It was a good answer, but I knew the damage had been done. I hoped like hell it was over, but when I saw the irritation in Salvatore’s gaze as he briefly faced the audience while he was pretending to look through some papers on his desk, I knew he wasn’t done.
“Mr. DuCane, is it true that on the day your daughter disappeared, you told her to leave and not come back. That you were done with her?”
Chaos erupted as the jury gasped and the prosecutor shot to his feet. “Objection,” he shouted. It didn’t matter that this time around the judge sided with the prosecutor because all Salvatore had had to do was get the ugly words out there. Even with the appropriate context, there was no denying the impact those words would have on Magnus’s credibility.
I wanted to believe the defense attorney had made the words up, but the fact that Magnus had gone completely pale at the question and had barely moved as the fight between lawyers raged on around him told me otherwise. I had no doubt there was more to the story, but it didn’t matter. The defense had raised enough questions about Magnus’s credibility that some of the jurors were bound to question his version of events. I turned to look at Mel and saw her practically beaming. She stood up and held Magnus’s gaze for several more seconds before leaving the courtroom. Magnus was dismissed from the stand a minute later after the prosecutor tried to undo the damage, but it was clearly too late because several of the jurors were looking at Magnus with heavy disapproval.
Magnus stalked past the prosecutor without a word and he completely ignored me as he strode by. I kept up with him, though I wasn’t really expecting any threats…Trent and his lawyers had gone after Magnus in such a way that there’d been no way for me to protect him.
“Magnus,” I said as I caught up to him. His rage was palpable and I was actually nervous about trying to stop his forward motion. My fear was that he was going after Mel because I saw his eyes lock on her where she was waiting by the elevator with the attorney who’d escorted her into the courtroom.
The woman had the sense to look afraid as he neared her. The lawyer she was with put up his hand and began calling for security, but Magnus ignored him. I was about to put myself between him and Mel when Magnus suddenly veered to the left and headed towards the stairwell. “Keys,” he snapped as he held out his hand.
“Magnus-”
“Give me the fucking keys, Dante!” he snarled. I handed him the keys and kept pace with him. Once we reached the car, I was worried he’d only unlock his side, but he pushed the button twice, unlocking all the doors. I climbed into the passenger seat and just held on as he tore out of the parking garage. He had the sense to pay the parking fee, but after that he was a man on a mission.
“Magnus-”
“Not now,” was all he said in response and I fell silent, hoping like hell he just needed to use the hour-long drive home to cool off. He didn’t say a word and none of the white-hot rage seemed to leech from his system the closer we got to Blakely. But it wasn’t until we flew past the road leading up to his house that I knew this wasn’t over.
“Magnus, talk to me,” I urged even as the car nearly careened into the ditch as he made the turn onto the very next road.
The road leading to Colton’s ranch.
My whole body jerked as Magnus didn’t even try to avoid the larger ruts in the dirt road. The car came to a skidding halt in front of the barn and Magnus was out of it the second he slammed it into park, not even bothering to turn the SUV off. I rushed to follow him as he strode towards Colton who’d come out of the barn to investigate the commotion.
“Magnus-” Colton said in surprise, but that was all he got out before Magnus punched him in the face. Colton hit the ground hard, but Magnus was dragging him to his feet a second later and hitting him again.
“How long?” he shouted as he reached for Colton a third time. Blood was already trickling from Colton’s split lip. I got between Magnus and Colton and pushed Magnus back, though it took all my strength because he was like a fucking brick wall.
“What the fuck?” Colton sputtered after spitting a mouthful of blood on the ground. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he yelled as he climbed to his feet.
Magnus’s hands were on my arms as he tried to get past me, but he wasn’t hurting me.