Page 16 of Hunter's Trial

“Any questions before we do this?” I wink for good measure. Anya places a hand on her rounded belly and inhales slowly to steady herself. I understand the nerves. I don’t think that I would be even half as composed as she is if I were forced to go into a room with my ex-husband again.

As we turn to head into the closed viewing courtroom, I can’t help but compare my experience with Billy to Anya’s with Nikolai. It’s like she and I have met wholly different versions of the man in question. As abrupt as Nikolai has been, the way that he touched me told me a lot. He held me so much more delicately than he needed to. Despite the force, there had been no malice behind his actions. It was… new for me.

Henry is prepped. I told him exactly what the prosecutor was going to say, and he has his speech ready for the judge. I walk into the room with my head held high as they file into place behind me. Daniel is already waiting where Henry goes to join him - though his eyes seem to be locked on the back of Nikolai’s head.

I can’t even begin to understand the way that the tension melts from my shoulders as I stand next to Nikolai behind our small table. I place my belongings respectfully on the floor and remain standing while the judge takes his place at the head of the room.

“Please be seated,” the judge instructs and everybody in the room sits down. The older man doesn’t even bother looking up from the paperwork that he’s so focused on, and I take that to be a good sign. Quickly, I glance over to the large man seated beside me. He doesn’t seem any worse off than he was two days ago at least. His bruises seem to be starting to yellow and the swelling is somewhat going down which I take to be a good sign. He glances at me out of the corner of his eye and winks at me.

It shouldn’t make me damned giddy.

How ridiculous.

It’s just a bodily response to him. At least that’s what I’m going to tell myself. It’s nothing more than that. I can’t help that I find him to be so damned attractive.

Focus Kate.

“Volkovich vs. Volkovich will now be heard.”

The case moves by in a blur. It’s infuriating that every single time that I move I am constantly more and more aware of his body heat and how close his thigh is to mine. It’s irrational to want to feel his hand sliding up my thigh. Not to mention wholly unprofessional and impossible - but I want it all the same.

Clearly, I need to get laid. My dreams of him are to blame for this. They have to be. There’s no other reason for me to be this damned feral over a man that I’ve only met with a couple of times. It doesn’t make sense.

Daniel and Helena are up first to give their testimony. Everything goes exactly as it’s supposed to. Helena, as Nikolai’s first fiancée, is incredibly convincing in her story. Daniel is the one on record for having called the police at the hotel that day. He explains that he was just a concerned citizen attempting to do his duty in a situation that he had grossly misunderstood. Everything is falling in line. Even I can hardly believe how well everything is going, all things considered. Then Henry is up - and he does perfectly. He says everything that he’s supposed to. He is convincing and even manages to take a good, long, lingering look at his biological father for the first time since the abduction. The little actor even manages to smile and wave at his ‘daddy’. Henry, being the absolute angel that he truly is, finishes up his testimony by asking the judge directly when he was going to be able to go and get ice cream and hamburgers with his father again.

Done and dusted.

This would have all been impossible if it weren’t for such stellar liars. I know that I took an oath to uphold the law to the best of my ability but every single person here in this room knows that there isn’t any real money in doing that. It’s why Nikolai is going to walk out of here a free man.

He’s the only person left to be called up to testify. However, the judge doesn’t call his name. Instead, he stands and motions for the jury to be ushered into the meeting room. Strange, to be sure, but not wholly unheard of.

When the judge leaves the room to confirm and deliberate with the jury before sentencing… Nikolai’s fingers brush against the outside of my thigh. Just the slight sensation sends ripples of pleasure through every part of me. It’s like my whole focus pinpoints on that touch and stays there. I stay frozen in place, despite how badly I want to lean into the touch. I want more. I want him to properly thank me for all the hard work that I did manipulating this situation into the outcome that he wants the most.

Pity that it can’t happen.

The judge comes back and takes his seat.

“There’s just one more testimony that the jury and I would like to hear.” He says as he stacks his papers up neatly and places a paperclip on the corner. The jury all files in one by one to retake their seats. No doubt they are attempting to throw a curveball. “Anya Volkovich, would you please come to the stand?”

CHAPTER TEN

NIKOLAI

“It’s Anya Ivankov now, if you please, your Honor.” Anya says confidently as she rises to stand.

My eyes drop to the swell of her stomach. Alek squeezes her hand affectionately before she sidles out of the bench she was sitting on. She holds her head up high as she heads for the stand and she doesn’t even so much as glance at me. I knew this moment was going to come, but I didn’t think that I would feel like this. I know that she and Alek aren’t officially married yet, but the sparkling ring on her finger tells me that it’s going to be coming as soon as all of this is over. Good for her. I couldn’t be what she needed. Some part of me hopes that she will find happiness. Though, guilt isn’t an emotion that I’m familiar with.

I don’t like to look back on the past. There’s nothing good waiting for me there.

If my father were still alive, he would have made sure to tell me the same thing. He was not a man who had any sort of tolerance or understanding of weakness in a man. Emotions like remorse, guilt, love weren’t to be tolerated. I swear, he had a sense for sniffing out those ‘bitch emotions’, as he liked to call them, and he sure as fuck had no issues beating them out of me when he thought that I was being weak.

I have absolutely no idea how Kate convinced Anya to go along with all of this. Every one of those people, including young Henry, have lied through their teeth for me. I just don’t understand why, after all the pain I caused all of them. She had to have done something, struck some sort of deal. I owe more to the stunning woman beside me than I’ve ever owed anyone in my life. It makes my skin itch. One way or another, I’m going to have to make this up to her. There’s not going to be any getting around it. Kate might be the only person that I’ve encountered to have the upper hand on me – and I don’t know how I feel about it.

Anya takes her seat and begins her testimony.

She chooses to describe our marriage by actually talking about her experience with Alek. The way things ended between us was nothing short of brutal. I know that. I lost what little control I had when I realized what was going on between them in that basement and I held on entirely too tight. I practically forced her into Alek’s arms. I was so busy with the need to possess her that I didn’t her as a person but rather as an object that needed to stay in my house. I wanted her to obey me. I wanted to own her. For a while it worked… it was something that both of us needed after how our relationship had begun, while she was in captivity. It was never designed to last. Maybe I just don’t know a healthy relationship if it hits me in the face. It’s not like I’ve ever had anything to model it after.

If I’m being truly honest with myself, something that I rarely do, it’s for the best that Alek absorbed my Bratva. It was going to swallow me whole. I was too caught up in the power of it… the things that I could do that made me feel invincible. Clearly, that’s not quite true.

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