Atonement (The Protectors 6)

The legal talk continued. I was still focused on Magnus when the door to the courtroom opened. I automatically checked to make sure whoever was coming in wasn’t a threat to Magnus, but it didn’t take long to realize that was exactly what they were.

Only it was a threat I couldn’t defend Magnus against.

Because standing by the door in an expensive looking emerald green dress and killer heels was Magnus’s ex-wife, Mel. Waiting dutifully next to her was one of Trent’s many attorneys. Mel’s eyes held Magnus’s long enough for her to send him the briefest of smirks before the lawyer showed her to a seat at the back for the courtroom and sat down next to her.

“The witness will answer,” the judge announced.

Fuck, Magnus had been played. I knew it without a shadow of a doubt because he would have told me if he’d thought for even a second that the defense would bring up Jenna. Which left the question of what the hell Mel was doing here. How had she even found out Magnus was testifying in the trial?

“Mr. DuCane,” Salvatore said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “Do you need me to repeat the question?”

For the first time since he’d taken the stand, Magnus looked rattled. But he kept it together as he said, “No, I don’t. My daughter, Jenna, was seventeen years old when she ran away from home to meet up with her boyfriend. She never came home.”

“She wasn’t alone when she left, was she?”

The prosecutor made some weak-ass objection about leading, but the end result was the defense attorney asking the same question in a different way.

“No, she took her son with her.”

Salvatore acted confused. “Your seventeen-year-old daughter had a son?”

“Yes.”

“How old was her son?”

Magnus hesitated for the briefest of moments before saying, “Almost three.”

Salvatore nodded. His back was to me so I could only imagine the pretense he was putting on as he supposedly did the math in his head.

“So, your daughter was thirteen when she got pregnant?”

“She’d just turned fourteen.”

Anger flooded my system as a few whispers filtered through the crowd.

“And how old was her boyfriend?”

“Objection,” the prosecutor snapped. He was clearly pissed by the turn of events as well. “Relevance.”

The judge put up his hand. “Move on, Mr. Salvatore.”

“Of course, Your Honor. Mr. DuCane, is it true your daughter was an addict?”

My eyes were on the jury as the question was asked and I saw their already disapproving faces fall even further when Magnus answered, “Yes.”

“What kind of drugs was she addicted to?”

“Meth.”

To Magnus’s credit, he was still in control of himself, but his answers were clipped and he’d dropped his hands to his lap, presumably to conceal the physical reaction he was undoubtedly having.

“Is it fair to say that your daughter’s addiction led to her death?”

Magnus took a deep breath and said, “Yes.”

Salvatore was facing the audience when Magnus answered and I wanted to punch the smile off his face.

“So just to be clear, your drug-addicted daughter died as a result of her addiction to meth after having a child out of wedlock at the age of fourteen.”

I glanced at Mel and wasn’t surprised to see her smiling even as her child’s reputation was being ripped to shreds. She was only here for one reason and it had nothing to do with her daughter or even her grandson.

She wanted vengeance. Pure and simple.

“Yes,” Magnus murmured, his voice breaking for the first time.

“So are you still asking this jury to believe that you didn’t have any strong feelings towards my client, even though a young woman, not much younger than your daughter, died in your arms of a drug overdose after accusing my client of forcing her to consume those drugs?”

I knew no matter what Magnus said, the slick lawyer would spin it.

“I don’t allow my personal life to affect my professional judgement,” Magnus began, but Salvatore cut him off.

“Just answer yes or no, please.”

“Yes,” Magnus bit out.

The singular answer without the benefit of any kind of explanation made it sound like Magnus was in denial, which only helped Salvatore’s unspoken argument about Magnus’s credibility.

“Mr. DuCane, is it possible that by blaming my client for Miss Vasquez’s death, you’re trying to assuage your own guilt for the role you played in your daughter’s death?”

There was a furious objection from the prosecutor, but it was quickly dismissed and the judge ordered Magnus to answer the question. I felt utterly helpless as I watched Magnus drop his gaze. He forced his eyes up and said, “I’m not blaming your client for anything, Mr. Salvatore. I’m simply stating the facts as they were told to me by Ms. Vasquez. It’s up to this jury” – Magnus jerked his chin in the direction of the stunned twelve men and women who were hanging on his every word – “to decide your client’s innocence or guilt.”