. All eyes went to Candy as she took him in. Looking at him there, seated beside Adeline, even if she hadn’t seen him in twenty-two years, there was no mistaking who he was.
Well aware he was being gawked at, Lucas seemed to be happy to put on a show. He patted Adeline’s hand, and then very slowly turned an abhorrent hate-filled scowl to Candy Parker.
Her lawyer’s mouth hung open in shock. He’d been supplied a list of people bringing witness against Candy, but just as Jack had assured Logan and Adeline, he’d added her father’s name under the names of Medios and Gifted nurses from the hospital. Lucas Nguyen’s name had meant very little to either Candy or her lawyer until that very moment.
Jack shot her lawyer a cocky grin as he watched them lean their heads in to discuss the lynch pin seated beside Adeline. Shaking herself slightly, Candy began to pout. She crossed her arms over her chest, which was on full display in the suit that was not only tacky, but cut entirely too low for a woman half her age.
She returned to her previous task of glaring at Logan, as Adeline adamantly refused to even look her direction.
“She gonna do that all damn day?” Rainer returned Candy’s glare on Logan’s behalf.
“She can glare at me all she wants, but she looks at Ad like that, I might just come over this railing,” Logan growled under his breath.
“Yeah, well you won’t be the only one,” Rainer pledged his undying allegiance to his best friend.
“I hate her. I absolutely hate her, and I don’t hate anyone,” Emily spat furiously, making Logan and Rainer chuckle at her adamancy, but their attention was drawn away quickly by the wave of Fergus Sherman, the moron that they’d hung out with out of obligation at the Academy.
“Rainer, please tell me Fergus did not just wave to me and that he is not now coming towards me. I really cannot deal with this today.”
“All rise,” the bailiff’s bellowed call shook through Logan. Rainer offered him a consolatory shrug before he stood along with the entire courtroom.
What is Fergus doing here? Jack never said anything about this. Who knows what he might say? Adeline could end up doing time if his typical insanity spewed out of his slouched body up on the stands. Panic threatened to pull Logan under.
Upon seeing Lucas, Candy had popped another piece of chewing gum in her mouth and was chomping away. The judge entered and gave a respectful nod to Governor Haydenshire, as was customary. Governor Haydenshire returned the discreet gesture. With one quick lift of his brow and the firm set of his jaw, he let the judge know that it would remain to be seen as to whether or not this particular Non-Gifted judge would ultimately gain the respect of the Crown Governor.
The jury filed in. Logan studied them intently, still trying not to focus on Fergus’s sudden appearance. It was still difficult for him to fully wrap his head around. They all existed on the same planet, in the same country, in the same towns, but Logan lived in a world where the ultimate decisions on laws, and on criminal behavior and punishment, lay with the Senteon and ultimately with the Governing board. Six men and women who Logan knew to be good, honest, faithful, intelligent people, at least now that Peterson was no longer serving.
Though he did understand the way the Non-Gifted judicial system worked, he wondered if placing the fate of his wife in the hands of people that knew nothing about her could really be called a fair trial.
“Be seated,” the judge, who appeared to be about his father’s age with a kind dark face, ordered the room at large. “All right,” he glanced over the paperwork on his bench. “So today we are hearing the trial of Miss Adeline Marie Haydenshire, who’s been brought up on charges of possession, use of illegal substances, and misuse of legal prescriptive drugs, per an entered plea on behalf of her mother, Miss Jayda Hestia Parker. Miss Parker’s probation pends the results of this trial; is that correct gentlemen?” the judge drawled to Jack and Candy’s lawyer.
“Uh ‘scuse me,” Candy attempted to flirt with the judge as she smacked her gum and batted her eyelashes. Lucas looked as horrified as the judge. “You can call me Candy, all the boys do, and her name ain’t Haydenshire, it’s Parker.”
Logan felt his blood boil. His hands clenched tightly into fists.
“First of all, no one asked you to speak, Miss Parker,” the judge reprimanded harshly, “Secondly, I have the marriage license here. It seems your daughter Adeline was wed to the Crown Gov,” he choked and then cleared his throat, “To Senator Haydenshire’s son, Logan, at the beginning of last month. She legally changed her last name to Haydenshire. It is interesting to me that you were unaware of your daughter’s nuptials. However, I will be calling you Miss Parker, and you may refer to me as your honor or as Judge Sanderson, should the opportunity for you to speak come up again. Otherwise, you can keep your mouth shut.”
Senator. So that’s how the Governors were addressed in the Non-Gifted legal system. Logan supposed that gave them authority without giving away their powers or their real titles.
