Page 111 of With Wine Comes War

He looked sideways at me and asked, “Where exactly do I come in?”

“If he sues me, which I believe he will, there will only be one way to prove it’s not defamation. He would need to fight me. I want to do it here. I want there to be lots of media, a fucking circus. I want to humiliate the guy beyond repair and the deal will be that he spends an extra five years in jail with no chance of early release.”

“Do you think a judge would really go for that?”

I hope so,I thought, or this is all for nothing.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to try.” They’d be nuts to say yes to it, but I'm going to be as compelling as I can.

“You’re a crazy girl, but you have my support. What does Roman think about this?” I put my hands on my head and took a deep breath.

“Roman doesn’t know. No one knows. Not my friends, family or my attorneys.”

He sat back again and let out a deep breath. “You’re going to scare the hell out of a lot of people. Are you ready for that?” That’s the only real fear I have.

“I’m worried, I have to admit, but I’m not just doing this for me. I don’t ever want to feel like a victim again and I want other women to know that they don’t ever have to be victims either.”

“Can I ask you something?” He sounded cautious.

“Sure, absolutely.”

“When this is all over, would you consider teaching a self-defense class and talking to victims of domestic violence?”

I hadn’t thought about it, but I would like to do that.

“Bruce, I will circle back to that with you after this court crap is over. I just want to get my life back. This has been so consuming, and I don’t think I could really help anyone right now.” I hope I can be more helpful when this is over.

“Of course. Yes, let’s revisit this after the hearing and whatever comes after. I’ve got your back no matter what, and the rest of the team here does too.”

I hugged Bruce and then headed over to see Dr. King.

***

ROMAN

I arrived at the office to find Harrison and Amelia being all lovey-dovey at her desk. It was such a weird thing to witness, but she didn’t like anyone seeing them like that, so she switched to professional mode as soon as she saw me.

“Good morning Mr. King.”

Just stop calling me that. Is that too much to ask?

“Seriously? Do you call him Mr. King at the office too?” I pointed at my brother.

She smiled and got ready to say something when Harrison interrupted.

“Do you really want to know what she calls me?” She smacked his arm, and I shook my head and walked into my office.

Amelia followed me in laughing. “Sorry about that. Here’s your schedule for the day.”

“Thanks. Are you two going to be like this every day?”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“Kind of annoying, isn’t it?” she said as she smirked. I nodded. “Yeah, that’s how we feel around you and Alex.” She winked at me.

“Please stop calling me Mr. King. I feel like an old man when you do that.”

“Fine. How’s Alex? Is she coming into the office today?” Amelia asked standing one foot in and one foot out of the space.

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