He Put His Ex First So I Found My True Mate Chapter 24
On the day of the protective order hearing, Graham wore the same dark suit he had worn when he proposed to me two years earlier.
It was as if he believed that if he looked respectable enough, what had happened in the parking lot might somehow seem less real.
When it was his turn to speak, he repeatedly emphasized that we had once loved each other.
“I never meant to hurt her. I only wanted her to hear me out.”
The hearing officer asked, “Did she tell you to leave?”
Graham paused.
“She was very emotional at the time.”
“Did she tell you to leave?”
“Yes.”
“And did you leave?”
He didn’t answer.
Daniel then gave his account of every word he had heard.
“She said she didn’t want to see him anymore. Graham grabbed her and said, ‘You can’t do this to me,’ and, ‘You’re mine.’”
Graham whipped his head around to face him, a threatening growl rolling up from his throat.
A territorial patrol officer immediately warned him, and the hearing officer cut him off.
“Mr. Whitmore, this is not your family’s territory. You will follow the rules of this hearing.”
My attorney submitted the photos of the finger marks taken on the night of the engagement party, as well as the patrol report from the apartment building two years prior.
Graham stared at the photographs, then finally looked at me.
There was no remorse in his expression.
Only shock, as if he had been betrayed.
“Mara, do you really see me as dangerous?”
I sat in the witness chair and answered calmly, “I told you to leave.”
“But I was only trying to win you back.”
“Winning me back does not include grabbing me.”
“I would never really hurt you.”
“You already did.”
The room went quiet.
I did not talk about the master suite at the cliff house.
I did not talk about the lunch I never got to eat.
This hearing only needed one question answered.
When I said no, did Graham stop?
The answer was clear.
The protective order was extended for one year.
The hearing officer read out the terms, reminding him again that he was not to approach me and not to use his mother, Blair, the pups, or anyone else to pass along messages.
Graham stood there, his lips white.
Only when a patrol officer gestured for him to move did he finally turn and walk away.
This time, I was not the one left outside the door.
Pack law was what shut him out of my life.