The Pretend Boyfriend (The Pretend Boyfriend #4)(18)
Author: Artemis Hunt

“We had breakfast the next morning. Then . . . she wanted to have sex again. But in that room. The room in which she hung all the photos. It was then I saw the room for myself. All those photos she had taken of me throughout the years. Candid shots. Newspaper clippings. Internet printouts of my public appearances.”

The crowd is rustling again. Sam can feel their unrest.

“Did you have sex with her again?”

“Yes. I continued to have sex with her for a week. Three times a day . . . or night.”

“And this was the week before last?”

“Yes.”

“Did anyone see you coming or leaving the apartment?”

“I don’t think so. Ms. Faulkner always asked that I come and go at times when there weren’t many people around. Like four in the morning. Or after midnight. And there wasn’t any doorman at her apartment building, unlike mine. She’d buzz me up each time I rang the doorbell.”

“Are you still having sex with Ms. Faulkner now?” Karen says, even though she knows he isn’t.

The crowd is silent now, hanging on to every word.

“No. We terminated the arrangement several days ago before this case started.”

“Why?”

Brian pulls in a deep breath. “Because she wanted more than I was willing to give her.”

“More sex?”

“Not just sex. She . . . wanted us to be . . . a couple.”

Karen raises her eyebrow. “A couple?”

“Yes. A normal couple. Well, as normal as you can define it. Dating. Going out together. A real relationship. The works. In exchange, she would drop the rape charges against me as well.”

Buzz surrounds the courtroom again.

“What did you say to her?”

“I said no. I couldn’t do that. We had a deal for two weeks, she would drop the charges against Sam . . . I mean Ms. Fox, and that would be it.”

“You weren’t tempted to take this deal?”

“I-I couldn’t promise to do something I couldn’t deliver. It was too much. It was indefinite. Besides, I couldn’t do that to Ms. Fox. Agreeing to this new . . . deal . . . would have meant I was not allowed to see Ms. Fox again in the way I’ve been seeing her.”

“Which is?”

Brian bores his liquid green gaze into Sam. His eyes are wide and guileless and he says, “Ms. Fox and I have been having a sort of . . . relationship for over a year. We are friends, business partners, and lovers.”

“Sounds like a comprehensive relationship,” Karen says.

Nervous laughter ripples through the audience. Sam can detect the slight wistfulness in the way Karen says this, but only because she was looking out for it. She wonders if Karen had always wanted Brian in that way. She wouldn’t be surprised if Karen did. Brian’s obvious beauty, charm and success affect people in brutal ways – ways they have no control over. Her own experience is a classic example. So much so she is willing to commit a crime for him.

The knot in her stomach tightens. What a sugar-coated mess I am.

“It is,” Brian agrees.

“How did Ms. Faulkner react to your decision?”

“She didn’t take it well. She said she would see me in court.”

“And here you are.”

“Here I am.”

“Thank you, Mr. Morton. I have no further questions.” Karen shoots a look at Norma Hennessey, who is glowering. “Your witness.”

Norma Hennessey gets up with a shuffle of her chair. Sam finds herself holding her breath. Norma has a look on her face that means war.

“So, Brian Morton,” she sneers, as if he’s already a convicted criminal cowering at the dock, “a thousand women. That is quite a record.”

“I’m not proud of it,” Brian admits.

“Quite a story you have detailed to the members of the jury.” Norma waves a hand around. “I’m sure you have stoked the imaginations of everyone here today. Brian Morton, former CEO of Vanguard Advertising. Current partner of ‘Shape’. Blackmailed into sex by the very woman who accused him of raping her. Are you asking us to buy this story?”

“It isn’t a story. Every part of it is true,” Brian says.

“So you say. It’s her word against yours as to what really happened. No witnesses, no evidence. Merely stories upon stories. You’re what most people would deem an attractive man, Mr. Morton, but come on.”

“I do have evidence,” Brian replies, refusing to be bullied.

“Really? And in what illegal manner did you or your business partner – ” Norma practically spits out the word “ – obtain it this time? You said there were no eyewitnesses. I’m sure everyone here is dying to know what you have conjured.”

Titters run through the masses.

Brian says, “In the last two weeks when I was seeing Ms. Faulkner, my lover and business partner, Ms. Fox, had a suspicion that all was not right with me. So she followed me one night without my knowledge.”

Norma throws up her hands. “More espionage.”

A few laughs from the gallery.

“And did you garner any evidence from this cloak-and-dagger enterprise, Mr. Morton?”

Brian glances at Sam. “Yes, in fact my partner has.”

It is Karen’s cue to stand up. “If the honorable Judge would allow it, the defense would like to call our next witness, Ms. Samantha Fox.”

13

“Your Honor, I must protest against this,” Norma thunders. “There was plenty of time for discovery here. This witness was not registered earlier in the defense’s case notes.”

“This is extremely new evidence, your Honor,” Karen says quickly. “It was procured only in the past few days, but it is extremely important to the case. Please, your Honor. We have come so far. The evidence presented here has been obtained without violating any laws excepting one.”

“Which one, Ms. Sandler?”

“The State Law involving Recording. But the person this violated has decided not to press charges.”

“Who is the violated person?”

“Brian Morton.”

Muttering in the masses.

“Very well, the witness may step up.”

Sam is extremely nervous as she makes her way up to the witness stand. After the swearing in and identification, Karen proceeds.

“Tell us what you did, Ms. Fox.”

“When my . . . friend, Brian,” Sam trips over the word, “started to act strangely in the past week, I was afraid he may have involved himself in something he couldn’t handle.”