Page 71 of Entwined Hearts
She smiled, stroking the apple of my cheek. “Guess so.”
For the first time since my accident, I wasn’t afraid of leaving the circuit, wasn’t paralyzed with fear of losing my identity, because I knew these ten people who knew me best would never let that happen.
And suddenly, I couldn’t wait for my future to begin.
22
Savannah
“Is it possible to have a heart attack at twenty-nine?” I asked Levi, gripping my chest in a weak attempt to keep my heart from jumping out of it. I was pacing the conference room they put us in, my heels clicking against the tile floor.
He scratched the back of his head. “I mean…technically speaking, yes.”
I glowered at him. “You’renothelping.”
He grimaced. “I’m not one to lie or sugarcoat things, sorry.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, sighing. “Do I at least look okay?”
My feet were already killing me, but I knew Ihadto wear these shoes today. Delilah and I nearly cried when I pulled the box of Louboutins I bought after my first big win at Kessler, Trammel, and Maddox out of my stuff that Stewart sent last week. And what was even more shocking than him having my apartment packed up for me was that he never filed charges against Weston for punching him. My guess was that he found out who Wes was and didn’t want to bother with it.
But these shoes were symbolic of success, and that’s what I was willing,demanding, to happen today. I wouldn’t acceptanything less. I couldn’t. Too much was riding on today. Too many people important to me were counting on me to succeed.
Levi grinned. “You look like you’re going into battle.”
Perfect. Just the message I wanted to convey with the bright red pantsuit. I’d asked the girls on FaceTime last night if it was too much. Delilah said she’d put Nair in my shampoo if I didn’t wear it, and Wes ended the call before I could finish and fucked me in nothing but these heels.
So, safe to say, everyone loved it.
A clerk peeked her head in the door. “It’s time.”
My stomach turned as the door swung shut. I looked up at Levi with wide eyes, and before I could utter a word, he had his hands on my shoulders, hazel green eyes boring into mine. “You can do this. You’ve been working on this, preparing for this, for the last two months. This last week, you’ve done nothing but exist in this case, in this code,” he said, gesturing to the Agricultural-Residential codebook I was basing my whole argument on on the table beside us.
I swallowed roughly, nodding. “Let’s do this.”
I stopped shortwhen I walked into the back of the courtroom. It was packed. Overflowing. The whole town was here. Here in support of Golden Circle. In support of me: the girl who ran off, who forced her accent away and pretended she wasn’t from here because she was ashamed of this place. How incredibly wrong was I for ever thinking down on this town, these people. People who wished me luck, waved, and smiled as I walked down the center aisle to begin the most meaningful hearing of my career.
My chest tightened with pride to be from a place that rallied around one another, that held some of my favorite memories, and molded me into the person I am today.
Our group was in the front row and spilling into the second, with Wes at the end of the first pew. “You look hot,” he whispered in my ear, making me blush. He kissed my cheek. “I love you, Sav. I believe in you.”
Knowing that felt like strapping on another piece of armor, and a weight lifted from my shoulders, hearing those eight words. “Love you, baby.”
Levi sat beside him while I walked through the swinging door to the defendant’s table, where Claire and Beau were sitting, and set my things down. I turned towards the plaintiff’s side, finding Sterling and Preston Hollis talking with Roger Vance, their lawyer.
He was a year ahead of me at Stanford and was okay. Good even. Got some job at a firm in Houston right after school that his father probably bought for him.
But I knew I was better.
Roger did a double-take and mumbled something to Sterling and Preston. The pair of Hollises looked over at me before approaching. “Miss Hayes,” Sterling crooned in his signature cream suit. “Now, don’t you think all this is a little silly? I think you oughta go talk to your big sister and change her mind.” My hands balled into fists at his condescending tone, talking to me like I was a little girl who took marching orders from Claire.
“I won’t be doing that. You believing you have a case is what I find silly about all of this.”
Sterling took a step towards me, a weak intimidation tactic. There was heat at my back, but I could tell by the cologne it wasn’t Wes. “Do we have a problem here?” Levi asked his grandfather from behind me, his voice deathly quiet. Nearly a growl.
“Oh, look,” Preston grinned at his brother before it fell dramatically. “The traitor.”
“Sorry, I have a moral compass, Preston. Not everyone is sadistic enough to be okay with animal cruelty like you and Grandfather.” Just thinking about the cattle they poisoned turned my stomach.
