Page 84 of Trial of Deceit

Jediah looked back to the window, focusing on his mother’s grave.His hands balled at his sides, his nails digging into his palms.The sting was nothing compared to the one building in his eyes.Jediah blinked and lowered his head.His feet and the floor blurred, so he closed his eyes.Stubborn tears broke his resistance as he forced out his next words: “Because I became a man and made you proud, got scared and called her, then she showed up at the club with Reine…”

Chapter twenty-two

Enteringthebedroom,Jediahwent directly to the bathroom.Light was streaming from beneath the door and shuffling could be heard.He gently pushed the door open to reveal Ashari.

She had her back turned to the mirror, looking over her shoulder at her tattered skin.Her eyes widened as they met his in the mirror.She quickly yanked her robe up.Jediah’s chest tightened as he stepped into the room.He stopped behind Ashari, gulping hard as she turned to look at him through tear-filled eyes.He reached out to try wiping them away, but she stepped out of his reach.Ashari went to the sink and frantically washed her hands.

Jediah sighed.“Ash…” he said, and she ignored him.“I’m sorry.I didn’t mean to—”

She spun around, gritting her teeth at a flash of pain.“You used my worst fear over my head!The one thing I trusted you most with!Youmeantit, Jediah!”

He gulped.Ashari’s scorching gaze almost had him succumbing to her anger, willing to fall to his knees before her and beg for her forgiveness.

But he didn’t.

He couldn’t.

Their roles weren’t meant to be like this.

Ashari kept her distance as she walked past him, returning to the bedroom.She lay on the bed with her back turned toward him.A heavy sigh passed Jediah’s lips as he went to the bedroom, then exited the room.He stood outside the closed door for a while, his head pressed against its wooden frame while he kept his eyes shut.While his thoughts ran wild, he listened for movement.

None came.

Sighing again, he straightened and made his way downstairs.He detoured to another wing in the house, then across the long backyard until he was at the fancy, multipurpose warehouse that hosted the ball.All patrons were gone; the only movement came from his workers cleaning up.While walking toward the backrooms, Jediah nodded at anyone he made eye contact with.He entered his office, pressed his hands against a wall scanner, then waited as the secret door to a passageway opened.Cold air brushed his arm as he reached out to curl his fingers around the railing.Jediah held on to it as he descended the steep stairs into the dungeon while the door closed behind him.

The room he was heading toward wasn’t far along the hallway — intentionally done, so he didn’t have to re-live how he’d paced the entire length of the hallway while Ashari was being punished.The urge to go in and retract his orders had been crippling, but he’d remained firm.After all that had happened, he couldn’t be seen as too soft toward Ashari.

Not around his men.

Not in this life.

Jediah’s face blanked as he entered a room.The walls were painted a dull brown.It only had a chair and television in the middle of the room.Speakers were in the four corners of the walls.A man was tied to a chair with his head strapped to the headrest.He couldn’t look away from the television as it replayed a scene from a movie — kids running around a playground, laughing and smiling with each other.Their laughter would stop suddenly when a loud gunshot rang out from the speakers.It startled the man, making him pull at his restraints while a scream ripped from his throat.

Walking further into the room, Jediah’s jaw clenched.He stopped before Dimitri, his lips twisting into a sneer as he looked down at his right hand.Confidant.Bodyguard.Longtime friendship.

Beads of sweat rolled down the sides of Dimitri’s face, some lining his eyebrows and the tip of his nose.His breathing was labored as he managed to lift his head by a barely noticeable margin, so he could stare at Jediah through wide, bloodshot eyes.

“You hit her,” Jediah said slowly.“Scarred her.Mi tell yu fi dunk her, and yu go to one extreme not even me woulda go.Mi know yu don’ approve of Ash ’cause a who she be, but that wasn’t your call to make, Dimitri.”

“She deserved it,” Dimitri panted.His body jerked as a gunshot echoed in the room, and the children’s laughter cut short.A second later, his eyes snapped shut as the clip replayed and the laughter resumed.A tear rolled down his cheek.“Turn it off.”

“No.Youdeserve it.”

Dimitri’s eyes opened to meet his.“Please, Jed,” he begged, trembling while he continued to release heavy, quick breaths.“I n-need my pills.”

Jediah dipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out a bottle.“These pills?”

Dimitri nodded as Jediah stepped closer to him.Jediah opened the bottle and removed a pill.Jediah held it before Dimitri’s face as he opened his mouth, then Jediah dropped it onto the ground.

“Jed,” Dimitri gritted out.“Please.My chest is t-tight.”

Jediah turned the bottle to the side and every pill toppled out onto the floor.Holding Dimitri’s shell-shocked stare, Jediah crushed the pills beneath the heel of his shoe.“If Ash don’ heal, you a go pay.Mi don’ care how much years of loyalty yu have to me and if you a mi brother.Mi never tell yu fi hurt her like this!And, she’s pregnant!”

Dimitri’s hyperventilating stopped.His eyes widened.“W-what?”

“Yeah.If yu never leff the room fi go clean up, yu woulda know!Yu lucky nothing don’ do mi baby, or else that woulda be two innocent pickney life pon yu hand.”

Dimitri’s jaw tightened.He tried hanging his head low, but it wasn’t possible.He closed his eyes again.

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