Page 12 of Free to Judge (Amaryllis Heritage #2)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

If I were in the room with them, I suspect the killer looks Kalie is aiming at her cousin would be aimed in my direction instead.

I much prefer watching it all unfold from the prime seat in Hudson’s secure space, as Kalie verbally decimates her cousin with icy precision for not prioritizing their family.

Then poor Jon is blasted with a searing wall of disdain by her fiercely protective mother and his mother before their husbands cut them off. “You don’t appreciate the delicacy of the situation.”

Kalie leans forward. “Would you say I’m smart, Dad?”

Scrambling to make up points, Keene doesn’t recognize the trap he’s about to fall into. “Of course. You’re brilliant, sweetheart.”

“Then stop insulting my intelligence by patronizing me. You’re knee deep in something, aren’t you?”

Keene doesn’t reply. Instead, Jon jumps into the fray. “I was just trying to protect you from him, Kalie.”

She dismisses him with a single glance. Through the hidden camera Caleb apparently planted in the room years ago to monitor the coming and goings of strangers into his wife’s domain, I can see how her actions cut him to the quick.

Instead of addressing Jon directly, she turns to the refined older man at her side.

“Did I tell you what Jon did when they arrested me?”

“No.”

“That’s because the answer is nothing. He stood back and tried to blend into the crowd.” Her voice is glacial.

“That’s not true, Kalie,” Jon protests. He’s cut off by Keene. “That’s not how you explained it, Jon.”

Kalie lifts her phone, then lets it clatter to the table. “Oh, it’s too bad someone had all the footage of today’s events wiped already, or I could show you exactly how he had my back. I mean, with family like this, who needs enemies.”

“That’s quite the harsh judgment, Kalie,” Caleb interjects.

“Really, Uncle Caleb? Because I’m just calling it like I lived it. A few hours in a holding tends to clarify things.”

“Jonathan,” Kalie’s mother hisses before she turns on her nephew like a viper ready to strike. “You knew your cousin had been arrested, and you left her there to…do what?”

He firms his lips, not answering. Not because he doesn’t want to, but because he can’t. Not without endangering all of them. Every man in that room except for one knows that.

Bickering ensues between the family members about the definition of loyalty.

I could provide them a whole new perspective on it if I was allowed in this meeting, but Keene said now wasn’t the time to bring me into the equation.

“Like my wife, Kalie’s fierce about those she cares about,” Keene explained.

“I have the bruise to prove that. Thanks for the intel.”

“She’s not ready to listen to what we have to tell her about you.”

“But she will,” Liam tacked on. “The women in this family are incredibly resilient. Honesty is the best way to handle them.”

After the shit show I’m watching, I’m beginning to think Liam has the right answer.

Yet, without the correct information, they’re priming my body for a quick burial.

“Hey. Did you know you can get a body bag online? We can have it delivered overnight,” Alison calls out in the Amaryllis conference room.

Kalie’s eyes light, causing my dick to go rock hard, despite the fact she’s talking about plotting my murder with ease. Christ, a single smile from her, and I’m solid. What would I ever do if it were aimed directly at me?

Next to Kalie, the refined older man referenced as her godfather—renowned lawyer Jared Dalton—sits with an unnerving calm before he shuts down the idea. “I’m good for bail, not murder charges.”

All the women pout at him, easing some of the tension in the room before Kalie decrees, “You’re no fun, Uncle Jared.”

“Shall we get on with this?” Jared’s cool, measured voice shreds through the tension that clings to the room like a noxious mist. With deliberate calm, he places a hand on Kalie’s shoulder.

When she turns and offers him a smile, my breath catches.

This is the woman who managed to slip past every defense mechanism I erected and strike me down.

Why the fuck am I so drawn to her? I’ve been surrounded by beautiful women before. None of them have the same impact to my senses the way Kalie does.

Kalie isn’t holding any of her vitriol back. She casts venomous glares at every male member of her family and then abruptly cuts the tension with, “I agree. Let’s get this show on the road. I have plans tonight.”

“Want to catch dinner?” Jon ventures hopefully, as if the simple act of sharing a meal could atone for what she perceives as his sins.

Her mother and aunt share mocking snickers, and even her father rolls his eyes in anticipation of the verbal storm about to break.

With a deceptive sweetness, she announces, “I wouldn’t be caught dead sharing a meal with you.

No, tonight I have a pressing appointment to remove the dirt I collected between my toes in that sorry excuse for a room.

” Then her tone hardens, weaponized steel clearly inherited from her father.

“So, can we finally get down to why I was forced to come here rather than go home?”

Her father lets out a sigh, which I know he’s forcing out.

But during our brainstorming session earlier, we decided this was the best course of action for Kalie to take, hopefully lifting the target she doesn’t know is on her.

“He dropped the charges because we assured him you would offer a formal apology.”

Her response drips with mocking pity. “Bless your heart.”

The urge to burst into laughter at the southern fuck you nearly makes me drop the tablet I’m holding—if only I didn’t know how utterly necessary it was to try to tame the Byrne family from acting on their threats.

And making me burn the entire operation to the ground for a woman I barely know instead of for the one I shared every day with for years.

Unaware I can hear her, Kalie verbally dissects me, my lineage, and ridicules every future creation spawned by my sperm.

Yet, I’m fascinated by the woman whose strength borders on fearless.

On the surface, she embodies the high life, rich and untouchable—but as I’ve painfully learned, there’s so much more beneath the dazzling veneer shown to the world.

What else would I find out about her if I were free to do so? From the moment I first saw her all those years ago, no other woman sparked my interest in quite the same way. Now, since Tanya, my life has been riddled with regrets while trying to stay alive.

