“He did not fall in love with me across a crowded ballroom, Your Honor.”
“He targeted me because he discovered that Captain Carter held the investigative file that could have sent his father to Leavenworth for fifteen years for defrauding military supply chains.”
A collective murmur erupted through the gallery like an electric shock traveling through an iron wire.
Spectators sat up straight, reporters in the back row began scribbling furiously on their legal pads, and Preston slumped forward until his forehead almost touched the mahogany table.
“That’s a lie!” Preston choked out, his voice cracking with pure, unvarnished panic.
“Amelia, tell her the truth! We loved each other! That had nothing to do with my father’s contracts!”
“You loved the leverage, Preston,” I answered, looking down at him with eyes as cold and unforgiving as the deep sea.
“You spent eight months convincing me that your father was an old, confused man who had made an innocent bookkeeping error.”
