Page 55 of A Love Most Brutal (Morelli Family #2)

MAXIM

Five Months Later

My very pregnant wife gives testimony before a court room full of people.

Her hair is pulled into a braid, tied with a ribbon, and she wears a pale pink maternity dress.

She was styled by Willa to look as innocent and lovely as possible.

The image she paints is so sweet that even I would be hard pressed to believe she’d killed anyone out of anything other than self-defense.

Marianna was charged for the voluntary murder of Colton Tenneson, to which she pleaded not guilty. Willa, unconcerned by any conflict of interests, represents Marianna in an attempt to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this was self defense, not premeditated.

Marianna didn’t know this when she shot him, but it turned out that in his hand as he crawled away from his vehicle, Colton Tenneson held a gun.

Fortuitous. Middle of the night as it was, it wasn’t a stretch to say that he was going to shoot her with it, and both Nikolai and Samuel swore up and down that they saw him about to do it with their own eyes.

Testified under oath, even. Key witnesses.

Whether this was true is not for me to say, since I was half-unconscious at the time.

Their testimonies aren’t enough to forgive either of them for what they did, but nonetheless, their loyalties in this trial have been firmly with Marianna and me. It’s a start, I suppose, and I can’t kill them now, not with all the press.

When the paramedics took Nikolai to the hospital the night of it all, gunshot wound in his arm, he demanded to talk to the police straight away. He wanted to give his statement.

So, while Marianna was in a jail cell, being questioned, and waiting overnight to see a judge, Nikolai told them everything about Tenneson’s operation. He told them about how he’d captured me, tortured me, and even had plans to sell Mary.

I don’t know if Nikolai was afraid of what I would do to him or genuinely repentant, but by the time my wife was able to stand before the judge the next morning, there was a solid enough case for self defense that they were willing to release her pre-trial.

It wasn’t enough to get the charges dropped entirely—this is homicide after all, but there was enough evidence that the judge didn’t deem her a terrible danger.

Being pregnant helped, I’m sure.

Marianna chews on her lower lip while her sister asks one rehearsed question after another in front of the jury. Her face is rounder thanks to the pregnancy, less sharp edges all around. She remains the most beautiful woman I have ever had the great joy of laying eyes on.

“I had just found out I was pregnant and I was really excited to tell Maxim, but he hadn’t come home. I have his location shared to my phone, so I thought I’d go see where he was, and wound up at the old clothing factory by the shipyard.”

“And you didn’t think to call the police?”

Marianna shrugs, and then rubs a palm absent-mindedly over her stomach.

It’s not actually mindless, but instead carefully planned.

“Well, I knew he was thinking about developing it, so it wasn’t raising any red flags.

I was with Alexei, Maxim’s younger brother, and we just thought we’d check it out to see if he was still there. ”

“And did you see any signs of trouble when you got there?”

“No, but there were a bunch of cars. That’s when we ran into Elise. She had a gun and shot Alexei before I could call anyone.”

“And from there?”

Marianna looks uncomfortable, her lower lip wobbling. This version of her is so different from the one we know. Nearly every member of the jury is leaning forward in their seats, absolute putty in her hands.

“Take your time,” Willa says, in her sharpest suit for the occasion. It’s not every day you get to represent your sister in court.

Marianna takes a big breath and her voice is a bit shaky when she speaks.

“It was awful. Maxim was tied up, really bloody and cut everywhere . He had to get like 200 stitches after, it was horrible. Colton Tenneson was there with a knife and he was screaming at me about Maxim’s money, saying he was going to sell me—that a lot of men would pay a lot of money for the pregnant wife of Maxim Orlov.

” She sniffles and wipes under her eyes before sitting up straighter, the picture of a woman who’s gone through a lot but is being really brave about it. Christ, she’s good at acting.

Her story is mostly true, and it really was very traumatic for her, but sometimes I’m surprised at how well she plays this role.

She’s brilliant.

They go back and forth like this, Marianna explaining in detail the trauma of the night. She looks pale when recounting Tenneson shooting me, and by the end of her story, I am sure the jury’s decision has already been made. Their minds are made up, I think.

“He was on the ground, but he had a gun pointed at me and he looked so. . .full of hate.” She looks off, a haunted expression crossing over her face. “I knew he was going to shoot me. So I shot him first.”

“Have you ever shot a gun before?”

“Yes, my dad used to take me target shooting sometimes. Family time.”

Willa smiles a sad, patient sort of smile, playing her own part.

“I have no further questions, your honor.”

The deliberation is short, and while we wait I wrap an arm around her shoulders and tug her into my side, my palm on the side of her pregnant belly, lightly drumming the pads of my fingers on it until I feel the press of one of the baby’s feet against my hand. Our already perfect, tiny boys.

She’s ruled not guilty in the murder of Colton Tenneson and, two days later, Marianna goes into labor.