He Was Reborn To Claim Me But I’m Already Married Chapter 21
“Ms. Bennett is Mr. Carter’s lawful wife.”
“So-called old feelings do not explain why the victim, after falling asleep while resting, was found not in a hotel room but in an SUV headed for a cliff.”
“After police signaled the vehicle to stop, the defendant did not slow down. He accelerated.”
By the time it was my turn to speak, Adrian had finally lowered his head.
I recounted everything that had happened in the car, leaving nothing out.
Including the way he tore the hairpin from my hand.
Including his words about how we had plenty of time.
And including the fact that even knowing Daniel and the state police were right behind us, he still accelerated toward the cliff.
The lawyer asked me, “When Mr. Hawthorne stopped the vehicle the first time, didn’t you tell him that if he let you go, you could pretend nothing had happened?”
“Yes.”
“So at that time, you yourself did not believe he meant to harm you?”
I looked straight at him.
“I said that to make the man who kidnapped me stop the car.”
“Not to excuse his actions.”
A low laugh rippled through the gallery.
The judge struck the gavel, and the lawyer’s expression darkened.
Daniel did not speak from beginning to end.
Not until Adrian’s assistant was called to the stand.
He stood at the doorway, looking flustered.
Daniel took one look at him and then pointed him out to the investigator handling the case.
“That’s him.”
“He’s the man I saw at the hotel’s back door on the wedding day.”
The assistant instinctively took a step back.
The investigators blocked his path.
Adrian spun his wheelchair around sharply.
“What are you doing here?”
The assistant’s lips trembled, but he said nothing.
In the end, there was no suspense.
The judge found that Adrian posed a clear and present danger and denied his bail application.
As his wheelchair was pushed from the courtroom, panic finally broke through his composure.
“Claire, I only wanted to talk to you!”
“I would never hurt you! How could I ever hurt you?”
I didn’t turn around.
The courtroom doors shut behind me, cutting off his increasingly desperate voice.
Only when I walked down the courthouse steps did I realize how cold my hands had been.
Daniel took one and tucked it into his coat pocket.
“It’s over.”
I looked at the investigators waiting at the bottom of the steps.
They had not left.
Because Adrian’s assistant still hadn’t come out.
I shook my head.
“Not yet.”