Trust (14 page)

Oscar frowned. “And who is this woman? Why is she important?”

This is where things had the potential to get dicey. Oscar didn’t know about the letter I’d sent Brianna. I decided to keep it simple and hope he didn’t ask questions. “I found out Brianna is seeing her.”

He quirked an eyebrow and hardened his stare. “How did you find out this information?”

I considered lying, but as with my uncle, Oscar could usually see right through me if I wasn’t being completely truthful. “Brianna wrote me a letter. She told me. She and Ross have some sort of deal going on.”

“I see. I’d heard the two of you were acting unusually chummy lately. That explains why.” He adjusted his position on the couch, resting his arm along the back. His posture was casual, but I knew what was coming. “I am curious, however . . . if Brianna left in order to protect you, why is she now writing you letters?”

“One letter.”

The look he shot me said he was not thrilled with my defensiveness.

Sighing, I stood and walked over to the window. Perhaps it was cowardly, but I didn’t want to see his reaction. “She wrote me a letter because I wrote her one first.”

“I see.”

I turned around, leaning against the window ledge. “I was careful. I didn’t say anything I shouldn’t. It’s not a secret we know each other.”

“You’re walking a very fine line, Stephan. If that letter got into the wrong hands . . .”

“I know.”

Neither of us spoke for several minutes. Oscar was not one to be rushed into making decisions, and I was under no misconception that he could turn down my request.

“What do you hope to accomplish by digging up information on this doctor?”

“I only want to make sure Brianna is safe. You know I don’t trust psychiatrists.”

He studied me for a long moment. “All right. I’ll do some research, make sure she has a good reputation—but that’s it. You don’t need the complications this could bring if it gets out.”

“Thank you.”

Oscar snorted as he rose from the couch.

I followed him to the door to let him out.

He paused in the entryway, turning to face me, his hand on the doorknob. “Oh, and Stephan? No more private parties. You want to go out with your friends to a public restaurant, fine, but nothing secretive. Got it?”

“It—”

Oscar held up his hand, cutting me off. “I don’t want details. Just don’t let it happen again.”

Chapter 12

Brianna

It was Thursday, and I hadn’t heard anything back from Emma yet. I was
getting nervous. Why hadn’t she called?

The last few days had been tense. Jade wanted to tell Cal what was going on, but I begged her not to. I knew what he’d say. He’d made it clear that he didn’t want me testifying under any circumstances. If he knew what was going on, he’d be furious.

Cal strolled into the house around three thirty as he usually did. He’d met with Stephan yesterday, but he hadn’t said much about the meeting except that he’d given Stephan my letter. One other good thing had come from his meeting with Stephan—Cal had started talking to me again.

“Anna!” He’s eyes went wide when he saw me.

I stepped farther into the kitchen. He very slowly started digging into the refrigerator to find a snack, never taking his eyes off me for long. “Hey.”

Little by little, he put food onto the counter. Once he seemed to have everything he wanted, he paused. “Are you hungry?”

I started to say no, but then I remembered Stephan’s words that I needed to eat. Breakfast had been more than five hours ago, and I hadn’t had anything since. “Okay.”

Cal froze. He looked at me, shocked. “You want a sandwich?”

Swallowing, I nodded.

To my surprise, he responded with a huge grin. “Okay then. One sandwich coming up.”

We ate together at the kitchen table. I didn’t finish mine, but I thought I did pretty well.

He did, too, apparently, because he was all smiles as he cleaned everything up. “Did you want to watch some TV? Jade won’t be home for another hour or two.”

I glanced toward my bedroom and pressed my lips together.

“I promise I’ll sit on the couch, and you can have the chair. How about that?”

Not waiting for me to respond, Cal ambled across the room and took a seat on the couch just as he’d said he would. I stayed where I was for several minutes and debated whether or not to join him in the living room or retreat into my bedroom. The pull toward my room was great, but there was a little voice inside reminding me that I wanted to get better. If I was going to stand up to Ian—and help Stephan—I needed to get better. Cal wasn’t going to hurt me. I could do something normal like watch television with him, right?

Forcing my legs to move, I walked timidly over to the chair and sat down. To his credit, Cal’s only reaction to my decision was a small smile that tugged at one side of his mouth. Other than that, he remained motionless.

We stayed like that until Jade arrived around five thirty. She took one look at the scene in the living room and stopped in her tracks. “Hi.”

Cal looked over his shoulder at her. “How was class?”

Jade laid her backpack on the table and headed toward us. “Good.” She nodded in the direction of the television. “What ya watching?”

He shrugged. “Anna and I were catching up on some talk shows.”

“I see. Anything good?”

“Not really.” Cal stood and wrapped his arm around Jade’s waist, pulling her closer to him. He placed a chaste kiss on her lips, but it lingered just a little too long.

It dawned on me at that moment that they’d been holding themselves—their relationship—back because of me. Scurrying out of the chair, I mumbled an excuse and ducked into my bedroom.

I should have known my rapid escape wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. Less than five minutes had passed before Jade was knocking on my bedroom door and letting herself in.

“Everything all right?”

Nodding, I went back to plucking at the fabric of my jeans.

She sat down on the edge of the mattress, facing me. “I’m sorry if seeing Cal and I kiss bothered you, Anna. We’ll try to be more careful next time.”

“No!”

My exclamation made her jump.

I took a deep breath and tried again. “No. I don’t want you . . . I don’t want you to
not
do things because of me.”

She reached out and touched the back of my hand lightly with her fingertips. “What don’t you think we do?”

