Page 20 of The Devil's Price

When she's seated, I approach her, not really sure what to expect. We tried to prep her for testimony but she threw up several times out of nerves, sort of the way I'm feeling right now too. Exhaustion and stress is my excuse, but she still looks green too.

"Ms. Duncan, thank you for taking time to come in today. We appreciate your sacrifice." I smile at her and she offers a stiff nod, but her eyes keep flicking over to look at Mick.

The way she sits is even awkward, like her back is too straight, a metal rod jammed in her shirt or something. And now she won’t make eye contact. I don’t know what's going on except fear. I can feel it ooze off her in buckets.

"Ms. Duncan, can you please tell me what you saw on the night of April twentieth of this year?" I figure I'll cut to the chase and skip the trivial questions. The jurors just need to hear what she has to say before she snaps and can't talk. I once heard of a witness going catatonic on the stand and having to be dragged out in a wheelchair.

"Well," she says, wringing her hands, "that night, I…" Her eyes flick up again, but there's no one home there. Her expression is dark, and her eyes are shifty. "I saw…" She stumbles for words and tears well up in her eyes.

"It's okay. Go on," I coach, careful not to feed her any of the sworn testimony she promised to communicate today. I can't. It'd be a breach of ethics.

"I can't do this," she breathes out before bursting into tears. Her cheeks stream with salty moisture, her shoulders racked with sobs as she covers her face. "They made me say it. They had a gun and they told me if I didn't say it, they'd kill me." Sarah is reduced to a blubbering mess.

I look up at Judge Callahan, who is rubbing his forehead, and then I look at Mick and Mr. Quinn, who both look shocked to see what's happening. It's obvious I'm not getting my sworn testimony out of her anymore, but I don't understand what this is about someone and a gun and forcing her to say things.

"Ms. Duncan, can you tell me who had a gun and what they made you say?" I'm prying a little, though I shouldn't be. It feels like badgering a witness and I feel horribly guilty for pushing her.

"Some man in a dark suit with dark glasses." She sucks in a breath and looks around the courtroom, but her eyes land on mine. "He made me say that I saw that man killing the other one. I didn't see it. I heard a gunshot, but I didn't see anything. Please, don't let them kill my family." Sarah stands up, seeming desperate, and the courtroom bursts into loud chatter and the sound of movement.

Callahan bangs on his gavel repeatedly, but no one hushes down. I'm as confused and overwhelmed as anyone else, and as I turn to look at the crowd gathered to watch what's going on, I see Liam walking out the door. What the hell just happened?

14

FINN

Siobhan isn't home when I arrive with flowers so I wait by her door, hoping to make up for being so asinine the other day. Bringing up the case when she was drunk after having been shot at, made me feel subhuman in ways other things in my life that I do regularly never have. I've used my pocket knife to gut a man but never felt so cold.

She walks toward her door from the elevators with her key in hand, staring at me. It's a cold expression. I can't read her. She's had a hard day in court again. I know because I heard the testimony too. Her eyes tell the whole story I already know. Her star witness recanted and now she's going on nothing.

"Finn," she says coolly, and I step in between her and the door with the flowers extended.

"I'm sorry," I tell her, acutely aware that at some point this thing between us has gone from both of us working each other to gain an edge to our having some sort of spark. I can't imagine Ronan being happy with my dating the prosecutor, but I won’t deny having feelings for her.

Siobhan stares at me as she takes the flowers and I step aside to let her open the door. When she doesn't shut it in my face, I know she's inviting me in. I follow her, shutting the door behind myself, and watch as she sets everything down on the table and turns to me.

"What do you want?" Her arms cross under her tits and push them upward, and I don't waste a single second before showing her what I want.

My hands are on her face, cupping her cheeks as my mouth closes in on hers, taking her by surprise. She grunts and struggles for a second, pushing me away, but she eventually relaxes into the kiss and lets me pull her into my arms.

"I mean it. I am a total asshole. I shouldn't have pressed you for shit with the case. I'm sorry. I want to start over, Sib." Using her shortened name softens her. I feel her relax in my arms and she pouts.

"Finn, I don't think this is a good idea. Someone is going to find out. I could lose everything." Her head is shaking, but I'm ignoring that.

"Then I'll take care of you. Don't push me away, Sib. I want you, more than I want anything else. Even if you throw Mick in the fecking slammer, I want you." The epiphany came the day I learned she'd been shot at, and I squandered my chance to tell her that day. Today, I’m not going to waste my chance.

"You're a criminal, a manipulator, Finn. I can't?—"

"Stop it," I chide gently. "You know I'm more than that. If I were just a criminal out to push you to do my bidding, why would I show up after you were shot to comfort you?"

"Did you, though? Or did you come for information?"

Her words sting because she's partly right, but I did come for her. I hated that she'd been through that. I hate the men who did that to her. And I will hunt them down and find out who it was.

"I can't lie. I want Mick free, but I know we'll be able to do that together." I reach up and brush some hair off her face with my pinky and she turns away. "You want the truth, right?"

Siobhan's eyes snap back to mine. "Of course. I'm not working with any agenda except to find the truth."

"Then trust me when I say I'm falling head over heels for you, and I am here for you." I have no clue how I’m going to reconcile this with my chief, but the only thing I can think about right now is making sure this woman understands I've had a change of heart.

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