Page 71 of Silent Vendetta (Vendetta Duet)

“Someone’s been threatening me. I think that proves it,” I reasoned.

He said nothing.

I sat up straighter. “You think someone set him up back then.”

“I’d like to rule out the possibility that someone didn’t stack the cards against your father.”

I looked over at Grayson.

And I was suddenly facing a moral test.

I had always been a good steward of the law, dedicating my life to preserving it. It was bad enough that I had bitten my tongue, withholding Hunter’s name in my conversation with Mayor Kepler. But could I really do this? Could I give Grayson permission to extract information from people in an illegal manner?

The files sat neatly on the desk, missing the key information we needed.

The vengeful part of me wanted to do it. If there was someone who’d done this on purpose, who’d stolen a father from his family, who robbed us of our peaceful world, who took everyone and everything from my father, I wanted them to burn.

I wanted to annihilate them, and I wanted them to suffer at the hands of whatever Grayson was capable of to extract said information.

A better person wouldn’t want that, but I didn’t care.

The problem was, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t give Grayson the green light, or I’d be no better than the people who may have stolen everything from my dad.

I wouldn’t cross that line, no matter how tempting it was.

I had evidence that my father was innocent, and that’s all I ever wanted in life—to get him out of prison.

“No,” I said. “Let’s validate this evidence and take it to the judge. If the other medical examiners corroborate this, there’s no way my dad won’t get a new trial.”

“Ma’am, if someone put your father behind bars on purpose, they could be behind the letters threatening you.”

I considered this while the eyes of everyone in the room were fixed on me.

“Detectives are looking into the latest letter,” I reasoned. “Whoever left it for me had to have been in that courtroom sometime prior to the start of the hearing.” So, in theory, they’d be easier to find.

But even if they weren’t, I couldn’t fall down the rabbit hole of illegal activity.

“Investigate what you can legally,” I said. “But that’s where I draw the line.”

Hunter pursed his lips.

“Line up the other medical examiners,” Hunter said to Barry. “Spare no expense. We need to get this done in the next two to three days so we can present this in court.”

“I’ll get started on the medical examiners,” Barry said. “In the meantime, I’ve also been digging into your father’s case, Mr. Lockwood.” Barry’s stare locked on Hunter. “And I found something significant.”

Hunter’s spine stiffened, and he and his brother exchanged a glance with tightened eyes.

But before Barry could continue, my cell phone chimed so loudly, I jumped. I pulled it out, intending to put it on vibrate.

Until I saw the text.

And a cold sweat broke on my forehead when I read it.

Unknown: Your father might be out of reach in solitary, but you’re not. You should’ve made a different choice.

CHAPTER33

Luna

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