Page 61 of Prey for You

Pale skin. Red and purple patterning. Burst blood vessels. Bruising. And a very thin, straight line of red.

I swallowed hard. “Yes.”

“I’m sure you do, because that is your neck, isn’t it?”

Oh god, this looked terrible.“Yes.”

“So, I will ask you again: Is it true that on the night of his arrest, Samuel Priestley brought a knife with him—two knives in fact—and used one of those against you. That he left a cut onyour neck as recorded in this photograph, and he used the threat of that weapon to stop you from struggling when you werefighting him off?”

A minor cut. It didn’t even bleed properly. I’d had worse in a session atVigorí, the sex club I’d once belonged to. But I couldn’t deny the cut was there.

I closed my eyes, washed in self-loathing. “Yes. It’s true.”

“Thank you. No further questions—”

“But he threw it away before things went any further.”

“Mrs. Priestley, you cannot simply speak in Court!”

“He threw the knife away and he told me he never intended to kill me, that he always meant to convince menotto die—”

Murmuring in the watching crowd was quickly cut off by the judge’s gavel banging.

“Bridget, you cannot simplyspeak!”Derek snapped. “Your Honor, I’m very sorry.”

“Everyone sit down and be quiet!” the judge barked. Then, when the courtroom was silent, she turned to glare at me. “Mrs. Priestley, be quiet when you have not been asked a question, or you will be in contempt of Court.” Then she looked past me to the jury box. “The jury is instructed to disregard the statements made by Mrs. Priestley after the prosecutor indicated he had no further questions. Those statements will be stricken from the record.” She looked furious when she turned back to me. “This is your only warning, Mrs. Priestley. If you attempt to sway the opinions of this jury by offering testimony that is not requested, you will be in contempt and I will put you in jail. Do you understand?”

I swallowed and nodded, then hurriedly added, “Yes.”

The judge looked at Derek, who raised his hands, palms forward.

“No further questions, your honor.”

While Derek gathered his things from the podium at the center, Sam’s lawyer stood up from his chair, buttoning his jacket, and speaking to me the moment Derek walked away.

“Mrs. Priestley, do you believe your husband intended to kill you that night?”

I sighed with relief. “No—”

“Objection, your honor—calls for speculation.”

But Sam’s lawyer was unruffled. “Your Honor, it goes to intent, which informs motive–or the lack thereof. Mrs. Priestley has already testified that there was a consensual arrangement between them prior to these events.”

“I’ll allow it.”

He turned back to me, clearly pleased. “Mrs. Priestley, do you believe your husband intended to kill you that night?”

“No.”

“Did you believe so at the time?”

That made me wary. “Yes. But I was wrong.”

“Why are you confident that you were wrong?”

“Because he was wearing a mask and I didn’t know it was Sam. If I’d known, I would never have believed that’s what he was there for. I thought I was getting a violent man named Cain arrested—someone whowantedto kill. When he used the knife on me, it was because I was frantic and not listening. As soon as I stopped fighting and focused on him, Sam showed me that he was Sam, and threw the knife away.”

“You say you would have known—if you’d known it was Sam behind the mask—that he didn’t want to kill you?”

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