Closing my eyes, I tried to find the right words to explain. “Cal wanted to kiss you more, but he didn’t—because of me.”

She chuckled, and I opened my eyes to find her with an amused expression on her face. “Trust me, Cal can survive not getting every little thing he wants all the time. Besides, it’s not like he never gets to kiss me the way he wants.”

“But he would have kissed you more if I weren’t there.”

“Probably.”

“So my being here changes your relationship. I don’t want that.”

Jade sighed and squeezed my hand. “Cal and I can survive showing a bit of restraint. It won’t hurt us. And we didn’t know if you’d be okay seeing us be affectionate.”

“But you shouldn’t have to.”

She sat up and slapped her palms against her thighs. “Tell you what. We promise not to hold back any more than we would if we were in front of our other friends, but only if you’ll let us know if it’s making you uncomfortable.”

That I could live with. I didn’t want to be any more of a burden than I already was to them. “I promise.”

Later that night, I joined them at the kitchen table for dinner. No one said much beyond the normal pleasantries, but I did notice that Jade was attempting to keep her word. Every now and then, one of them would glance at the other with a sly smile—as if they shared a secret no one was in on but them. It made me miss Stephan even more, but that was okay. They were happy. That was what mattered.

Just after noon on Friday, Emma finally called. “Hi, Anna. I was wondering if I could stop by today. I finished putting the paperwork together, and I want to go over it with you before I present it to the federal prosecutor.”

“Sure. But . . .” I paused. “Could you come soon? I-I don’t want Cal or Jade here. I want it to just be us.”

Emma didn’t response right away. “Are you sure, Anna?”

This was the one thing I was sure of. “Yes. I need to do this on my own.”

“Okay. I’ll get everything together and head over there within the next half hour.”

I waited anxiously for Emma. Cal lived roughly twenty minutes from her office, so I knew it would take her at least that long to arrive. Unfortunately, that didn’t help the butterflies in my stomach.

Almost thirty minutes after her phone call, Emma pulled into the driveway. I watched from the window. She parked her car and strolled briskly toward the front door. Cautiously, I went to let her in. I’d never answered the door at Cal’s before, and the last time I’d done so at Stephan’s, I’d mistakenly granted my father access to the one place I’d felt safe. Even though I knew it was Emma, I still looked through the peephole before reaching for the doorknob.

Emma smiled when she saw me. “Hi, Anna.”

“Hi.” I glanced down and then shifted from left to right, unsure.

“Can I come in?”

“Oh. Yeah. Sure.” Quickly stepping out of her way, I waited until she was clear of the door and then made certain to shut and lock it.

She automatically sat down at the kitchen table, and I joined her as soon as I could get my feet to move.

“I know you’re nervous, so I’ll cut to the chase. After consulting with Vince, the criminal attorney in our office I told you about, we put together what I’m hoping will be an agreeable proposal for all parties involved.”

Emma handed me a stack of papers on her law firm’s letterhead.

“What it says is that you agree to give a full statement against Ian Pierce regarding any criminal activity of which you’re aware, and that you will aid in the prosecution of Mr. Pierce up to and including testifying should that become necessary. In exchange for your full cooperation, both you and Stephan Coleman are granted immunity from any and all charges related to the crimes and prosecution of Mr. Pierce.”

“So I’d have to testify?” Just thinking about it caused me to tremble.

“Not unless the prosecution feels it’s the only way to win their case. We’ve put a provision in there that says you only agree to testify in front of a jury after all other avenues have been exhausted.” Emma reached out and touched the tips of my fingers. “I’ll be honest with you, Anna. I don’t know if they’ll agree to that or not, but it’s worth putting it in there to get the ball rolling. Considering your history and how you are around people, putting you up in front of a jury and having you be cross-examined would be an unknown that I’m hoping their attorney doesn’t want to chance.”

I stared blankly at the document in front of me. This was it—Stephan’s freedom lay in my hands.

“Did you have any questions for me?”

“No.”

She waited, but after several minutes, I still hadn’t said anything. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say . . . or do for that matter.

Emma reached across the table and began flipping through the papers I still held loosely in my grasp. “If you agree, I need you to sign your name there at the bottom.”

I swallowed but otherwise didn’t move.

“You don’t have to do this, you know. We can try to find another way or just wait out Agent Marco’s investigation.”

I looked up and met her gaze. “This will protect Stephan, right?”

She nodded. “Yes. If they accept the deal, they can’t charge either of you with any crime related to their case against Pierce.”

Taking a deep breath, I picked up the pen lying on the table in front of her and pressed it firmly against the white paper. Even though he’d taken the time to write me a letter, that didn’t mean anything. I was still broken, and the press haunted Stephan’s every move. As I put the finishing touches on my signature, though, I knew this was right. I was going to make sure Stephan had a future that didn’t involve the inside of a prison—even if that future didn’t include me.

Chapter 13

Stephan

Two sharp knocks sounded on my office door, pulling my attention away
from the e-mail I’d been in the process of typing. Since Jamie hadn’t called to announce that I had a visitor, I was fairly confident it was Lily. She was the only person able to get around Jamie without my assistant making a fuss. On more than one occasion, Jamie had given an earful to someone for trying to bypass her to get to me. Even with Jamie’s cooler attitude toward me, that hadn’t changed.

“Come in, Lily.”

With a huge smile plastered on her face, Lily sashayed into my office. She let the door close behind her and, without prompting, took a seat across from my desk. “The final menu came in this morning.”

Lily handed me a printout of the e-mail she’d received. I glanced over it, not really caring about the food that would be served.