I blink. “You want me to give a statement? Or—or testify? That’s it?”
“No.” Isaak looks me straight in the eye. “I want your son to testify.”
My mind goes blank.
Eli.All this time, I’ve been trying to protect him from what he saw. Arranged therapy sessions, watched him carefully for signs of trauma. And now, this man wants me to make him relive it all? To force him to tell everyone what he saw in that house? Brad hurting me, kicking me, calling me a whore?
Brad, trying to make me lose my baby?
“No.” The word is out before I can even think it. “No way. That’s out of the question.”
Isaak’s lips press tight. “Ms. Winters, let me be clear: I am here as a personal favor to your partner. He asked me in no uncertain terms to get you a win—legally. Now, the fastest way I can do that is by getting this case tossed. And the only way to get it tossed is for the judge to hear, from the horse’s mouth, how dangerous Bradley Baldwin can be.”
“Then let me do it!” I try to stand and sway immediately, having to brace myself against the wall. Kallie and Nikita are up in seconds, one at either side of me. “I’ll tell the judge everything.”
“That would open you up to questioning.” Isaak looks like he’s trying to explain common sense to a toddler. “We don’t want that, Ms. Winters. The second I put you on the stand, they’ll rip you to shreds.”
“I’m his mother,” I say. “I have to?—”
“That’s exactly why you can’t do it. Tell me, whatwouldn’ta mother say to keep custody of her child?” He gives me a long, pointed look. “I’m afraid you’re not a credible source. Not without a police or hospital report to back you up.”
I clench my fists and grit my teeth. Fuck me, he’s right. I never went to the police, never went to the ER to get treated. I thought it’d be better if I handled it myself—that it’d be worse if I did it and Brad found out.
Now, I could lose Eli because of it.
But I can’t put him through more trauma. Ican’t.Those are my mistakes, which means they’re mine to fix.
“No testifying,” I repeat. “That’s final, Mr. Noskov. I’m sorry, but I won’t allow it.”
Isaak shoots me a frustrated look, but it’s quickly smoothed under his lawyerly façade. “Fine,” he sighs. “If that’s what you want.”
“I can testify for her,” Nikita jumps up. “The other day, he tried to hit her in front of the school. I’ll tell them?—”
“And how’s that cross gonna go?” Isaak crosses his arms. “‘Ms. Morozova, isn’t it true you’re a hired gun for the Bratva? Tell us, what’s your body count?’ I’d be really curious to hear what you’d say to that.”
“I’d say that I rarely use guns.” She cracks her knuckles and matches his stance, staring up at him in defiance. “And that I don’t kiss and tell.”
For a second, sparks fly between them. I’m not sure what I’m looking at: fireworks or gunfire.
“Mr. Noskov!” the court officer calls. “The hearing is about to resume.”
“Then I’d better get ready to go back in there,” he says with a parting smirk to Nikita.
I wobble upright again. “I’m coming, too?—”
“No,” he cuts me off. This time, his tone brooks no argument. “You passed out. If the judge sees you now, right as rain, she might think it was a stunt.”
“But—”
“No buts, Ms. Winters.” He crosses his arms and stares me down, thunderous. “Either let me do what I do, or find yourself someone else.”
For a second, I consider fighting back. But then I remember this is Eli’s life on the line, and I’ve already jeopardized that enough. “Okay,” I whisper. “Thank you, Mr. Noskov. For everything.”
His features smooth over. “We’ll get you through this, Mia,” he says. “You have my word.”
Then he strides back in.
“I’ll go, too,” Kallie says quickly. “Be your eyes and ears.”