Looking thoroughly put out, Candy rolled her eyes dramatically, making her lawyer shudder and wipe his brow with a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket.
“Now, if the jury is ready, we’ll begin opening statements with you Mr. Snyder,” he gestured his head Candy’s lawyer. Logan’s heart began to hammer. He felt Emily tuck her arm through his as she tried to calm him down, but his shield had set firmly, and he couldn’t let her in.
His body shifted oddly. It was an extremely strange sensation, one he’d felt only a few times before. His own shield attempted to leave his body altogether in order to cover Adeline.
She gave him a tender smile. Terror haunted her eyes as Logan returned the gesture. His shield spun. The sm
ile was all he could offer her. But in that moment, Logan watched Lucas take her hand in his. She drew from her father a motion, which seemed to make Lucas’s entire world settle. He gazed adoringly at his little girl.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this is a story that the courts see far too often. A troubled teen in a bad situation reaches out to drugs, legal and illegal, desperate for attention. Her mother, abandoned by the child’s father before she was even born, in desperation to be with her child, to connect with her and try to lead her back, gets caught up in the same addictive storm and begins using herself.” Snyder shook his head in mock sorrow.
Lucas looked like if given half a chance he would choke not only Candy, but her lawyer as well.
Jack shook his head in warning to Lucas as tears leaked down Adeline’s face. Logan felt fury erupt from somewhere deep inside of him. Vindico and Rainer’s hands planted firmly on his shoulders pushing him down, and he realized that he’d leaned to stand.
“My client, young, pregnant, and all alone, turned to prostitution in an effort to provide her beloved daughter with some kind of life that she saw no other way of giving her.”
Lucas rolled his eyes in abject disdain.
“Today, I believe we will see that it isn’t Miss Parker that needs to serve time, it is Miss Haydenshire who showed so little regard for her own mother and the many, many sacrifices she made for Adeline growing up, to the point that she wasn’t even informed of her daughter’s marriage.”
To Logan’s utter astonishment, the jury was eating up his lies.
“Thank you, your honor,” Snyder choked, still feigning sorrow.
Logan was quite certain he was going to vomit.
Witness
Jack stood, nodded to the judge, and then moved to the jury. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you’ve just been spun a story with so many holes in it, I’m quite certain if you used it for a blanket that you’d freeze to death.” He caught the jury’s attention quickly.
“In this world where the lines between right and wrong tend to blur so easily, and one person’s opinion is never the same as the other, I think there are a few things we can all agree on. I don’t believe that any of us could place our hands on that Bible and vow that abuse to a child is ever allowable, nor do any of us believe that starving a child when there are people offering to help at every corner is an acceptable option,” Jack huffed audibly.
“Let me tell you what else isn’t okay,” he demanded. “It was not okay that the first time Mr. Logan Haydenshire, my client’s husband, went to pick Adeline up from her home when they were just beginning their college careers,” he used the Non-Gifted dialect for education with ease, “for him to have to physically stop Miss Parker from back-handing Adeline.”
Logan watched the men’s faces on the jury begin to glare at Candy.
“Why was she so upset with Adeline, you ask?” Jack huffed. “Cable had been turned off again. See, Adeline had begun paying the household bills at the age of ten, and I have copies of her handwriting on the bills she paid when she was in the fourth grade. So when Adeline, at the age of eighteen, used the money she earned waiting tables at a pizza joint to pay the gas bill so they would have heat and hot water, but didn’t have enough to pay the cable, her mother got angry and attempted to strike Adeline.” His furious growl moved the entire courtroom. The judge shook his head, his brow knitting deeply.
“The next logical thing I’ll ask you to consider is what happened to Adeline when Logan wasn’t there to step in on her behalf? I have numerous reports from doctors and teachers from throughout Adeline’s childhood reporting suspected abuse, but when counselors and case workers stepped in, Adeline was terrified to tell them what really happened to her. Something, I’m certain, this court has experienced before. I do, however, have a report from a children’s hospital from the time Adeline was seen when she was four years old. Her mother had jerked her shoulder and elbow out of socket because Adeline attempted to admire a doll in a drugstore. Numerous patrons at the store, including the pharmacist and the pharmacy techs, reported the incident. She couldn’t hide from that one, it seemed.”
The jury began to shake their heads.
“So on her graduation night from Venton Academy,” Jack smiled at the deeply impressed gazes from the members of the jury, “Adeline was concerned about her mother. She felt certain that, though her mother had never attended any function of any kind throughout her childhood or adolescence, that certainly her mother would come to graduation where she was awarded high honors and a degree in pre-med. When her mother didn’t show, Adeline went home to make certain she was all right.
