Trust (44 page)

After giving her a quick kiss, I disappeared upstairs.

The next few weeks were relatively uneventful, with the exception of our meetings with Oscar and Emma. They were both concerned. Ian Pierce was holding firm, and it was looking more and more every day like we were going to have to go to trial. To make matters worse, Emma delivered another blow that afternoon. John was requesting to see Brianna.

I was angry Emma even brought it up, but she stood her ground and insisted that, as Brianna’s lawyer, she wouldn’t be doing her job if she kept something like that from her client. Oscar agreed, which didn’t improve my mood.

“You don’t have to decide right away, Anna.” Even Emma’s tone was grating on my nerves, although I had no idea why. She wasn’t talking any differently than she normally did. “Think about it and let me know.”

“Are we done?”

Oscar, Emma, and Brianna all abruptly turned their attention to me. I could feel the disapproval radiating from my lawyer. Whether he liked my attitude or not was irrelevant, as was Brianna going to see her father, in my opinion. Hadn’t the man done enough damage? Now he was skirting the system, enlisting the help of one of his friends in law enforcement, to make contact with Brianna he wasn’t supposed to have.

“Yes, I think we’re finished. For now.”

I didn’t wait for Oscar, or Emma, to add anything more before standing and ushering Brianna toward the door.

“Anna?”

Brianna looked over her shoulder at Emma while I tried to calm myself down. Why was it that I was the only one who appeared concerned with
protecting
Brianna . . . shielding her from more hurt. Everyone else seemed content to throw her to the wolves and hope she made it out relatively unscathed.

Once Emma reminded Brianna that she’d be stopping by our condo next Saturday to go over some things with her, we left. All I wanted to do was get home, sit in my chair, and hold Brianna. With every day that passed, I hated Ian Pierce more and more. As for John . . . I wanted to see him rot in a jail cell for the rest of his life. I pictured something cold and dark and devoid of normal human interaction.

“You’re angry.”

“Yes.”

“Did I do something?”

I sighed and tried to calm myself. “No. It’s not you.”

“You don’t want me to see John.”

I wasn’t going to lie to her. “No, I don’t.”

“Why?”

Glancing over at her, I shook my head. “Because I don’t see the point. We don’t even know
why
he wants to see you.” I paused. “Do
you
want to see him?”

She shrugged. “Not really. I guess I’m curious. He kept asking to see me after he was arrested, but then he stopped. Now he wants to see me again. Why?”

I guess I could see her point. He was, after all, the only living family she had left. I gripped the steering wheel hard, my knuckles turning white. “As much as I hate to admit it, Emma is right. It’s your decision. I won’t stop you if you want to talk to him but, Brianna, I want you to think about this long and hard. John hurt you. A lot. He’s the one ultimately responsible for you ending up in Ian’s clutches for ten months. You don’t owe him anything. If you want to go see him, fine. I won’t stop you. But don’t do this for him. He doesn’t deserve it.”

Brianna nodded and reached for my hand. I took it, and after placing a soft kiss on her fingers, placed our joined hands in my lap. Starting the vehicle, I maneuvered out into traffic. We drove home in silence, both of us with a lot to think about.

Chapter 37

Stephan

As promised, Emma stopped by the following Saturday. It was less than
two weeks before Christmas, and it was anything but the joyous time I’d hoped it would be for Brianna. Because of that, I hovered like a mother hen over their meeting. Emma gave me the evil eye a few times, but I pretended not to notice. There was no way I was leaving Brianna to deal with whatever Emma needed to go over with her alone.

It turned out to be copies of Brianna’s statement. There were a few items the prosecution wanted clarified since it was looking like we’d be going to trial come February. I could tell Emma was attempting to make the ordeal as easy as possible, but reliving any part of that nightmare was difficult for Brianna.

When I heard her voice become monotone, I intervened.

I knelt down beside her chair. “Look at me, Brianna.”

Emma startled a little at my brisk tone, but I dismissed her reaction and focused on Brianna. She slowly turned to meet my gaze, but her eyes were unfocused. I knew she wasn’t truly with me in that moment.

Reaching out, I took hold of both her hands and brought them to the side of my face. I wanted her to be able to feel me here with her. “Take a deep breath.”

She did.

“Another.”

Her chest rose and then fell as she sucked in the calming breath.

“Good girl. What number?” I knew it was probably high, even though by all outward appearances she wasn’t having a panic attack. This was how Brianna had coped, and it was something I feared she might always fall back to.

“Six.”

I nodded and glanced over to Emma. “She needs a break. We’ll be back shortly.”

Helping Brianna to stand, I picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. I would have taken her over to my chair in the living room, but I wanted her away from Emma for a time so that she could decompress. The next best option was the chair in her room.

Getting us both comfortable, I let her cling to me for a few minutes. It was what she needed, and I gradually felt her heart rate slow to a normal pace.

I kissed her forehead and ran my hands through her hair. As much as I hated what Emma was doing, I knew it was a necessary evil. There was a good chance that in less than two months Brianna would have to go before a jury and testify—telling the world what Ian had done to her. She was going to be forced to come face-to-face not only with her abuser but to recount the details of her captivity. I wasn’t going to be able to help her, no matter how much I wanted to. She would have to sit up on that stand alone and hurting. The thought of it ate at me.

I’d asked Oscar if there was anything we could do to prevent what appeared to be inevitable. Unfortunately, the law stated that Ian Pierce had the right to a fair trial. Unless he changed his mind and took the deal between now and February, all of our hands were tied.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“No need to thank me, love. I’m always here for you. I only wish I could do something to make this easier.”

She snuggled closer. “You do. Knowing that you’re here—that you love me no matter what—that helps me.”

“I wish I could do more—make it all go away for you.”

“You do.”

