Page 45 of His Sweet Torment
“Ms. Kaur? They’re ready for you.”
Afterward, all Padme could remember was that Henry didn’t take his eyes from her once as she testified. His lawyer, a real piece of work, focused on her relationship with Enver, making her appear unprofessional and weak. Padme had to check her temper many times. The lawyer even managed to paint Henry as someone who had given her and Enver up to Frederick Ingles so that no one else would die.
“It’s my understanding, ex-Agent Kaur, that you were the one to find Chaley Sanders’ body?”
“Yes.”
The lawyer nodded slowly, seemingly thoughtful. “And that your friend, Harpa Malhotra, was also attacked?”
“Yes.” Padme felt the babies kicking and shifted in her chair. The lawyer noticed.
“Are you uncomfortable, ex-Agent Kaur?”
“Ms. Kaur, and I’m fine, thank you.”
“Ms.Kaur,” the lawyer smirked, and Padme resisted the urge to slap his smug face. “I also understand that, at the time, Frederick Ingles had made it clear to you that if you were to run, he would harm everyone you loved …and yet you still left to follow Mr. Toscano?”
“Objection, your honor. Ms. Kaur is not on trial here.”
“Sustained. Mr. Cleaver, please refrain from haranguing the witness.”
“Of course, your honor. Ms. Kaur, you are best friends with your former Agency partner, Dale Fortuna, is that correct?”
“It is.”
“And Mr. Fortuna was badly beaten and left for dead by Frederick Ingles’ men, yes?”
Padme glared at him. “Yes.”
Cleaver nodded. “And where were you when this happened?”
“Objection.”
“Overruled. Please answer the question, Ms. Kaur.”
Padme let out a long breath. “The Maldives.”
“TheMaldives?” Cleaver made a big deal of sounding incredulous even though he had to have known this information. “So, you were running for your life …in an island paradise?”
Padme’s lawyer shot up from his seat again. “Objection, your honor.”
“Sustained. Mr. Cleaver …”
“No further questions, your honor.”
“Motherfucker.”Padme raged, pacing up and down the waiting room. “Asshole piece of crap.” She felt on the edge of tears. Enver put his arms around her, and Padme tensed up for a moment before relaxing into him. “He made me sound like a whore. An unprofessional whore.”
“The jury will know what he was up to, Padme,” her lawyer, Ben Kline, said. “He’s desperate. Painting you as a liability is the only thing he has, and he knows that probably won’t work. You took bullets for Enver, and we know for a fact that Henry was the one who gave Dedalus the gun. Believe me, the jury is going to hate Henry as much as we do by the time I’ve finished with him.”
“He’s going into the witness box?”
Ben nodded. “He’ll paint you as someone who lost her way. Say that it broke his heart and he could see that the only way to protect people was to give you up.”
“The money trail, however …” Enver added. He and Ben exchanged a look that Padme didn’t understand.
“What? What are you keeping from me?”
Enver cleared his throat. “Nothing, sweetheart, except that you don’t have to worry about anything. Henry Jones won’t get to spend a penny of that money.”
