What He Resists (What He Wants, Book Nine) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (5 page)

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” I said.
 
“I’m really sorry to hear about
Katie.
 
I’m sure it’s been a very
difficult time for you.”
 
We’d been
taught to do this in Criminal Law 101 – to always make sure we were
sensitive to any potential witness’s loss.
 
It made the witness form a bond with you, made them think
you were someone worth trusting.

When we’d first learned that, I’d found
it a bit ridiculous – of course you were going to be sorry for someone’s
loss, of course that was going to be the first thing you said to any witness
who’d experienced something horrific.
 
But now I realized it didn’t come as easy as I’d thought – my
lawyer brain was turned on, and I was hungry for information.
 

Was it because I had such a personal
connection to the defendant?
 
Or
was it because this is what happened when you became a lawyer?
 
You got so used to shutting off your
emotions and trying to win cases that you almost forgot how to be human?
 
The thought was unsettling.

“It’s been really hard, yeah,” Madeline
said.
 
“Katie, she… she was my best
friend.”

“I gathered you two were very close.”

“Yes.
 
Very.”

“I’d love to meet up with you and ask you
some questions about Katie, if there was anyone you thought might want to hurt
her.”

“Everyone loved Katie,” Madeline said,
sounding slightly offended.
 
“She
was a great girl.”

“No, I don’t mean Katie did anything
wrong,” I said quickly.
 
“I just
meant… was there anyone you thought might want to hurt her?
 
An ex-boyfriend, perhaps?”

“Katie didn’t have many ex-boyfriends.
 
She was pretty inexperienced until
recently.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean she started dating this older
man.
 
He was into… he was into
things that were kind of weird.”

“Weird how?” My mouth went dry and my
heart started to pound.

“Just… sexual things,” Katie trailed
off.
 
“I don’t really know how to
explain it.”

I closed my eyes.
 
“Who was the man?”

“She wouldn’t say.
 
But I got the impression it was her
boss, Noah Cutler.”

“Have you told the police that, Katie?”

“Aren’t you the police?”

“No.
 
I’m a defense lawyer.”

“A defense lawyer?
 
Like, you’re working for Katie’s
boss?”
 
She sounded outraged.
 
“I’m sorry, this was a mistake.
 
I have nothing to say to you.”

“Wait!” I said.
 
“Madeline, please!
 
I just … I’m working very hard to find out who killed Katie.”

“Noah
killed Katie.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because he was fucking her,” she said,
all traces of embarrassment gone from her voice.
 
“He tied her up.
 
He did disgusting things to her.
 
Katie was in love with him, because she was too stupid to realize he was
just using her.
 
He made her keep
everything a secret.
 
And then when
he was done with her, he killed her.”

“I thought you said Katie wouldn’t tell
you who she was having the affair with.”

“She didn’t want to mention him by name,
because he told her not to.
 
But it
was Noah. The police wouldn’t have arrested him unless they had evidence, isn’t
that true?”

It was true.
 
But what kind of evidence, I wasn’t sure.
 
The evidentiary hearing was coming up
in just a couple of days.
 
It was
like a mini hearing where the prosecution would have to present their evidence
in front of a judge, and that judge would have to decide if they prosecution
had enough to bring their case to a full trial.

The burden of proof was much smaller for
an evidentiary hearing, so there was a good chance the prosecution would have
enough to bring Noah’s case to trial.
 
Even so, Professor Worthington would try his best to get the whole thing
thrown out.

The prosecution would have to share with
us the evidence they planned to bring to the hearing, and they’d do that very
soon – we’d know exactly what we were dealing with then.

“Madeline,” I said.
 
“I understand you’re upset, but don’t
you want to know who killed Katie?”

“I
do
know who killed Katie,” she said, sounding exasperated.
 
“I’m sorry, I… this was a mistake.”

“Madeline—” But the line went
dead.
 
“Shit!” I swore out loud.

There was a knock on the bathroom door,
and I jumped.

I set my phone down on the counter and
opened the door.

Noah stood there in just his boxers,
concern on his face.
 
“Who were you
talking to?”

“No one.” I shook my head.
 

He raised his eyebrows.
 
“Charlotte –”

“It wasn’t Anonymous,” I said.
 
“I swear.
 
It was a friend of Katie Price’s.”

Noah frowned.
 
“A friend of Katie’s?
 
Why were you talking to a friend of Katie’s?”

“I was going through Katie’s emails last
night,” I said.
 
“And there were a
bunch of emails to her friend, Madeline.
 
I thought maybe she’d have some information for us about who could have
hurt Katie.
 
But she… she said
Katie was having an affair with an older man.
 
An older man she seemed to think was you.”

Noah took in a deep breath through his
nose, and his jaw twitched. “Charlotte,” he said, and I could tell he was
trying to keep his voice even.
 
