The Auction a Romance by Anna Erishkigal Read online

  "…because technically she owned Harvey because some judge gave her my horse as part of her divorce decree because I was still a kid!"

  My shoulders heaved, but I had to go on.

  "The men held me while they waited for the police to come and arrest me for stabbing the knacker. They were real angry, so they made me watch as they put a winch around Harvey's legs and dragged his body up into the meat truck so they could haul him away."

  I stretched my hand out towards Adam.

  "The trucks, they come with meat hooks built right into the ceiling. Harvey's eyes were open as they strung him upside down and slit his throat so the blood wouldn't curdle before they got his body back to the slaughterhouse. His eyes were open! And the whole time they were bleeding him out, he just kept looking at me as if to say, why didn't you get here a minute sooner?"

  I put my face down into my hands. My entire body shook as I cried the same way I'd cried that day. The courtroom grew quiet. Not even Eva's barrister dared interrupt me. At last I pulled myself together enough to clear my throat.

  "So, yeah, Your Honor," I whispered with my hoarse voice. "I stabbed a man with a pitchfork. And then I spent the next two years trying to run away from the woman who'd ordered them to kill my horse until I turned eighteen and the judge couldn't order me to go back to her anymore."

  "We have no further rebuttal," Adam's barrister said.

  The judge wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his robe.

  "Let's take a 10 minute recess." The judge's voice sounded husky. "We'll continue when we come back."

  "All rise," the bailiff said.

  The judge left the room. Adam rushed forward and pulled me down off the witness box into his arms. I buried my face into his chest the same way I had done after Gregory had hurt me, unable to speak, unable to do anything but shiver helplessly the same way Harvey had twitched long after the knacker had killed him.

  "I'm so sorry!" I cried out. "Eva's solicitor subpoenaed me to come!"

  Adam held me tenderly into his warm, strong arms. I burrowed my face into the safety of his chest like a small, terrified animal, desperate to inhale his scent and feel him.

  "It's okay, sweetheart," Adam kissed the top of my head. "It's not your fault. Linda Hastings got a message to my solicitor."

  "Take me home, Adam. Please? Can you please take me home now? I just want to go home."

  "I'm afraid not." Adam glanced over to where Eva Jackson stood, her eyes shooting daggers as I clung to her husband. "Eva's legal team is just getting warmed up."

  Chapter 53

  Act two of the meat auction they called a trial consisted of Eva's legal team trying to make it look like -I- had attacked Eva Jackson the day she'd beaten Pippa and then somehow edited the video to take what had happened out of context. Eva's success hinged upon making it look like I was a violent, unstable person, but after twenty minutes, the judge interrupted.

  "Counselor?" the judge asked. "Miss Xalbadora testified there was another witness present to the assault and battery on Pippa Bristow? Where is Frederick? The defendant's limousine driver?"

  "Your honor," Eva's barrister said. "Frederick has gone out of the country and is unavailable to testify."

  The judge raised one eyebrow. He turned to Adam's barrister.

  "Counselor?"

  "We tried. We were unable to serve him with a subpoena."

  The judge snorted.

  "I would like to remind you that there are concurrent criminal charges pending against the defendant wife. Anything Miss Xalbadora testifies here to today, can and will be used against Ms. Jackson in criminal court. I suggest you move this line of questioning along."

  For the first time today, Eva Jackson looked worried. Her father leaned over and patted her hand.

  So… The judge did a little research on his own?

  Unfortunately, people like Eva Jackson didn't go down without a fight, especially when they have a ruthless oil baron like Maynor Jackson at their back. Act three consisted of challenging me about my iffy teaching credentials, my lackluster college grades, my even more lackluster secondary school grades, and my unorthodox methods to bring Pippa back up to grade level. I looked out into the audience who packed the open courtroom and saw that Professor Dingle had stayed. Her expression wasn't hostile, merely sympathetic, as Eva's barrister slowly chipped away at my false, docile exterior. The horseshoe didn't feel so good now that it was on my foot.

  For Eva's final act, she turned to that old tried-and-true divorce tactic, Blame the Other Woman. After Adam's barrister replayed, out of context, that part of the camera phone video where Pippa had shrieked she wanted me to be her mother, Eva's barrister went for the jugular.

  "Miss Xalbadora … isn't it true you've done everything in your power to manipulate Pippa against her mother?"

  "That's not what I said."

  "Isn't it?"

  I pointed at the judge.

  "Why don't you replay the transcript? That way you can hear for yourself what I said instead of listening to this dingo try to twist my words."

  "Objection!"

  "Sustained." The judge banged his gavel. "The witness is directed to answer the question."

  I looked up at him and gave him a nod.

