Page 30 of Defend Me

“In his study.”

“It’s only a matter of time before the press descend on the house,” Alistair warns.

“I know,” I snap. I love my brothers, but they aren’t being helpful right now.

“Hey,” Caden says quietly, and I think for a moment he’s going to comfort me, but no, of course he’s talking to Noah. When I look at Noah, he’s pale and his fingers are trembling. “It’s okay. Come on. Let’s go to the kitchen. Get you some water. Sit down for a minute.”

Noah nods, seemingly incapable of speech. Honestly, he looks like he might throw up. He follows Caden and Isla down the hall toward the kitchen.

I take out my phone and text Grayson.

How’s it going over there?

He writes back immediately.The usual. It’s a tiny house. They won’t be here more than a couple hours. Found nothing of interest so far except Noah’s gun. Which he keeps in a lockbox. But we knew he had the gun, so that’s no real surprise.

I quickly tell Grayson about the trial date. He reacts much the same as I did, with some very choice words to describe the judge.

I need to get Noah out of Magnolia Bay,I type.Can you bring over some of his clothes?

On it. Yeah, it’s a shit show here. Where do you plan to stash him?

That’s the question. I can’t just shove Noah in a hotel room. I need to keep a close eye on him. Plus, I’ve got more questions for him. There’s something he’s definitely not telling me about that morning.

I’ll take him to my apartment.

Smart move, Grayson replies. My building has doormen twenty-four seven. It will be much easier to keep Noah away from the prying eyes of the press there. But the thought of Noah in my personal space feels…weird. Extremely weird.

I tell Grayson to text me when he’s on his way with theclothes, then I head upstairs to see my father. I knock on the door to his study and hear his low voice say, “Enter.”

I open the door. Dad is standing with his back to me, hands clasped behind him, gazing out the window toward the lodge.

“Hi Dad,” I say, closing the door behind me. “The trial date has been set.”

“I heard.” He turns and there’s a cold fury in his eyes. “December? That’s not nearly enough time for you to prepare. How could you let this happen, Siobhan?”

When he looks at me like that, I feel a sense of smallness that no stilettos could ever compensate for. “Itisenough time,” I insist. “This judge is completely biased against the defense. He’s heading into an election year. It’s clear he and this prosecutor are working against us.”

Dad takes a step forward and snatches his phone off the desk. “I’ll give him a call. Remind him who really runs this town.”

“Dad, don’t,” I say. “The judge could take me off the case if you try to interfere.”

My father’s eyes flash. “I’d like to see him try.”

“You do this, and everything gets worse,” I plead.

Dad hesitates.

“I’m taking Noah to stay at my apartment in the city until the judge will hear my pretrial motions. Obviously, I’m going to request this case be moved out of Magnolia Bay and into a different county. But it’s not looking good.”

“If you can’t handle this?—”

“I can,” I say, cutting him off. I never cut my father off and I see fury start to cloud over his face. But he needs tolistento me. “I took care of that ridiculous rumor about Noah and Daisy this morning. I need to do this, Dad. You need to let me fight. For Mom.”

My eyes burn but I blink the burgeoning tears away. I will not show weakness in front of my father.

Dad turns away. I wonder what memories are filling his mindright now. Whenever Mom is brought up, he hides his face. Like he doesn’t want to be seen.

“Very well,” he says.

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