“I
thought we talked about this.”

“We did,” I said.
 
“And I trust you, Noah.
 
I do.
 
But if Madeline can help give us an idea of who really
killed Katie, we have to talk to her.”

“No.”
 
He shook his head.
 
“That’s not what I’m talking about.
 
I told Worthington to take you off my case, and yet
apparently you’ve decided not to listen.”

“Professor Worthington didn’t take me off
the case,” I said.
 

“He
what?”

“He said I wasn’t to have contact with
you, but he allowed me to stay on in a clerical capacity.
 
You know, going through documents, that
kind of thing.”

“Dammit!” Noah swore, pounding his fist
against the doorframe.
 
He turned
around and strode to the phone sitting on the desk , picked it up and dialed a
number angrily.
 
“This is
unacceptable, Charlotte.
 
You knew
my wishes, and you specifically decided to defy them.”

“Who are you calling?” I asked.

“Colin.
 
I’m putting an end to this bullshit right now.
 
You will not have any kind of
involvement with this case, Charlotte.”

I reached out and ended up the call,
hitting the button to disconnect it.
 
This made him even angrier.

“Do not,” he said.
 
“Fight me on this.”

“Noah, please,” I said.
 
“Don’t you want to find out who it was
who called me?
 
The anonymous
caller who sent me to Audi?”

“I can find that out without you being
involved,” he said.

“Maybe,” I said.
 
“But if I’m still working on the case,
there’s a chance whoever it was might contact me again.
 
We don’t know what they wanted.
 
Maybe they were looking for
information, maybe – ”

“It doesn’t matter what they were looking
for, Charlotte,” he said.
 
“The
only thing that matters is keeping you safe.”

“But this is my career we’re talking
about,” I said.
 
“Do you really
think it’s fair to take this opportunity away from me?”

“You think I give a shit about your
career, Charlotte?
 
This is your
life we’re talking about.”

“My life isn’t going to – ”

There was a knock on the door, and we
both froze.

Noah set down the receiver that was still
in his hand and moved toward the front of the suite to open the door.

A messenger stood there holding a soft
leather briefcase.
 
“This just came
for you, sir,” he said.
 
“Please
sign here.”

Noah scrawled his name on the pad the
messenger was holding out.
 
“Thank
you,” he said, shutting the door behind him.

“What is it?’ I asked, as Noah opened the
folder.
 

“It’s for the evidentiary hearing,” he
said as he glanced through the documents.
 
“It’s what the prosecution is planning to present as evidence.”

“Oh.”
 
My mouth went dry and bile rose in my throat.
 
This was it.
 
The moment I’d been dreading, the moment I was going to have
to come face to face with whatever was in that folder, whatever they had that
made them think Noah did this.
 

“Go ahead,” Noah said, replacing the
documents and holding the briefcase out to me.
 
“Open it.”

I hesitated for a moment, wanting to
remind him he’d said he didn’t want me involved in his case anymore.
 
But then I realized he was giving it to
me not so I could help his case, but so he could show he had nothing to hide.
 
He was putting it all out there, trying
not to keep secrets from me anymore.

I took the file from him and then sat
down on the bed.

He watched me as I pulled out the thick
folder inside.

My breath caught in my throat as I
flipped it open.
 
Whatever was in
these pages had the power to change everything.
 
I closed my eyes, trying to brace myself for whatever it was
I would find.

I didn’t have to wait long.

The first page was a list of potential
witnesses the prosecution was planning on calling.

And there it was.

Right there in black and white.

The very first name on the page.

CHARLOTTE HOLLOWAY.

They were planning to call me to
testify.
 
I blinked, trying to
focus on the letters in front of me.
 
“Who did… ” I trailed off.

“What?” Noah asked. “ What is it?”

“Who did you tell about us?” I
asked.
 
“Who knows?”

He shook his head.
 
“No one.
 
Why?”

“Because I’m on the witness list.”

I looked back down at the paper, hoping
that maybe, somehow I’d made a mistake.

But my name was still there.

They were going to put me on the stand.

They’d ask about me and Noah, they’d ask
me what we’d done sexually, if he liked to control me, if he’d ever hurt me, if
he’d made me do things I didn’t want to do. It would all be a part of the
public record.
 
They’d make me a
laughingstock.
 
Everything I’d
worked for – all the late night studying, all the agonizing over my law
school applications, all the loans I’d taken out to pay for school –
would be for nothing.

My only other choice would be to refuse
to answer – and then I’d be in contempt of court.
 
They’d put me in jail.

It was over.

Everything.

And there was absolutely nothing I could
do to stop it.

I was ruined.

And even worse, my testimony would most
likely put Noah in jail.

End
of BOOK NINE.
 
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ten, WHAT HE FIGHTS, available now!