“Did you call the police?”
“No. I still hadn’t wrapped my mind around the extortion. I was furious about the video—I didn’t know if he was even telling the truth.
“Then the call from my client came in. I asked him to hold on. I put my hand over the receiver and said something like, ‘No more threats, Marc. Let me know if you still want to work in production.’
“Marc left, and I thought of how much crap would rain down on me if I fired him for insubordination. I mean, that was true. He just stopped doing his job, but he could call it sexual harassment. How could I prove otherwise?”
“Did you tell anyone about Marc’s extortion threat?”
“Finally. I told my sister Angela. She’s a lawyer. Estates and trusts. She said, ‘He’ll never do it. Extortion is a felony.’”
Giftos said, “What happened after that?”
“Stories started circulating around the agency that I had threatened Marc with a loaded gun, that I had raped him and that he could prove it. I denied it, of course, and set up a meeting with our CEO, Mr. Keely, to report Marc. But before I saw Mr. Keely, Marc took the video to the police, and they arrested me for something he dreamed up in the depths of his very sick mind.”
CHAPTER 80
YUKI FOUND BRIANA’S testimony credible and very compelling. She tried to shut down her sympathy for the young woman and thought about how to get the jury to do the same.
She approached the witness.
“Ms. Hill, have you ever heard the expression buyer’s remorse?”
“Yes.”
“It means after a purchase the buyer has regrets. Would you go along with me on that definition?”
“Okay.”
“Is that what happened to you? You decided to rape Marc and afterward realized you’d made a bad mistake?”
“I regretted going along with him. That’s all.”
Yuki had an idea for a line of questioning that she might get away with up to a point. It was worth a try, even if Judge Rathburn smacked her down.
She said, “Ms. Hill, after the police arrested you for raping Mr. Christopher, you were released on bond, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“But you were arrested again, weren’t you? Why?”
Giftos was on his feet, yelling, “Objection! Relevance.”
Yuki knew that Briana’s return to jail had nothing to do with the rape, but it would raise questions in the jurors’ minds. Why was she back in jail? Did she shoot Marc Christopher?
Yuki said, “Withdrawn, Your Honor.”
Rathburn said, “You know, you’re walking a fine line, Ms. Castellano.”
She said, “Sorry, Your Honor,” thinking she’d made a good decision. Desperate times called for desperate measures. She turned back to the witness.
“Ms. Hill, would you say that it’s risky to date someone who reports to you?”
“I do now.”
Yuki asked, “Are you telling us that you’ve had other interoffice relationships?”
“Objection,” Giftos shouted.