Jude saw Hazel. Jude saw Hazel in his “marrying suit” as he had so playfully called it. Her heart was on the other side of the courtroom, tucked firmly in that front pocket of his, but when she looked at him, and their eyes met, she felt the faint ghost of a heartbeat in her chest again. The beat grew stronger the longer she sat there.
She snapped to when her lawyer pounded on the table in front of her, and said, “It’s not love you’re feeling. It’s obsession. The medication. It confuses the mind. You fell for his smooth pickup lines and the flash of wealth. Mr. Barrett made it so attractive to marry him when all along he had ill-intentions for your inheritance and your well-being.”
She wanted to run, to take flight from the hate that consumed the air around her. Her lawyer’s words were acid as they pierced her ears. She couldn’t look at Hazel having finally bartered her life for his. They said they would go easy on him. They said they would drop the charges if she just agreed to another year. One year of her life in exchange for his… which meant letting him go. She gulped and looked down, wanting to escape this room. This courtroom may be covered in shiny wooden walls and plush seats, but it was no better than the “holding cell” at Bleekman’s. Just less obvious of the torture it inflicted.
The photos were introduced to the judge again and she wished she didn’t have to hear the horrors they concocted. As the judge examined them, she stole a peek down the long line of people that kept her heart apart from her body. Hazel’s head was lowered and his eyes closed as he rubbed his temples. But he looked up as a woman sat down behind him. Her mother?
When the officers escorted her home, Jude’s stepfather and aunt were in the formal living room. Jude dropped to the hard, marble tiles of the foyer wishing she would shatter to the point of nonexistence. “You got what you wanted.”
Her aunt smiled and said, “Not quite yet, darling. But soon.”
What more can they take? Jude had nothing left, nothing that mattered to her.
She found out soon enough. The deal had been made. One year. One year and all that remained of the inheritance. One year in exchange for her life. Enough time to get the money transferred into offshore accounts with no suspicious activity attached. And for that, she was promised no more Bleekman’s in the meantime. They would give her everything she wanted back—her freedom, her happiness, her husband—if she just gave them one year and the money.
After Jude sold her soul to the devil himself, she went upstairs, then realized her mother had been missing from the witch-hunt. She had looked back once, for any sign of her, but she remained absent.
Isla stood up and joined Jude’s mother on Hazel’s side of the courtroom. She had no idea what she was up to or if she should even trust her, but when she saw the sympathy that laid heavy in Isla’s face, she wondered if maybe she suddenly had an ally. Nothing in her life made sense anymore and it was wearing her down. Seeing two of what she considered former foes supporting the good side made her smile. And Isla softly smiled in return.
Until her lawyer spoke of Parkinson’s and how it cuts a young life even shorter. Hazel was right. Everything about them had been sold in exchange for money. Could this really only be about money? She couldn’t take it anymore.
“Stop.”
At her demand, the entire courtroom looked her way.
The judge asked, “What was that?”
Jude’s eyes blinked rapidly as the imaginary interrogation lamp was spotlighting her. She slid down in her a chair and in the softest voice repeated herself, “Please stop attacking him.”
She didn’t dare venture a glimpse at Hazel. She would break and right now she was fighting to be strong.
The judge eyed her. “Ms. Boehler, please remain quiet during the proceedings. You’ve hired a lawyer to represent you. Let him do his job.”
“Don’t talk to her like that.”
The gavel came slamming down as everyone’s attention turned to Taylor, who had just spoken. The judge demanded, “Mr. Barrett. Sit down or I’ll have you removed.”
Caleb pulled Taylor by the arm until he was sitting next to him again. “Shut it,” he insisted under his breath.
The Boehler’s lawyer went for the jugular. “This is the type of behavior we have listed in the order. He’s unpredictable and lets his emotions get the better of him. Ms. Boehler is a sick woman who needs care around the clock, supervision that doesn’t involve someone else’s agenda. Their marriage is a sham. He coerced her into marrying him when she was medicated without clear thoughts. She was in no position to make that kind of judgment about her future.”
“I object!” Caleb said, standing up. “What did he have to gain from coercing her? He has his own money.”
Taylor was shell-shocked, bombed in the middle of Manhattan by this turn in focus. He turned to the only one who gave him comfort, but she wouldn’t look his way. His heart thudded on as it soldiered through this field of mines.
“Overruled.”
The lawyer went into deep documentation to point out all attempts that Taylor had forced her to spend time with him. Every gallery brochure, business card from a restaurant, and flower he had given her was being used against him.
Jude felt sick. All of her memorabilia was on display, the truth twisted. Every last thing she had taken to remember their time together was now tainted and manipulated into something bad. Tears started to fill her eyes as the lies replaced her life. Her. Life. For. His. Sold to the tune of seven million dollars. She didn’t let her tears fall, needing to put on her bravest face. It would soon be over and by how things sounded like they were going, she would start serving her one-year sentence soon enough.
As soon as Caleb started into his own argument, the other lawyer pulled his biggest hit. He slammed down a file and said, “Let’s not overlook the details that Mr. Monroe does not want you to see.”
Judge Matthews had a reputation of shutting down antics in his courtroom, but even he seemed intrigued enough to want to know, despite Caleb’s objection.
To the horror and humiliation of Jude, the photos were shown for all to see, along with a medical report showing that she had indeed been prescribed medication two days prior to marrying Taylor. She shook her head in disgust. Prescribed didn’t mean taking. She was so frustrated by the accusations. She had never agreed to this. She would have never agreed to attacking his character or their love. But she had to let it go because she had to let him go.
But as Jude’s lawyer continued, no charges had yet to be filed against Dr. Conroy, so his word sealed their fate. “She is not of sound mind.”
Three hours later, Caleb walked Taylor out of the courtroom and down to the lobby. Taylor caught in a daze.
“What just happened?”
“I’ll file an appeal as soon as I get back to the office.”
Still shocked by the outcome, Taylor pointed in the direction of the courtroom. “Caleb, what the fuck just happened in there?”
Caleb shook his head.
Taylor ran his hands through his hair. “So the restraining order got dropped. But he just annulled my marriage?”
“He did.”
“On what grounds? Make it clear for me. Layman’s terms.”
Caleb knew better than to get into details this close to the courthouse, but by looking at Taylor, he had no choice. “Bottom line—she was coerced while medicated.”
“We were in there for an unjustified restraining order. How did our marriage come into play?”
“It’s all intertwined, Taylor. They filed the paperwork this morning. I don’t know why Matthews accepted it. To save time? The marriage. The conservatorship. And the medical records. A doctor went on record to say she suffers from insanity and needs her parents’ care.”