Page 86 of Desert Loyalties

Just like that, the air gets heavier. And the fight continues.

Skye squeezes my shoulder before slipping back quietly. Christina leans in, voice low. “I’m prepared. Or I’d have asked for a continuance.”

Then she’s gone, heels sharp on polished tile as she returns to the podium.

Serena is sitting stiffly on the witness stand, Christina doesn’t ease in. “Ms. Albright, why were you asked to leave the Horsemen compound?”

Serena blinks, slow and deliberate. “Because his girlfriend didn’t like me.” She nods slightly toward where Skye is sitting.

Christina raises an eyebrow but doesn’t bite. “Wasn’t it because you refused to complete the chores assigned to you, which were a condition of your room and board at the Horsemen property?”

Serena shifts in her seat. “She gave me the worst tasks just because I used to fuck Mandrake.”

A murmur ripples through the gallery.

Judge Keller leans forward, sharply. “Ms. Albright. Watch your language in this courtroom.”

Serena flushes, the cracks widening. Her schoolteacher mask slips just a little. “It was just unfair.”

Christina nods, measured. “Did you resent the fact that Mr. Lloyd stopped being intimate with you after Mrs. Lloyd moved into the clubhouse?”

Serena stiffens. “No. It didn’t bother me.” Then, something twists in her expression, bitterness, raw and jagged. Her gaze finds mine, sharp as glass.

“Wait, Mrs. Lloyd? I sucked your dick for a year, and youmarriedher?”

The courtroom stutters into stunned silence.

Judge Keller’s gavel strikes once, hard. “That’s enough, Ms. Albright.” Her voice could cut steel.

Christina doesn’t flinch. “No further questions.”

And just like that, Serena’s credibility burns away under the weight of her own mouth.

Agent Munez is sworn in again. Christina watches him with arms crossed, her posture casual but her eyes locked on every twitch. Judge Keller gives a nod, and Cheng doesn’t waste a second.

“Your Honor, at this time, the government requests permission to play Exhibit 27, a recovered video file from the cloud account registered to Kyle Donahue, a.k.a. Locke.”

Keller nods once. “Proceed.”

They roll the screen forward and dim the lights. The court deputy clicks a remote, and the monitor flashes to life.

There he is.

Locke.

Sitting on the edge of his bed. The walls behind him look familiar, plain, beige, the same room I remember crashing in once or twice. His face though… Jesus.

His eyes are bloodshot. He’s gaunt, sickly and haunted. Watching him now, it’s obvious, he was using again. He was spiralling. And somehow, none of us saw it. Or maybe we just didn’t want to.

He clears his throat in the video and speaks in a shaky voice.

“My name is Kyle Donahue. I’m known at the Horsemen club as Locke. Three years ago, my wife, Josie, overdosed on drugs inside the Horsemen compound. My Josie… she was good. She was the only good thing in this world.”

He looks away from the camera, sniffling.

“She would’ve never taken drugs. Someone she trusted… someoneItrusted… got her hooked. I believe it was Mandrake, also known as Drake Lloyd. He did this.”

My hands curl into fists on the defence table. Across the courtroom, I can feel eyes on me, even if I won’t meet them.