I looked at her skeptically.

Brianna took on a rather serious expression as she sat up to face me. It was a complete one-eighty from the frightened woman I’d brought into the bedroom a few minutes before. “You do. There are times when I don’t think about what Ian did to me. At first, no matter what was happening, I’d always relate it back to the bad stuff. That doesn’t always happen anymore. There are times when I don’t remember, and it’s only what’s happening in the moment.”

Unable to resist, I kissed her. She met my lips enthusiastically, and it ended up getting more out of control than I’d intended. When I finally pulled us apart, we were both panting. “Emma is still in the other room.”

She looked deflated. “I know.”

I laughed and gave her another kiss that told her how much I wished we were the only two in the condo.

Brianna straddled me, and I could feel her heat through her jeans. I dug my fingers into her thighs, pressing her down against my growing erection. This was quickly getting out of control, and I knew I needed to stop, but she felt too good.

“Everything all—”

We broke apart and turned toward the door. Emma was standing there red-faced, with her mouth hanging wide open.

“Um. Perhaps I should come back later.” Before I could speak, Emma turned on her heel and left the room.

Sighing, I helped Brianna stand and walked with her back out into the main room. As much as I wished all the things Emma had to go over with Brianna didn’t have to be done, I knew better, and waiting wasn’t going to make it any easier.

It took a little convincing, but Emma stayed and finished going over everything she needed to with Brianna. One of the points the prosecutor wanted clarified was where the abuse had taken place in the house. Ian’s property was still closed off. Given how big the house and surrounding property was—and that the entire scope of it held potential evidence—they’d been combing through it room by room, acre by acre. I had no idea where Alex was staying if this was still the case. I knew Agent Marco had talked to her, but my understanding was that she was denying anything out of the ordinary had happened to her while living with Ian.

This time around, I sat beside Brianna, holding her hand. It made a world of difference. She didn’t go into her robotic mode again and was able to answer Emma’s questions.

As Emma was leaving, she took hold of Brianna’s hand and held it. “You’re seeing a psychiatrist, aren’t you, Anna?”

Brianna nodded. “Yes. Dr. Perkins.”

Emma smiled. “You might want to talk to her about this. The upcoming trial, I mean. She might be able to give you some techniques to help you through your testimony. Having Stephan sitting with you, holding your hand, seemed to help, but you won’t have that in court.”

“Okay.”

I pulled Brianna into my arms as Emma walked out the door. We stood there watching the monitor as the elevator doors opened and then closed behind her. This was going to be a very long seven weeks, and I began to think of ways I could distract Brianna. The last thing she needed was to spend that time fretting over what was to come. It wasn’t as if either one of us could change it.

As we sat in my chair later that night, I brought up something that had been lingering on my mind since the conversation we had with Richard and Diane on Thanksgiving. “Did you and your mother have any Christmas traditions?”

She furrowed her brow, seeming to be deep in thought. “We used to bake cookies. Is that what you mean?”

I smiled and cuddled closer to her. This day had been rough on both of us. “Yes. That’s exactly what I mean. What kind of cookies would you and your mom make?”

“All different kinds. Gingerbread. Chocolate chip. Sugar cookies. And these ones Mom called monster cookies with M&M’s in them.” Although she had her head resting on my shoulder, I could hear the smile in her voice.

The topic had successfully distracted her, so I kept going. “Did you make them on Christmas Day or before?”

“The weekend before. Mom and I would go to the grocery store and buy all the supplies early Saturday morning, and then we’d spend the rest of the weekend baking.”

Brianna’s voice drifted off. “Your mom would be very proud of you, you know.”

“Why do you say that?” She sounded far away.

I sat her up, so that I could see her face. She looked sad. “Because from what you’ve told me, she sounds like a great mom. She loved you, and she’d want to see you happy. You’re taking back control of your life, Brianna. Control that was taken from you without your consent. How could she not be proud of the strong daughter she raised?”

A single tear slid down her cheek. “I don’t feel strong.”

“But you are. You are the strongest woman I’ve ever known. Every time you’ve come up against a wall, you fight and you push through it. It may take time, but you do it. You don’t give up. That’s strength. Anyone can appear to be strong if that strength has never been tested. Yours has been tested, and then some, and you survived, Brianna. You survived. That, my love, is true strength.”

Tears were flowing freely down her face. I attempted to wipe them from her cheeks, but as soon as I brushed one away, another was there to take its place. “It’s you. You help me. You’re the strong one.”

I shook my head and brushed my lips against hers. “No, that’s all you.
You
, Brianna. If you didn’t have that strength inside you, what I did to help wouldn’t matter.”

Leaning my forehead against hers, I met her tear-filled gaze, trying to will her to understand how I felt. “I know your mom would be proud of you, because I’m proud of you. There is no way the woman you’ve told me about wouldn’t feel the same way.”

Brianna wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her head against my shoulder. “I couldn’t do it without you.”

“Yes, you could, but I’m very glad you’ve chosen not to.”

I waited for her to calm down some, rubbing her back, trying to provide what comfort I could. “Would you like to tell me some more about how you used to celebrate Christmas with your mom? Surely you had other traditions. Like . . . when did you open presents? Christmas morning, or did you open them early on Christmas Eve?”

She giggled, and I was hoping that was a sign the worst of it was over. “Christmas Eve. Mom said once I knew Santa wasn’t real, there was no point in waiting.”

“Ah. Smart woman.”

Brianna

It was the Friday before Christmas, and I still hadn’t figured out what to get Stephan. I’d asked Lily, but she wasn’t able to help me much. Stephan didn’t really need anything. I’d been thinking about it nonstop for days, but I had yet to settle on something I thought wouldn’t just take up space or was something generic. He always took care of me, and I wanted his Christmas present to be special.