  "My recollection is, and you can check the court recording on this to check the veracity and truthfulness of my statement," I said, "that just five minutes ago, I testified that I encouraged Pippa to think for herself after her mother promised to give her Flying Dutchman." I turned to face the judge. "That's a $28,000 horse. When -I- was ten years old, I would have sold my soul to the devil to get that kind of horse. I just told Pippa to think. Think what would happen to the horse she'd just pulled back from the brink of death if she allowed her mother to throw it away and buy her a new one?"

  "Objection!" Eva's barrister shouted.

  "It was his question," Adam's barrister said.

  The reporters in the audience laughed like vultures circling around some road-kill, scribbling notes and holding out their recorders so they could broadcast my words on the evening news. I met Eva's gaze.

  "Objection overruled," the judge said. "Counsel for the father is correct. The wife opened the door when he asked the question."

  "Kinda like dumping your kid off at summer camp so you can go have an affair in Fiji," I added.

  "Objection!"

  "Sustained," the judge said.

  Eva looked like she might leap over the table to scratch my eyes out. Well I had news for her. One of the things you learn when you spend your life training large animals is how to teach the bigger animal who is boss. The way you do that is by inflicting a negative stimulus each and every time the animal acts up.

  I leaned back and smirked.

  Eva's barrister cocked his legal pistol, ready to put a bullet in my brain so he could cut me apart into dog food. Here it comes. The assassination of a hostile witness. I took a deep breath and steadied myself. I had lived through this before. I had survived cross-examination by none other than my own mother's barrister, who had known every single hurtful thing since the day I'd been born.

  "Miss Xalbadora," Eva's barrister said. "On the evening of December 23rd, you went someplace, didn't you?"

  "Yes."

  "Where was that?"

  "I went to the Toowoomba Charity Christmas Benefit."

  "Did you go alone?"

  "No."

  "Who did you go with?"

  I glanced at Adam, who sat at his table, his expression unreadable.

  "I went with Adam Bristow."

  "Did Pippa go to this Christmas benefit?"

  "No. She did not."

  "Who babysat Pippa while you were off gallivanting with her father?"

  "Objection!"

  "Basis?"

  "The defendant is badgering the witness," Adam's barrister said.

  "Sustained."

  Eva's barrister took a deep breath and then circled once more, trying to make his kill.

  "Miss Xalbador
a, on December 23rd, who watched Pippa while you and her father went out on a date?"

  "Objection!"

  "Basis?"

  "It's a compound question."

  "Overruled."

  Eva smirked at me. Adam shifted in his chair. Eva's barrister approached the witness stand, the knacker circling in, lining up the .22 caliber long-barrel to put a bullet into my brain.

  "Who watched Pippa while you were away with her father?"

  I glanced at Adam. Eva's barrister leaned forward, ready to lunge at my first mistake.

  "We left her with a teacher who has 45 years of experience in the Australian State School system."

  "Objection!" Eva's barrister shouted. His troll-like face turned an interesting shade of purple and I was reminded, once again, how much the slime ball resembled the evil troll-knacker.

  "Basis?"

  "Counsel for the defendant asks the court to order the witness to answer the question!"

  "They are the ones who subpoenaed her in here," Adam's barrister said. "Perhaps he should stop asking her questions if he doesn't like the answers?"

  The judge clapped his hand over his own mouth, but from the witness box, I could see he hid a laugh. He hesitated and then said with a perfectly stoic face: "Perhaps you should just ask her the teacher's name?"

  The people in the audience twittered like a bunch of raucous crows. I shot Eva a victorious smirk. I'd expected this kind of question, and I had too much experience getting jerked around to fall for such a simple ploy.

  Eva smiled back, one of those fake smiles somebody gives you when they're about to stab you in the back.

  "Miss Xalbadora," Eva's barrister asked. "Who watched Pippa while you were off on a hot date with Pippa's father?"

  I glanced at Adam's barrister. Nobody had shielded me when my parents put me up on the auction block they called family court, being sold to whichever parent could fling the most mud, but I'd be damned if I let myself get hammered when there were perfectly good rules in place that said when a barrister couldn't act like a jerk.

  "Ob-ject-ion," I mouthed the words.

  "Oh, objection!" Adam's barrister said.

  I shot him a nod. Good horse. Rear up every time somebody comes at your mummy. Adam's barrister was no stallion, but neither was he a broken-down old mare. He was a stock-horse, competent at what he did if you only kept him on a tight rein.

  "Basis?" the judge asked.

  "Badgering again, your honor."

  "Sustained," the judge said.

  Adam raised one golden brown eyebrow. He leaned forward in his seat, some of the worries which had creased his brow smoothing out as he realized I was not a helpless pony being led off to slaughter.

  "You went on a date with Adam, didn't you?"

  "Objection!" Adam's barrister shouted.

  "Basis?"

  "Leading questions, your honor," Adam's barrister grinned. "If I might remind the court, Miss Xalbadora is here as a result of the defendant's subpoena. That makes her their witness, which means they can only ask her non-leading questions."

