Page 65 of Legal Passion
Kenneth nodded and turned back toward her. “Thank you, Ms. Bellows. Thank you!”
She offered him a smile, even though she’d denied Stone one. “We’ll get your father out as soon as we can.”
“Thank you!” Kenneth said again. He looked like an excited puppy about to piss all over himself he was so eager to please her.
Stone knew the feeling. He wanted to please Hillary, too. He wanted to drive her out of her mind with pleasure, like she’d always driven him.
But even more important than that, he just wanted to be with her—to tease her and laugh with her. And hold her...
God, he was the girlie one.
He rose from his chair when Kenneth stood. The judge had agreed to release him on bond as long as he wore a tether. It was strapped to his ankle. The kid glanced down at it. “Can I just leave?” he asked.
“You have to go straight home,” Stone reminded him.
“Can I go see my father first?”
Hillary nodded. “I’ll make a call and let the monitoring company know.”
Kenneth showered his gratitude on her again before leaving her office. She’d already picked up the phone to call the monitoring company when Stone started to head out. She obviously didn’t want to talk to him.
But then she called out, “Wait.”
And he tensed. Was she talking to him, though, or to whomever she’d called?
He turned back.
And she added, “Please.”
He knew how proud she was and how much that must have cost her. Was it possible that she cared about him, too? That she loved him?
* * *
Hillary held her breath, waiting to see if Stone stopped or just walked out the door. He’d been right, and she’d refused to listen. She, who always talked about fairness, had not been fair.
Someone spoke in her ear, and she remembered that she was on the phone. She updated them on Kenneth Mueller’s status, then hung up the phone. And when she did, she found Stone sitting in front of her desk again.
He had stayed.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?” she asked.
“For the offer.”
“It was the right thing to do,” she said. “You might even be able to get the sentence reduced. She was urging him to kill his father.”
Stone flinched. “What a bitch.”
“Yeah.” Sometimes the victim wasn’t always very sympathetic, like the case of the late Mrs. Rapier. Maybe justice wasn’t always as black-and-white as Hillary had thought it was. “I was, too,” she said.
“What?”
“I was a bitch,” she said.
“You were just doing your job,” Stone said.
She smiled. “You’re defending me to me,” she said. “You can’t help yourself, huh?” Maybe it wasn’t just what he did, but who he was.