But if I hadn’t made a vow as strong as hers…

Keene is clearly across the table from Kalie.

I can tell from the sound of his voice he’s teetering on the precipice of control.

Meanwhile, Caleb stands by his son’s side.

His face is unreadable. Jon’s expression is a shattered wreck.

It’s painfully obvious this family shares a unique bond, but for Kalie to cut into Jon the way she has means he’s done more damage than a simple conversation can repair.

No, not damage. Something. Someone. Me.

Taking the offensive, Kalie snaps, “When do you want this to happen?”

Jon’s eyes bore into hers. “Soon.”

“Will you be writing me a statement?” Before he can reply, she sneers, “Because that’s the only way I’ll get through it sounding in any way authentic.”

“Damn it, Kalie. Can’t you meet us halfway?”

“Who, Dad?”

“Who, what?”

“Meet who halfway?”

“Your family.”

Not an ounce of reaction crosses Kalie’s exquisite features.

Then, shockingly, she tosses her head back and laughs—a low, incredulous sound that echoes in the charged air.

When her laughter dwindles to choked chuckles, she jerks her thumb in her godfather’s direction.

“You hearing this, Uncle Jared? I’m being thrown under the proverbial bus and I’m being asked to meet them halfway. ”

“Kalie, trust us,” Caleb begins.

“Trust you? Right.” Her laugh is full of bitterness, not the melodic sound I pictured it being.

“Mr. Conian approached your cousin,” he nods at Jon, who feigns a neutral expression. “With information.”

“About?”

“That, I can’t share.”

Her frustration practically seeps through her pores. Instead, she tries a different tactic. “When?”

“Today, at the courthouse. Before your little altercation. That’s why Mr. Conian allowed you to be booked, even though he had no intent of pressing charges.”

Dalton jumps into the fray. “I know it was said at the station, but I want to hear you say it. He dropped them?”

I murmur, “Before she ever left the station.” There’s no trace that Katherine Laura Marshall was brought in for booking. Rachel took care of that for us.

Her resolve falters. Her gaze flicks toward her cousin. “Jon? Is this the truth?”

“Yes.” He’s able to meet her gaze without flinching because that’s the truth. I was meeting with him to give him intel on the pipeline. I had no idea until later how much more Cal had uncovered—or how cold and calculated the Byrnes’ moves really were.

Keene interjects sharply, “Kalie, I’m not comfortable with any of this. This is the kind of shit that gets you noticed in the wrong circles.”

“Especially right now,” Jon tacks on for good measure.

As I glimpse at the faces around the room, even her mother is wavering in her anger. “Kalie, sweetheart. Maybe listen to your father.”

“Mama!” she shouts.

“Please.”

She fumes but doesn’t say another word. Keene continues, “For the time being, if you step out of your home or office, you’re going to have a shadow.”

She scoffs with icy disdain. “I can protect myself.”

Caleb’s voice drops, heavy with resignation. “We’re being open and honest with you, Kalie. I didn’t give those same choices to Laura. Don’t make us regret it.”

Her fingers lace together, her only outward sign of nervousness as Jon’s twin is mentioned.

Caleb speaks even softer, “Give us the opportunity to do our jobs, Kalie.”

Once more, she repeats with quiet fury, “You all trained me to fend for myself.”

Stubborn woman. “Not if you’re blindsided by the real threat.”

That’s when Jon takes matters into his own hands and snarls, “If you had any kind of self-control, we wouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place.”

In an instant, she lunges—impossibly fast, fury personified—vaulting atop the table and storming across it like an unleashed tempest. Her eyes blaze a surreal, iridescent blue as they lock onto her cousin.

My jaw falls open at how fast the firebrand can move.

I see her poise for attack when my camera view goes blurry.

Keene hauls her off the table, shouting, “Enough, Kalie!”

Shoving him away, she spins and fires at him, “What the hell was that for?”

“You’d think punching one person today didn’t cause enough problems?”

A sneer curls her plump lip. “Then stop your damn family from insulting people if you know what’s good for them.”

“They’re your family too, Kalie,” her father points out logically.

She shakes her head. “Not if they don’t know the meaning of loyalty, they aren’t.” With that statement, she strides toward the door.

Before she can open it, her mother pleads, “Kalie.” Just her name, but it holds a lifetime of love.

Kalie’s head twists and she meets her mother’s eyes—an unspoken, weighty conversation passing between them. I find my gaze locking onto Dalton. His eyes dissect the men in the room, as if he can see every hidden cavern beneath their carefully crafted facade.

Fuck.

The two women bow their heads together before Alison beckons Dalton to join them. After a few minutes of muffled conversation, Dalton announces, “My client agrees to your terms.”

All of the men let out a relieved sigh, as do I from miles away.

He holds up his hand. “However, if we even get a hint you are using her for some kind of alternate agenda, all deals are off.”

“What deal, Jared?” Keene asks warily.

Silence descends upon the room. I find myself holding my breath right along with the men when Kalie announces, “If I find out any of you are lying to me, I reserve the right to walk away.”

I release my breath. “That’s not so bad.”

But when I focus back in on the screen, I realize, if anything, the tension in the room is higher than ever. It might be explained by the burning defiance in Kalie’s eyes when she demands, “When is this debacle of a press conference taking place?”

That’s when her father pulls out the drafted press release and extends it to her. “As soon as you approve it.”

She snatches it away, muttering about self-righteous pricks.

The problem? I’m not certain if she’s talking about her father or me.

Though, if the look on her face is anything to go by, it’s anyone’s guess.

Certain her muttering is actually an ancient incantation designed to hurl me straight into hell’s depths, I decide now’s a good time to get ready for the press statement I’m going to have to release after Kalie reads her own.