Page 47 of Duress
“Okay, good. I’ll get you a phone and make sure no one comes to take your statement until your lawyer gets here.”
I watch Serena leave the room, trying and failing to keep the hope that this means Dane forgives me for my part in keeping the truth from him from bubbling up. I don’t dare to hope that we still have a future together. Not after everything I’ve done.
Serena returns a few minutes later with a phone I can use. I call my father and wait for him to pick up. My stomach is in knots with anxiety. Logically I know he won’t leave me high and dry, and me being arrested will be almost as bad for him as it will be for me, but I still can’t push away the thought that maybe he would’ve rather had Bryce still here instead of me. When his rich baritone voice comes through the line, it opens the flood gates, and I am once again a young girl who needs her daddy.
“Daddy, it’s me. I need your help.”
Serena sitswith me for the next hour while we wait for my lawyer arrive. When I explained to my dad I was at the police station waiting to be questioned about Bryce’s death, the silence that met me was so complete I thought he had hung up on me. After a long moment, when he finally spoke, I was surprised by the concern that laced hiswords. All he said was, “Don’t say a word. I’ll have Jessica there in an hour.” His tone was that of the concerned, loving father I hadn’t seen in nearly twenty years. The fact that he was calling Jessica meant he understood exactly how seriously he was taking my situation.
She was a junior associate at my dad’s law firm before he became a judge, and was one of his star employees. When he left, she rocketed to the top of the firm, becoming the youngest partner there. She was on track to become a senior partner there and take on a more managerial role, until ten years ago when her sister was arrested for the murder of her husband, a prominent local politician on track to run for congress. Jessica dropped everything to handle her defense and managed to prove her sister had been acting in self-defense.
The trial was a circus, and the police botched the investigation, causing the tide of public opinion to turn against her sister, but Jessica managed to build a strong case in spite of that. Her experience defending her sister highlighted a need for more strong, competent female attorneys defending other women from a system rigged to diminish their fears and support their abusers. Jessica moved and switched to focus solely on criminal defense, and is now the lead defense attorney at the bigger firm in Richmond.
As far as I know, she only takes high profile cases after thoroughly vetting her clients, and her rates are astronomical, but she is very good at her job. She uses the salary from those cases to enable her to take on pro bono cases for women without the financial means to hire her. I don’tknow if he is only doing this so that this doesn’t get out of hand and ruin his reputation, or if he truly cares about me, but I will gladly take the lifeline he is throwing me. I can worry about fixing our relationship after Jessica makes sure I’m not arrested for Bryce’s murder.
CHAPTER 43
DANE
I’m lying in bed, fisting the scratchy, stiff hospital blanket as I attempt to sit up. The nurse won’t let me out of the bed unassisted yet, stating I’m a “fall risk” after losing nearly two liters of blood from where Bryce stabbed me. She’s probably not wrong, but I’m tired of having a tube up my dick so I can pee. I’d like to prove I can get up so they will let me go to the bathroom. Pain lances through me as my abdominal muscles flex and strain, putting pressure on the stitches snaking up my side. A cold sweat breaks out on my forehead, and halfway to sitting up, I give up and flop back against the pillow.
“Fuck!”
I feel so fucking helpless lying in this bed. When Serena left, she promised to go to the station to check on Everly before stopping by Mom’s house to pick her up and bring her here. I wasn’t entirely lucid thanks to the painkillers and brain fog from the anesthesia, but I knew I had to be the one to tell my mother that her son is dead.
I’ve been debating for hours now how to break the news to her. Never mind the fact that he’s a piece of shit wife beater. Oh, and that he killed her husband. If losing my dad in an accident put her in such a depression she couldn’t work, what will this news do to her? I want to be angry at Everly for keeping Bryce’s secret. Scratch that. I am angry. She helped him get away with murder. But when I think about telling my mom the truth, my stomach sours thinking about how devastated she will be. Bryce is dead now. He’ll never be punished for what he did. Is it worth shattering my mom’s entire worldview just so the world will know what an evil shit he is?
