Page 31 of Dagger's Property
“I love you too.” I brush my lips softly against his. “Now, before you take me inside and apologize for acting like an overbearing asshole, I think you owe your brother an apology.”
He tenses in my arms, but he knows I’m right. And when he’s done, I’m going to owe my good friend my gratitude for sticking up for me. Cage had my back, and I can’t tell him how much that means to me. Vale, Cage, Rory… They’re all becoming pretty important people in my life. And this place…is starting to feel like home.
20
Dagger
“Your honor, we’d like to call Wynter Walstom to speak on behalf of her father.”
“It’s Portman.” My girl corrects her father’s attorney. “My name is Wynter Portman.”
Hearing those words brings a shit-eating grin to my face. Soon enough, she will be a Portman because as soon as we leave this room, I’m putting my ring on her finger.
“Oh, um… Okay. We’d like to call Miss Portman to speak.”
“Miss Portman.” The judge gestures for her to proceed. She stands up and I squeeze her hand, not wanting her to leave my side. But she needs to do this. Cage was right. Not allowing her a choice will prevent her from healing. That’s with all things. School, her future, who she spends her time with. It all needs to be her decision. I need to sit back and let my girl spread those wings. Only… she won’t be flying solo.
“You have to promise me you’ll stay in this seat.”
I grip her fingers tighter, hating the fact that she won’t let me kill the bastard, but I promised her I’d behave. And I have Cage at my side, making sure I keep my word. I tip my chin, and she walks up to the microphone. It’s too far away. I don’t like the fact that I can’t be up there with her. But if he tries anything, I’ll kill him and no one will be able to stop me.
“Miss Portman, what would you like to say?” The judge gives her the court. She hasn’t even looked in her dad’s direction. Yet, he’s staring at her. Makes me want to grab his attorney’s pen and scratch his eyes out. After what he did, he doesn’t deserve to see her pretty face.
“I’d like to say that I lied.”
The fuck? My entire body stiffens. I shift forward in my chair, gripping the wooden barrier in front of me. What the hell is she doing?
“What exactly did you lie about, young lady?” The judge looks perplexed, shifting forward in his own chair.
“I lied to the police. When they questioned me, I’d told them that it was his first time putting his hands on me, but that wasn’t the case.”
I can feel the rage actually simmering in my veins. My grip on the wood is so tight, my fingers are in pain. Cage shifts next to me, ready to pull me back. He might not be able to stop me depending on what comes out of her mouth. She’d told me he only tried to kill her the one time.
“He was always putting his hands on me.”
“You have to calm the fuck down, man, and let her speak. She needs to do this.” Cage’s whisper barely simmers the rage boiling in my veins.
“I can’t tell you how many times I woke up with a pillow smothered over my face. He told me he was trying to get me to be quiet. To quit screaming in my sleep, but I could feel him trying to suffocate me.”
“Liar,” the bastard yells. “If I wanted to smother you, I could have. I was just trying to stop you from waking up the whole damn neighborhood.”
That means she was having the nightmares then too. I swear I’m going to kill him.
“Mr. Dirego, if you can’t contain your client, then he will be held in contempt.”
“Yes, your honor.” The attorney shoots him a look. At least the fucker isn’t helping his case. The parole board just got to witness firsthand that this man is far from rehabilitated.
“Go ahead and proceed, Miss Portman.”
“The day I told him I was going to be in my mother’s wedding, he told me he was going to kill them both on their honeymoon. Then he made me call my mother and tell her I wanted to have nothing to do with her or her new husband. He held a knife to my throat, and every time a tear fell, he pressed it into my skin. These little white lines”—she points to her neck—“are the scars from that day. My dad warned me that if I didn’t tell the judge I wanted to live with him full time, that he’d kill me.”
“You fucking bastard.” The shriek comes from the back of the courtroom. We all turn, and my stepmother is trying to launch herself over the wooden bench. “You hurt my little girl, you asshole. You deserve to rot in hell. If they let you out on the street, I will kill you myself.”
The court deputies move in, trying to get her under control, but my dad is there protecting her from the men.
“Miss, if you don’t settle down, you’re going to be placed under arrest.”
Finally, my dad gets her to look at him, and my heart breaks when I see the sobs wrack her body. Now it all makes sense. I never understood why she never put more effort into her relationship with her daughter. But it’s because all this time,she believed Wynter hated her. She thought Wyn resented her for leaving her dad. But my sweet girl was only ever trying to protect herself. And when she moved into our house, she never felt welcome. She was feeling Gladys’s rejection, and it drove a wedge between them. Wynter assumed her mom hated her, but I’m realizing that was never the case.
