It was stupid and reckless of her to follow Mav back online – Nina absolutely knew that. But she had promised herself that she wouldn’t text or call him, knowing that if she did, she would cave and ask him to come back. So following him back felt like a silent plea:Thank you,wait for me, andI love yourolled into one.
She actually laughed when she saw that his handle was ‘NK_Fanboy,’ and when he didn’t post anything, but only shared her public statement as his first post, Nina felt the warmth and certainty of his love spread through her.
Chapter 28
Two days later, Nina was woken up at seven a.m. by a call from her attorney. ‘I’m sorry for the early call,’ Linda began, ‘but I wanted you to hear it from me: the LAPD arrested Alexander Cane last night on suspicion of breaking and entering, sexual assault, and grievous bodily harm.’
Nina’s brain, still cloudy from sleep, struggled to process the momentous news for a few moments. But once it had, several emotions sped through her, one after the other. Shock: how was this happening so fast? Relief: if he was in prison, he couldn’t hurt her or anybody else. Loneliness: because all she wanted to do was call Mav and tell him to come and pick her up.
The last few days had been the loneliest days of her existence. Even with Markus’s infallible support, it felt as if, now that she had found Maverick, every day without him felt off. Empty. Lonely. Terrifying.
‘That’s good, right?’ she asked, pushing all thoughts of Mav to the back of her mind.
‘Yes. To be honest, I was wondering what Aiden’s next step was going to be. Yesterday, he told me that the fingerprinting from your house came back.’
‘From over three weeks ago?’ Nina asked.
‘Hey, that’s record time in the LAPD. Their backlog usually takes two to three months. Anyway, Cane was arrested a few years ago for a DUI. He contested the field testing and got off, but his prints were in the system. Nina … They were all over your house.’ She cleared her throat. ‘And on the pants the doctors cut off you.’
‘But he admitted to being there,’ Nina said, refusing to feel relieved. ‘Can’t they argue that his prints were there from when I allegedly let him in.’
‘Yup. But it’swherethey were found that was incriminating,’ Linda stated. ‘The outside and inside doorknobs of thebackdoor.’
‘Which is where he must have broken in from …’
‘If you let him in as he claimed, you would have let him in the front door. His prints would have at least been on the doorbell. But they weren’t. Instead, they were all over theoutsideback doorknob.’
‘I had opened the front door before he grabbed me,’ Nina remembered.
‘Which is why his prints weren’t on the front door at all. That’s strike one against his statement already, and Aiden will use it to trap him. And, uh, I know it’s hard to hear this, Nina, but the pants were really helpful too.’
Nina swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. ‘How?’
‘His statement said he went there to talk to you, and you got into an argument. He stated that you pulled a knife on him and that he overpowered you, but nowhere does he mention touching youintimately. Your statement said that he grabbed you from behind and ripped your pants open, and the fingerprinting pattern corroborates that. He’s left-handed. We know that from the bruises on your face, the majority of which were on the right cheek and jaw. And the thumbprint on the button of the pants was from his right hand, which corroborates that he had his left around your throat. His concierge doctor is going to be subpoenaed too, so we’ll know more about the knife wound eventually.’
‘So, could this send him away?’
A long silence prevailed, and when Linda broke it, she said, ‘I think it’s more accurate to say that this is probable cause for an arrest and questioning in relation to your allegations. It might still be his word against yours, but this will be brought up in court and itwillmake a difference, Nina. We’re on day two and it’s already looking bad for him; that’s great news.’
Nina’s heart sank. ‘But it’s not concrete.’
‘Nothing’s concrete in the courtroom anymore.’ She sighed. ‘Hell, we’re even having to submit video evidence for testing prior to court these days because AI doctoring has gotten so good. But, Nina?’
‘Yeah?’ Nina rasped.
‘I’mgood. I’m one of the best. And I will catch him every time he slips up. And when he does, I’m going to cast so much doubt on every word out of his mouth that a jury will have no choice but to believe you.’
‘I trust you,’ Nina replied, and considering she couldn’t summon the strength anymore, it was damn reassuring to have someone so confident and competent in her corner.
‘Aiden picked up Alexander from a red-carpet event he was attending,’ Linda continued.
Nina almost smiled. ‘Not very private.’
‘If there’s one thing Aiden is a master at, it’s optics. Better yet, Alexander was drunk. He threw a punch. Aiden’s going to add resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer to the charges.’
‘Will he stay there – in jail?’
Linda’s tone was cautious. ‘I want to say yes, but my job is to prepare you.’ She sighed. ‘His defence team is good. Some of the best. He’ll probably get out on bail even though we’re pushing the violent felony angle.’ Before Nina could speak, Linda added, ‘But this is good news! It’ll go towards his character testimony.’