“She walked in on Miss Parker offering her services to two gentlemen who proceeded to attack Adeline. She managed to escape, but when Logan located Adeline and police were sent to the apartment, arresting one man and Miss Parker, and finding copious amounts of illegal drugs, Miss Parker cooked up the story that the drugs were Adeline’s.”
“Today, I’ll be proving to you that not only is Adeline a victim in this entire ordeal, but that we, as citizens of this country, sorely let Mrs. Haydenshire down. We should be ashamed of how we allowed her to exist. And if you really want justice to be served, then you will put not only her mother but her mother’s dealer behind bars. Give peace to Adeline and her adoring husband, because peace certainly wasn’t something that the wealthiest, most powerful land in the world offered her every single night of her terror-filled childhood.”
“Because the only time that precious girl,” he held his hand out to Adeline, “has ever been under the influence of any kind of illegal substance was when she was in utero. In answer to Mr. Snyder’s ridiculous story that Miss Parker used to be closer to her daughter, I do have the documentation proving that when Adeline was born she was immediately treated for addiction to methamphetamines and barbiturates.”
“Judging by the look on my client’s face, it doesn’t appear to me that Miss Parker’s use of illegal drugs while she was pregnant brought them any closer to one another.”
Two women on the jury were moved to tears, and Candy was enraged. Lucas looked physically ill, as what life had been for his daughter began to settle in his psyche.
“Your honor,” Jack nodded to the judge. Still visibly stunned by Jack’s diatribe, the judge drew a deep breath.
“Mr. Snyder, you may call your first witness.”
“I’d like to call my client, Miss Candy Parker, to the stands.”
Candy stood with an impish grin. She let her hips sway wildly as she made her way to the stands. Every male in the room rolled their eyes as they watched her.
She was sworn in, and Logan issued a silent prayer that everything would work the way it was supposed to.
“Miss Parker, please tell the court your age when you conceived and the circumstances surrounding your pregnancy with Adeline.” Snyder gave Candy a sorrowful gaze.
Lucas bristled as he leaned forward to glare at Candy.
She looked flustered as she began, “Well, a lady never tells her age, but I was young. It took me several months to realize I was pregnant. I don’t gain weight, so…” She shrugged with a triumphant curl of her lips, “By the time I went to one of those clinic things cuz I had a stomach ache, they told me I was going to be having Addy in just a few months.” She stated this as if not realizing that you were pregnant would bring her sympathy.
“I wasn’t really sure who her daddy was. You know, I tend to get all of the boys attention, so…” she announced proudly as Logan shook his head, sharing a morose glance with Rainer.
“Candy, could you please tell the court about your and Adeline’s relationship when she was growing up?”
This ought to be good, Logan thought wryly.
“Well, she was kind of a bratty kid. You know, always wanting something, always had her head stuck in a book, complaining all the time, always hanging around when I needed to have people over.”
Adeline’s brow furrowed.
“Then, s
he went off to that Academy she got accepted to and met him.” She threw her garish red fingernails towards Logan. Her face lit as she remembered what she was supposed to be telling the jury. “If you ask me, he’s the one that got her into the stuff she was using. I was always telling her he was a bad influence.”
The accusations she’d thrown his way didn’t bring about the same fury that the ones made towards Adeline did. He met Candy’s glare and waited on Jack to start asking questions.
“Did you discuss Adeline’s drug use with her?”, Snyder drawled.
“Objection, your honor!” Jack leapt up, bared his teeth, and glared at Candy. “That question assumes facts the evidence does not support!”
Judge Sanderson nodded, “Sustained.”
Snyder looked thoroughly disappointed, but he moved on.
“Candy, please tell the jury what you feel happened on the night that you were taken into custody.”
“Objection, narrative.” Jack rolled his eyes, letting everyone know that he felt Candy’s lawyer might need another few years in law school.
“Mr. Snyder, do you have any further allowable questions?” Judge Sanderson’s patience was wearing rapidly thin.
Clenching his jaw and huffing, Snyder tried once more, “Miss Parker could you tell the court why you were arrested?”
Everyone turned to Jack who held his hands up inviting the question.
“I was arrested cuz Addy came home when she wasn’t supposed to, and him and his dad got involved and called the police.” She pointed back to Logan. Adeline bristled with a slight shudder. She hated being called Addy, especially by her mother.
With a sigh, Snyder moved back to his files. He seemed to decide that any other questions he might’ve had Jack was going to shoot down, so he drew an audible breath, “No further questions your honor.”
Nodding, Judge Sanderson slid his gaze to Jack. “Your witness.”