Page 81 of Tempted

Victor took her hand in his. “Jasmine, that bastard deserved to die. He was going to hurt your child. It was self-defense.”

She shrugged. “Phillip denied hurting Star, and I’d stabbed him more than once.”

Victor raked his fingers through his hair trying to make sense of this madness. “But why didn’t your attorney introduce any of the abuse into evidence? That would have helped your case immensely.”

“I don’t know if it would have made a difference. Like I said before, Phillip’s Uncle was a big deal with the local police force. And I was told by my lawyer that the DA had officers lined up to testify that I made nonemergency calls to 911 on a regular basis. In a way it was true. I would call the police when I was scared for my life, particularly those times when Phillip would wrap his fingers around my neck and refuse to let go until either I passed out or was so lightheaded I could barely think. After a while he figured out ways to hurt me without leaving bruises, so when I called the police, he’d claim we’d just had a simple verbal dispute and nine times out of ten, they’d believe him. I was so terrified; I’d recanted by the time they showed up anyway. One of the cops even threatened to arrest me for wasting his time. There was only once I remember when an officer followed up. I found out a little later she was let go. Phillip bragged about it one night when I threatened to call the cops. Maybe his uncle had something to do with it, I don’t know. But after that, I stopped calling. It was pointless.”

Victor frowned unable to believe what he was hearing. None of this made sense. Any lawyer worth his salt would have used her medical records at the very least as a viable defense. “What I don’t understand is why your lawyer didn’t bother provide you with a proper defense.”

Jasmine sighed. “I can’t begin to understand the inner workings of how the law works. I believed if I did the right things, studied and worked hard, I’d be okay. The police were supposed the serve and protect, but they let me down and I ended up having to take matters in my own hands. I doubt it matters anyway. Like I said, I wanted Phillip dead, and I couldn’t afford one of those big shots lawyers. I had to take who was assigned to me. My situation looked bleak and my lawyer convinced me if we fight this rap in court, I could face more time in prison.”

“That’s outrageous!” Victor was getting angrier by the minute. Not that he was knocking public defenders, because a lot of them were overworked and overpaid. However, there were those who bided their time while they waited to get into large firms where they could make the big bucks. In the meantime they did the bare minimum of what was required of them, often to the detriment of their clients. He’d seen some incompetence and lazy work over the years, but this was gross negligence. If Jasmine’s lawyer was aware of the facts at the time, he had a duty to present the evidence as an officer of the court. From what he’d seen of this botched case, this joker should be disbarred or at the very least face disciplinary actions for this indifference to a client’s right to a face trial.

“I had to do what I thought was best at the time.”

He squeezed her hand in reassurance. “I’m not talking about you, Jasmine. I fully understand the position you were in. I’m referring to that piece of shit lawyer you had. If he’s still practicing in this state, I can find out. For some reason his name sounds very familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it for a moment.”

Her tongue peaked out to run along her lips. “Do you really think you could overturn my conviction, Victor?”

Victor’s body tightened with awareness when he spied that movement. Hot damn. She still had the power to make him feel like a boy in the middle of his first childhood crush. He quickly banished his lustful thoughts and focused on the conversation at hand. “Yes. Not only do I think you have a strong case, I think if you play your cards right, you may be entitled to a huge settlement. I’d just need to get some information on this lawyer of yours.”

Jasmine was silent for a moment, seeming deep in thought before she finally spoke again. “I’m not looking for a settlement, but if my name is cleared, my record would go away and it would be so much easier to get Star back.”

Victor closed his eyes briefly as guilt washed over him. She would have her daughter back by now if he hadn’t kicked her out so callously, yet another black mark against him. “I’m so sorry for that. I promise, I’ll do everything in my power to work on your case to get Star back. As soon as we leave, I’ll put a call in to the office and get someone working your case right away.”

“Thank you, Victor.”

“This is the least I can do for you. You’ve done so much good for my family and most of this mess is my own damn fault. I should have listened to you. I have no right to ask for your forgiveness nor do I believe I deserve it, but—”

“Victor don’t. We’ve both made mistakes. If you can pull this miracle off then that would more than make up for it.” He noticed how she didn’t immediately pull her hand from his and he liked the feel of her skin against his, missed it so much.

Jasmine must have noticed it to because she slid her hand away from his, she lowered her lids, disguising her thoughts.

Victor stood up then and returned to his seat. “I would of course need your cooperation in this matter.”

She raised her head to meet his gaze. “Of course. What would you need me to do?”

“It would require us meeting from time to time to go over this case. If you don’t feel comfortable with me, then you can deal with Danny O’Shea. He’s a junior associate helping me with this case and he’s done a lot of leg work. I have enough faith in his abilities that he’ll do just as good a job as I would.”

“Would…would that entail me telling the entire story over again?”

“We have a file on you, so he already knows quite a bit of your history. Just not some of the blanks you’ve managed to fill in for me today. I’ll need to tell him though in order for him to do his job properly. But it won’t go beyond that. It’s our jobs to maintain the confidentiality of our clients.”

“I don’t mind him working alongside you, but I don’t think I can drudge up the past again. It still hurts.”

“So…you wouldn’t object to us meeting from time to time?” he asked cautiously, not wanting to read more into this than there actually was. Of course Jasmine had to look out for her best interests. She needed to get her daughter back which he knew was a priority to her.

“No, if that’s what it takes, but does this mean there’ll be another trial? I didn’t get to that point before I accepted the plea bargain.”

“There’s a possibility, but with all this evidence, and after we follow up with this police department that railroaded you, it may not come to that. There never should have been a trial in the first place. It’s the DA’s discretion to determine whether charges are filed and if he wasn’t presented with all the evidence, you may not have been prosecuted. But in the event of it going to trial again, are you up for it or would you rather wait until the baby arrives. I don’t want to put any undue stress on you.”

She shook her head vehemently. “No. The sooner this thing clears up, the faster I get my child back. Umm, how often would we need to meet?”

“We can communicate by phone mostly but I’d say at least once a week. We can meet for lunch and go over the case. Usually a process like this can take months, sometimes years, but I’m going to call in a lot of favors and hopefully we can get this fast tracked. My goal is to have this taken care of before you deliver our son—I mean, the baby.”

Her eyes widened briefly and her mouth moved as if she wanted to say something, but no words came out.

“Forget that last part. Um, we’ll focus on your case.”

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