Page 197 of Captive Omega

“Who was the important person?” I ask.

He shakes his head and heads for the door with his coffee. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Violet?” It’s as much of a guess as it is an inkling from what Garrison told me that night over his puzzle. I think Frost was in love with Violet and she died before Frost could tell her how he felt.

Frost pauses in the doorway. Before he can respond, Vaughn appears, grinning. “Oh, hey man. What’s up?”

Frost salutes Vaughn with his coffee. “Good. Just leaving. I’ll see you at the courthouse.”

I wait until I can no longer hear Frost’s footsteps. “Vaughn?”

“Beautiful?” He grins as he leans against the kitchen island close beside me.

“Is Frost seeing anyone? Like, has he ever seen anyone?”

Vaughn’s smile fades and his expression turns searching. “Why? Did he say something to you?”

“Me?” I pick up my glass of juice. “No.”

Vaughn is still watching me as I take a sip. “So, uh, you don’t… uh, like him. Do you?”

Wow, this is a new experience.

“I like him.” I put my glass down and turn to meet Vaughn’s eye. “But only as a friend. Are we going now? I’d kind of like to get this over with.”

Who’d have thought the day would come that I’d be the one pushing to give a speech?

“We’re ready,” Garrison says from the doorway, and I twist to face him.

Blaine is beside him, and he’s still doing everything possible to avoid meeting my gaze.

I don’t know if I’ve done something wrong, but I can’t pretend it doesn’t hurt that he suddenly wants nothing to do with me.

“And you’re sure it’s safe?” I ask Garrison.

I’ve gotten two out of three of them shot at. I’d rather not make it three out of three.

“It’s safe,” Garrison assures me. “Ready to go?”

I nod and push myself to my feet. “I’m ready.”

The drive to the courthouse goes smoothly. There’s no traffic on the road until we hit the courthouse, where it looks like every reporter in town has camped out front.

We go in through the back, and unlike last time, it’s not just us.

I can barely see anything at all with Garrison’s back inches from my face. Blaine is on my right side, Frost is behind me, and Vaughn is on my left.

We stop for a few seconds at the back door, and then we’re soon on our way again, our shoes squeaking slightly across marble floors, polished to a high sheen. I have no idea why we stopped or if someone was there to meet us, but no one looks worried, so I shake off my unease after what happened before and keep walking.

The judge is speaking in a low, monotonous voice when we enter the courtroom. If anyone spots me in the middle of the Lucas Security huddle, they have better eyes than I would. I feel well and truly pinned.

The judge pauses as the door clicks shut behind us and then resumes speaking.

I should be listening. My heart is pounding and all I can think is, this is it. This is when I speak. Can I do this in front of a jampacked courtroom?

The judge falls silent and a new male voice takes over. This one is confident, assured and now that I’m paying attention, he’s announcing that a victim of the Asylum free heat clinic abuses is going to give an impact statement to mark the close of the trial.

It takes me a second to realize he means me.

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