I knew immediately where the defense attorney was going with the questions and I suspected Magnus did too. His personal life and his daughter’s memory were about to be dragged through the mud.
The legal talk continued. I was still focused on Magnus when the door to the courtroom opened. I automatically checked to make sure whoever was coming in wasn’t a threat to Magnus, but it didn’t take long to realize that was exactly what they were.
Only it was a threat I couldn’t defend Magnus against.
Because standing by the door in an expensive looking emerald green dress and killer heels was Magnus’s ex-wife, Mel. Waiting dutifully next to her was one of Trent’s many attorneys. Mel’s eyes held Magnus’s long enough for her to send him the briefest of smirks before the lawyer showed her to a seat at the back for the courtroom and sat down next to her.
“The witness will answer,” the judge announced.
Fuck, Magnus had been played. I knew it without a shadow of a doubt because he would have told me if he’d thought for even a second that the defense would bring up Jenna. Which left the question of what the hell Mel was doing here. How had she even found out Magnus was testifying in the trial?
“Mr. DuCane,” Salvatore said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “Do you need me to repeat the question?”
For the first time since he’d taken the stand, Magnus looked rattled. But he kept it together as he said, “No, I don’t. My daughter, Jenna, was seventeen years old when she ran away from home to meet up with her boyfriend. She never came home.”
“She wasn’t alone when she left, was she?”
The prosecutor made some weak-ass objection about leading, but the end result was the defense attorney asking the same question in a different way.
“No, she took her son with her.”
Salvatore acted confused. “Your seventeen-year-old daughter had a son?”
“Yes.”
“How old was her son?”
Magnus hesitated for the briefest of moments before saying, “Almost three.”
Salvatore nodded. His back was to me so I could only imagine the pretense he was putting on as he supposedly did the math in his head.
“So, your daughter was thirteen when she got pregnant?”
“She’d just turned fourteen.”
Anger flooded my system as a few whispers filtered through the crowd.
“And how old was her boyfriend?”
“Objection,” the prosecutor snapped. He was clearly pissed by the turn of events as well. “Relevance.”
The judge put up his hand. “Move on, Mr. Salvatore.”
“Of course, Your Honor. Mr. DuCane, is it true your daughter was an addict?”
My eyes were on the jury as the question was asked and I saw their already disapproving faces fall even further when Magnus answered, “Yes.”
“What kind of drugs was she addicted to?”
“Meth.”
To Magnus’s credit, he was still in control of himself, but his answers were clipped and he’d dropped his hands to his lap,presumably to conceal the physical reaction he was undoubtedly having.
“Is it fair to say that your daughter’s addiction led to her death?”
Magnus took a deep breath and said, “Yes.”
Salvatore was facing the audience when Magnus answered and I wanted to punch the smile off his face.
