The Knight (Stolen Duet 2)

“And that innocent man is Theodore Ross?” The man questioning Angel gestured toward the table on the right. I gasped when I noticed my father sitting at the table. He was hunched over, his hand covering his eyes, and it looked as if he were taking deep breaths.

“Yes.”

What was Angel doing?

I couldn’t grasp what was happening. Why was Angel on the stand admitting that he had framed my father for murder? Didn’t he understand the consequences?

I wanted my father back, but was I willing to sacrifice Angel for him?

I started to rise, to call out to him, to stop him, but Z grabbed my hand, keeping me in my seat.

“So, you’re saying your reason for coming forward is simply for moral liberation? You don’t stand to gain from your confession?”

“I’m saying the rest my life has been summed up to one choice.” Our eyes locked, though my vision of him through my tears had blurred.

“And I’ve made it.”

He chose me.Chapter Twenty-EightMIAN

Three years later…“I hate group projects,” I muttered to myself. I’d logged on to check my school email and found a thread of new emails from three of my classmates who I had been assigned to work with. We have to create an interactive media design for the website of an international technology conglomerate that didn’t exist. At the end of the semester, we would have to then rebrand the company with a better design. Each project was worth twenty percent of our grade and my teammates were already bickering non-stop on whose idea was better.

Each of their ideas was good, and I saw no reason why we couldn’t incorporate them all, so I sent them an email with a proposal. I knew I wouldn’t have to wait long for their explosion, but I logged out of my email anyway and headed for the door.

I was already late.

Ten minutes later, I pulled up behind the other long line of cars at the curb and waited. I made it on time with a few minutes to spare thanks to my road rage, so I checked my email. My classmates were surprisingly on board with my proposal for the website. I sent a quick response to their questions and input and logged back off.

The school doors opened moments later, and the small class of preschoolers ran out to meet their parents and nannies. I hopped out of my SUV. I wanted a white Mustang with double black stripes and blacked out rims, but my father insisted I get the four-door tank because it was safer. I met Caylen at the rear door as he ran up the sidewalk.

“Hi, Mommy!”

“Hey, buddy. Have a good day?”

“Yes, but I sort of got in trouble.” I paused from helping him into the booster seat.

“Say what?”

“Uncle Augustine said something about butts, so I told Miss Caroline, but she got mad.”

I groaned knowing exactly the kind of jokes Augustine liked to tell despite his audience. “Was it supposed to be funny?”

“How should I know? I didn’t get it.”

My phone rang as I finished buckling him in. “We’re going to have a talk when we get home,” I warned which earned me a loud sigh. I hid my smile as I answered the phone.

“What’s up?”

“I’m starting to think I’d be happier as a full-time barista,” Anna groaned. “Seriously, if I play my cards right, I could be manager one day.” Anna currently worked as a part-time barista at one of the campus coffee shops while she was studying Biology.

“You’re not going to quit school, Anna, so if you’re looking for encouragement, then you should have tried your luck with Tabitha.”

She snorted over the line. “I called her first actually. I just knew for sure I’d get her to talk me into quitting, but she called me a trooper and hung up.”

“You are a trooper. You’ve just started your third year. Before you know it, you’ll be able to practice medicine. Your dreams are bigger than your woes. Remember that. ”

“You do realize that I have at least eight more years before that happens, right?”

“Jesus, Anna, when did you become such a pessimist?”

“Day one of organic chem.” She giggled.

I laughed because buried underneath all that bitterness was the lighthearted Anna. We never spoke of it, but I suspected most of her unhappiness wasn’t because of school.

It was a broken heart.

A year and a half ago Lucas and Anna decided to give a relationship a try. It had been going well until six months later when Z left Chicago after tracking down his mother. No one could believe she had been alive after all this time. When he left, he wouldn’t tell anyone, not even Lucas, where he was going, but he’d kept in contact.

Until one day, the phone calls suddenly stopped.

Anna would never say more than it just didn’t work out, but somehow, I suspected Z’s disappearance had caused their relationship to spiral down until she finally ended it. Now she could barely look at him, and Lucas never spoke a word to her.