Page 20 of Under His Skin

“The only fucking reason I was caught is because of all this stupid anti-bondservant bullshit!” Anna shouted. “Everybody does it. You think I’m the only judge taking bribes? I know for a fact that Judge Andersen does too, and nobody’s convicting him. But no, suddenly we need to clean up the system, and just because I ruled against that one bondservant recently—” She cut herself off and looked away, rubbing her brow. “Fuck. Fuck. I don’t even know what’s going on. None of the politicians would care. There’s Galanis, trying to influence public policy, but everybody I know hates him. Who would have it out for me like this?”

Tracht sat down again, carefully not saying anything else. Was Anna so oblivious that she didn’t know she’d made enemies? Tracht knew that nobody truly liked him. He didn’t pretend otherwise. How Anna could live in this bubble, he didn’t know. On the other hand, he remembered Vasilis had been stunned when he’d found out Johan’s kidnapping had been related to business dealings.

She didn’t seem to notice how much effort Tracht was putting into maintaining tact. “It’s so fucking unfair! I don’t deserve any of this! I’ve never been anything but nice to people!”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Tracht said coldly. “I don’t care how you treat others, but you dug your own grave by not once considering that maybe your actions had consequences.”

“Fuck off,” Anna spat. “And don’t think I’m letting you abandon me. If you don’t help me, I’m going to make sure you’re ruined.”

“You think that scares me?” Tracht clutched the bed sheets. “Because from where I’m sitting, all I need to do is hope you get convicted and sold into bondservitude. I’ll donate to politicians who vow to uphold that system.” He grinned nastily at her. “Have you seen what happens to deeply unpopular people once they’re sold? I have stories I could tell you—”

She clearly didn’t know, because her eyes widened with real fear. “What. What? Nobody would want to do anything to me. I’m hardly a pretty young thing anymore. And besides, I’m a well-liked member of the community.”

The naivety was so charming that Tracht burst out laughing. “Well-liked! If you believe that, I have a property on Ino to sell you. It’s got a beautiful ocean front view, the sunsets are beautiful, and oh yes, don’t worry about the lack of atmosphere or constant mining operations.”

“Just shut up already! I don’t need you, of all people, to judge me!” Anna grabbed the nearest pillow off the couch and threw it at him, which he caught easily.

All of this reminded Tracht of their childhood days, when he’d had a hard time fitting in and pretending to care about others. She’d yelled at him for being creepy and unsettling back then, too. He probably should have been putting up a better front for Anna, but at least this gave them both an outlet. He didn’t know what Anna did when he wasn’t around. She wasn’t quite as lacking in empathy as he was, but he was certain she wasn’t fully normal either. Nobody who was normal would be willing to keep up a relationship with him.

Tracht suddenly regretted having sent Alex away.

“Are you done?” Tracht asked her, holding the pillow up. “Because this isn’t productive.”

She glared at him for another few seconds before deflating entirely and collapsing into the chair. “Yes, I guess I’m done. But you’re not off the hook. You’re staying here while this is all happening.”

“That was indeed the plan.”

He didn’t like it, but it was smarter to stick close together. He definitely didn’t want to risk her lawyers deciding he’d be a convenient scapegoat. He thought maybe Anna had enough lingering affection for him that she wouldn’t do that, but… no, he couldn’t trust it.

At least this would save him money on a hotel.

“And now I’m going to go find Alex. He’s had an intense day today, and I don’t even want to know what trouble he’s going to get into when he’s distressed and confused.” Tracht tapped on the door to open it, then waited for Anna to leave—she rolled her eyes as she got up—before following her.

Chapter 6

Tracht left Alex sleeping at Anna’s mansion while he and Anna went to court the next morning.

He’d weighed the pros and cons of taking Alex along, and he’d decided that the less Alex was exposed to the whole drama of Cadmus courtrooms, the better. He didn’t like the optics of taking a bondservant to court anyway. With all the press sniffing around, it was better to appear as clean and upstanding as possible.

That didn’t stop him from making his own way to the courthouse, because he didn’t want the added attention of arriving with Anna. Skipping it entirely was out of the question too—he had to know exactly what she said and how the prosecutors operated. His own lawyers met him there and sat with him in the audience.

It didn’t escape his notice that Galanis was in the audience, furiously taking notes as the prosecutors made their opening statements. He was most probably getting ready to create another scathing hit piece on the so-called elite. Tracht noticed the man staring at him once, but he pretended not to notice.

He could not, however, pretend not to notice his mother, Franziska Tracht, sitting in another corner of the chamber. She was accompanied by a woman around Anna’s age, dressed very sharply and with the kind of haircut and outfit that made Tracht suspect she was a lawyer too. Wasn’t that just hilarious—the entire family in a room, all with their own lawyers present.

Franziska scowled when her gaze hit him. He smirked at her and felt a petty satisfaction when her scowl deepened. Then she leaned in to her companion and whispered something to her.

Tracht sent Anna a quick message to warn her about Franziska. Anna had her tablet completely silenced, but she must have received the note because a few minutes later she looked backwards to check. The color drained right out of her face.

Perhaps others would be happy to have their parents show up at a court hearing, but Tracht was fairly certain Franziska’s presence couldn’t be good. He had never known their mother to be supportive, and he doubted she was going to start now.

His tablet blinked halfway through the proceedings with a new message from Alex.

Where are you?

Given the hour, Alex would have woken some time ago. Tracht had to give him some credit for not messaging immediately. He wrote back: Out. Stay put. Entertain yourself. Don’t eat.

When he looked up again, he saw Franziska staring again. The judgmental gaze almost made Tracht wish Alex were with him after all, because Alex would have had no qualms about flipping her off. On the other hand, Franziska actually liked Alex, and the less contact the two had with each other, the better.

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