Page 62 of Microburst

“Start from the lie,” I decided after a moment.

“She doesn’t work for me and that’s what I said to try and get her in here,” the shop owner blurted. “I’m so sorry, Your Majesty, but you had to be told quietly what she knows, and she risks so much to tell you this, and she didn’t know how, so she came to the store to try and find a way, and when I heard what is going on, I just knew that I had to try and help and—”

“Okay, okay, it’s okay,” I interjected before she imploded. “No one is going to lose their heads and we’ll work this out.Please come have a seat and let’s calm down.” I looked at Benson and was glad when I saw we were on the same page. “Do it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” He stood and cleared his throat. “I would ask you wait until I’m back to get started.”

“I have to be at work by eight or people will talk and that will get me in serious trouble,” the unknown woman worried. She knew what was coming next and didn’t make us ask. “I work at the courthouse. I’m a clerk.”

Ohshittttttt.

“I’ll hurry,” Benson muttered and was out the door.

I made a decision and looked at Treena. “I think this might get ugly and you shouldn’t be involved. I’ll let you know if you should.” She sighed and left with Davian and the other wolves. Then I focused on Velle.

She stood and held up her hands. “I prefer to know less. Thank you.”

“I live in the muck,” Myriam joked and took a seat next to Fraser. “Hey, hot uncle number two.”

“You are such a pain in the ass and I know you’re doing that just to crack jokes for the tension,” Fraser mumbled.

“But it works,” Belinda purred, winking at the women. “So tell us your names at least.” She asked a few other basic questions to get them at ease while we waited for Benson. It was just the five of us with them after all.

He came back and nodded it was done, saying he cleared it with the guards that it was a mix-up, and luckily it was too early for any press to have been around. “But something to bring up later because it’s a good idea for there to be a way for…”

Something crazy like this? He wasn’t wrong but yeah, a different guard station we kept cleared and not with cameras?

That sounded shady but also useful.

“So you heard something and didn’t know how to make sure it reached my ears,” I said for the court clerk. “And your idea was to bother the shop owner of the place I like?”

“Well, it worked, Your Majesty,” she defended quietly.

I snorted. “You have me there.” I gave the shop owner a look. “This is why I was worried. The next one could be your death. People will use you and—”

“Maybe, but the choice was mine, and I stand by it after what she told me,” she defended, but then winced. “I keep forgetting I can’t interrupt you. I get nervous.”

“I hear I’m scary,” I said with a smile before focusing on the court clerk. “What did you hear? And are you supposed to know it?”

“No.” She swallowed loudly and looked scared. “No, I’m not, and it was an accident that I did. No one knows that I do, and I—please, I don’t want to be involved. I’m not brave.”

“Oh, darling, child, you are so brave,” Belinda praised. “You are here and you know the risk. You are brave. You are just not a fighter and that’s okay. But never say you aren’t brave again.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Maple added. “You did well. Unload this burden and we’ll handle the rest. We’ll make sure your bravery is—we’ll finish what you started.”

She blinked back tears and looked at Maple with awe like she understood exactly what the woman was feeling. “The judge is going to throw out Kole Conley’s plea deal and turn it into some joke of a slap on the wrist. I heard him on the phone talking with—I think it was the Alpha—not the acting one.”

“Vex?” I checked. “Kole’s father?”

“I think so. I’m not sure. I only heard the judge’s side, but it sounded like it from what I heard,” she answered. “He came into the filing room and had no idea I was there. I couldn’t believe how—how can you be so brazen to flaunt you’re not going toremotely follow the law to stick it to you and not even take that call in your office?”

That seemed like a wild thing for her to focus on, but when facing something insane… The mind could lock onto something random and just stay there.

I knew that feeling well.

“Did you hear any specifics?” I asked, instead of focusing on where her mind was.

“Not about what he was planning on ruling that was a fair punishment,” she answered. “Only that he would make it clear that the prosecutor went too far with the demands at your request and he should have more integrity than cowering to whatever you want. That the court system wasn’t for petty grievances between ex-lovers, and just because you were cheated on doesn’t mean a bright future should be ruined.