Page 48 of Overruled

“It appears to me,” Ezra says with more edge to his tone, clearly going in for the kill, “that your accusations of infidelity are nothing more than a convenient ploy to exact a public vendetta against your husband for your purposes. Does that not seem more feasible than him being unfaithful without any consequences?”

It is Bianca’s helpless expression when her eyes find mine again that finally rouses me to act. “Objection,” I grind out, my heart thumping in my ears as I shoot up from my chair. “Speculation. My client has never been on record making such claims about her petition in 1994.”

“But she just admitted it here for everyone to hear,” Ezra says calmly. “Didn’t she.”

I gape at him for a long moment that feels like hours rather than seconds, the worst possible scenario flickering through my thoughts and leaving me feeling cold and hollow. Because deep down it seems there is only one way that Ezra might have come across a defense like this.

And that possibility is breaking my fucking heart.

Knowing my chances are slim, I have to ask: “Your Honor,” I say with only a slight shake to my tone. “I would like to request a continuance.”

Ezra looks at me with surprise, and I have to force myself to turn my eyes away from him and focus on the judge. I might do something drastic if I keep looking at him, like yell at him right here in open court. Or worse, start crying.

Judge Harding looks skeptical. “Ms. Pierce, this case has already seen several continuances.”

“Yes, Your Honor,” I answer tightly. “I’m aware of that, but these new allegations threaten my client’s credibility. I would like the opportunity to gather refuting evidence.”

Judge Harding studies me for a long moment, her thin lips pursing as she peers at me from over her glasses. For a moment, I think she is going to refuse, and I don’t know what I will do if she does. I don’t think I can continue, not when it feels like I’m falling to pieces.

Thankfully, something decides to go my way today. “All right,” she concedes. “I will grant your continuance. I want everyone back here one week from today with their closing arguments, understand?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” I manage quietly.

Bianca still looks as stunned as I feel as the bailiff helps her down from the stand. She steps across the tiles and stops just beside me with accusation in her eyes. “You promised,” she whispers. “You promised I would not be made a fool.”

“Bianca,” I plead. “I didn’t—I promise —”

“Your promises are empty,” she cuts me off coldly. “Clearly.” Her fists tighten at her sides. “We will speak tomorrow at your office. I need time today.”

I nod dumbly, because what else can I do?

She’s not even out the door when I start snatching up my things, needing to get out of this room as fast as humanly possible. As if putting distance between myself and Ezra will make the likelihood of his betrayal less possible.

But I don’t even make it into the foyer.

“Dani,” he calls, but I keep walking briskly, avoiding the elevator and getting all the way to the stairwell with every intention of fleeing that way, before his hand catches my elbow. “ Dani. ”

I tug at my arm, pushing through the heavy door leading to the stairs, but he follows me there too.

“Just wait a minute,” he huffs. “I don’t know what you’re—”

I drop my notes onto the floor, wheeling around to shove at his chest. “How fucking dare you.”

“What?” His eyes round. “What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what you did,” I seethe. “Bringing up her accusations from back then.”

“Dani,” he says incredulously. “We talked about this. This is a job. I have to—”

My eyes have begun to water, and I willfully beg them to stay dry. “When did you go through my notes, Ezra?”

To his credit, he looks properly taken aback.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb. Was it at my house? When we fucked in my office? When was it, Ezra? Were you always planning to fuck me over? Or are you going to tell me it was an accident? That you were just doing your job ?”

“Go through your…Dani.” He reaches for me, but I jerk away. I ignore his hurt expression. “Dani, I didn’t go through your notes. I would never betray your trust like that. How could you even think that?”

“Tell me how you knew then,” I practically spit, anger and hurt coursing through me and robbing me of my good sense. “How the fuck did you know why she left? She told me that in confidence.”

Ezra looks slightly desperate now, and there’s an errant urge to comfort him, but I fight it vehemently.

“Dani, I—” He shakes his head, still looking dazed.

“You know I can’t tell you about my private conversations with my client.

You know that. But I am looking you in the eye right now and telling you I would never go through your notes or do anything like you’re accusing me of doing.

You have to know I would never do that.”

“So you just want me to believe that, what? He told you? You happened to come across it? Both of those scenarios seem very fucking unlikely.”

“Dani, you’re being unreasonable,” he huffs. “You can’t—”

“I’m being unreasonable ?” I feel myself gaping, hot fury licking over my entire body.

“Let me tell you about unreasonable , Ezra. Unreasonable is you acting like a fucking snake so that you can save that slimeball of a human from paying what he fucking owes Bianca. You sit there and call me unreasonable while inhaling every lie Alexander gives you like a good little lapdog just to save an asshole a few bucks.”

Ezra breathes in sharply at the same time that I do. I regret it immediately.

“I mean…” I swallow hard, trying to catch my breath and gather my thoughts, which are a scattered mess right now. “That’s not what I—”

Ezra holds up a hand to stop me. “Yes, it is.” His face is suddenly devastatingly blank. “It’s exactly what you meant.”

His jaw twitches, and the urge to apologize is there; I know what I just said was a low blow, but so is rifling through my notes. Which has to be what he did. Right?

Ezra huffs out a laugh, but there’s no humor in it. Like a caricature of the act. It’s scornful and laced with pain. “It’s what you believe deep down. Isn’t it, Dani? That I’m just as much of a piece of shit as Alexander is? It’s what you always thought.”

“That’s not what I—”

“I just thought the last few weeks had changed that,” he says woodenly. “I thought maybe you’d realized that I…” He shakes his head again. “But deep down, part of you will always think that, won’t you.”

“Ezra, don’t try to make me the villain here. You’re the one who—”

“You know,” he says with another joyless laugh. “If you weren’t so determined to get in your own way, one of these days you might realize that people really do care about you. That these walls you’ve built up in your head are doing nothing but keeping you from seeing just how much.”

Confusion bleeds into the rage, leaving me unsure. “Ezra, you—”

“I’m sorry,” he cuts me off. “I need some time. If you decide you want to talk about this like an actual adult, you know where to find me.”

In a daze, I watch him turn and leave the stairwell, combing over every moment of that interaction, trying to piece together at what part of it I became the bad guy. I draw in a shaky breath as I kneel to gather my notes, steeling my resolve.

It’s just another tactic, I tell myself even as painful uncertainty roils in my gut. I’m not the one who fucked up here.

But even when I’ve walked down three flights of stairs, even when I’m out of the building, even hours later while I sit lonely and miserable in my apartment…that uncertainty clings to me, filling me with doubt.

And I can’t help but wonder if I did fuck up somewhere.