The answer to my moral quandary comes when the door to my room opens and Mom rushes in with red eyes and her face puffy from crying. Serena stands behind her, an apologetic look on her face as she watches Mom rush across the room to wrap me up in her embrace.
“Oh god, baby. Are you okay? Serena said you were stabbed!” Mom sits on the side of the bed and cups my face in her hands, scanning me like she’s looking for evidence that I’m truly okay and not actually dying. I flinch when her leg bumps against my stitches, causing her face to crumple in slow motion when she sees I’m in pain. “Oh baby, I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?” She nearly smothers me, cradling my face against her shoulder.
I pat her arm until she lets up and lets me pull away from her. Taking her hands in mine, I try to reassure her before giving her the worst news. “I’m okay, Mom. I promise.” I glance in Serena’s direction, hoping she will stick around. I’m afraid Mom will need more support than I canphysically give her once she learns her other son is dead. She gives me a nod—a silent communication, letting me know she’s here to stay.
“The doctor said I should be okay to go home tomorrow. None of my major organs were injured. I’ll just have to take it easy while I heal. I lost a lot of blood.” Mom’s face pales at my words, so I give her hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’m okay.” I speak the words slowly, giving them a chance to sink in. When the worry in her face relaxes a fraction, I suck in a deep breath before preparing to telling her the rest.
“How did this happen, Dane? Did you get stabbed on the job? Did they get the person who did it?” She glances back at Serena, firing off more questions in her direction. “Were you there? Did you see it?”
“Mom, look at me.” Squeezing her hand again, I wait for her to turn her attention back to me. My throat feels thick with emotion as I try to get the next words out. Slowly her eyes drift back to meet mine. “Bryce is the one who stabbed me. He was hurting Everly, and I stopped him. We fought; he stabbed me; he went after Everly… I’m not sure what happened, but he’s dead, Mom. Bryce is dead.” I don’t want to say too much about what happened. Not while Everly is being questioned. I’m not sure what she will say, if anything, but I don’t want our stories to conflict. Not until I get a chance to talk to her myself.
The progression of emotions that cross over my mother’s face as I tell her what happened nearly rips my heart out. The way her mouth drops open in shock as the color drains from her face tells me any further bad news is goingto be more than she can handle. She raises one trembling hand, covering her mouth as a horrified sob escapes her throat.
“B-Bryce…” Trailing off, her eyes fill with more tears as she processes everything I just told her. “No…no… That can’t be right. Not my Bryce…” She tries to move away, but I tighten the grip I have on her hand.
“Mom, listen to me. He was abusing Everly. She called me for help. When I got there, he was choking her. I had to stop him before he killed her.”
Serena comes up behind my mom, placing a supportive hand on her shoulder. The gut-wrenching wail that leaves my mother comes from a place only a parent who has experienced the death of a child knows. I watch as Serena gently holds my mom, as the weight of grief crushes her spirit completely. Mom buries her face in her hands, muttering denials between hiccupping sobs, refusing to believe what I’ve told her. I can’t even blame her. Who would want to believe one of their children is capable of trying to kill the other?
I decide then that the truth about the worst of Bryce’s crimes will die with him, because my mother doesn’t deserve to know any pain greater than this.
CHAPTER 44
EVERLY
When I finally walk out of the police station, it’s dark outside. Jessica arrived forty minutes after I got off the phone with Dad, resting bitch face and power suit in place. We had a brief chat before the investigating officers came in to do their questioning. I will forever be grateful for her presence. Between the nerves, concussion, fatigue, and oppressive guilt weighing on me, I don’t think I would have gotten through the interrogation without winding up in jail. She interjected when needed and kept me from saying anything that would make the officers inclined to think what happened was more than a case of self-defense gone tragically wrong.
There is a chill in the brisk fall air as the wind blows, but I don’t mind it as much now that I’m outside. The fresh air helps revive me some after being trapped in the interrogation room, with the stagnant air and stale smell of burnt coffee in the air, for hours on end.
“Do you have somewhere to stay?Your dad told me to make sure you’re taken care of before I head back into the city. I can book a hotel room for you on my corporate card until your house is no longer considered a crime scene.”