  The judge pointed at Eva's barrister. "Who, what, when, where, why and how. You got that? Or it will be you I hold in contempt of court."

  Eva scowled.

  Maynor Jackson glowered.

  A tiny hint of smile tugged at Adam's lip. It reminded me of the smile he'd given me right before he'd kissed me in last night's dream. I lowered my gaze and forced myself to suppress a grin. Adam was used to getting hammered by Eva's attack dogs and then coming back with the simple truth that he loved his daughter dearly. In a perfect world, that would have been enough. But we were playing in the world of money, and the only way to win this game was to be either more ruthless, or more cunning, than the opposing party.

  Eva's barrister paced like a brown snake rearing up in preparation to strike, his expression thoughtful as he tapped his finger against the cruel slash of his mouth. At last he turned back towards me, his expression earnest, but from the sharpness of his serpentine eyes I could see he'd come up with another angle.

  I folded my hands into my lap and subconsciously caressed the bracelet Adam had given to me.

  "Miss Xalbadora," Eva's barrister said. "Where have you lived for the last eleven weeks?"

  "At the Condamine River Ranch."

  "Who else lived there at the station with you?"

  "It was just me and Pippa."

  "Where did you sleep while you stayed there at the house?"

  The hair rose up on the nape of my neck. I rocked subtly back and forth, waiting for the bullet to come.

  "I stayed in Adam's mother's room. Pippa stayed in her uncle's old room. And Adam stayed in the room he'd had as a boy."

  "Were there any witnesses to these sleeping arrangements?"

  "Just me and Adam and Pippa." I glanced at Adam. He could see where this was going as well as I did. "And the dog," I added. "Though the dog usually shacked up with Pippa. On the bed. Though he wasn't supposed to sleep on the bed. In fact, Adam forbade Pippa to let the dog sleep on the bed, but you know how dogs are. Dogs just love their kids."

  The audience twittered. A camera flashed.

  "Objection!" Eva's barrister shouted.

  "Sustained."

  "The wife moves to strike everything after 'just me and Adam," Eva's barrister said.

  "Everything after 'Pippa and the dog' is hereby ordered struck from the record," the judge said. He glanced at me, neither angry nor amused. "Miss Xalbadora, please just answer the question at hand."

  I glanced at Adam's barrister. Greyhound gave me a subtle nod. He knew what I was up to, and he was probably praying that I knew how to walk that fine line between derailing Eva's line of questioning and pissing off the judge. Good horse. Listen to your rider. If we work together, we can get this bullshit herded into the pen.

  Eva's barrister leaned against Eva's table and assumed the 'I'm your friend' stance. I recognized it because I'd fallen for it as a kid, first with my mother's barrister, and then with my father's as they led me through their trick questions like a pony on a lead, coaxing me over the jumps that would cause the most damage to the other side. It was a posture designed to communicate, 'we're only doing this for your own good.'

  "Miss Xalbadora," Eva's barrister said. "How do you feel about Adam Bristow?"

  Adam sat stiff straight. Eva began to pick at her nails.

  "I think he's an excellent father," I said.

  "How do you feel about him physically?"

  I glanced at Adam's barrister. Greyhound shot me a grimace that communicated he didn't know the basis of an objection to that question any more than I did.

  "Do you mean feel … as in … feel?" I reached up and pretended to pat a horse. "Or feel as in … I dunno … feel?" I clapped my hand over my heart and made an exaggerated swoon. I gave him a sarcastic smirk even though I wasn't feeling all that snarky.

  The audience erupted into snickers.

  "Feel," Eva's barrister said, not taking the bait. He placed his hand over his chest, but there was nothing swoon-worthy in his mean, piggy eyes.

  "I like him, I guess," I said.

  "Do you find him attractive?"

  "Objection."

  "Basis?"

  "Leading question."

  "Sustained," the judge said. The judge leaned back and scrutinized my body language.

  "How," Eva's barrister said, accentuating the magic word that would allow his question into evidence. "How do you feel about the plaintiff's HUSBAND, Adam Bristow … physically?"

  I crossed my arms and realized I was showing my discomfort. Never let a predator see that you fear it. I forced myself to place my hands together into my lap.

  "He's pretty nice-looking," I said. "I'd be lying if I said otherwise."

  Eva smirked. Adam looked away. I could tell from his coloring he wasn't angry with me, only uncomfortable. Nobody liked being talked about like a piece of meat.

  Eva's barrister reached back and pulled out a newspaper.
He held it so I couldn't see it, but I knew it was that accursed newspaper photo they'd taken that night at the charity benefit. The one that had driven Eva off the deep end.

  "Have you ever kissed him?"

  I stared at Adam. Adam did not look away. He nodded.

  "Twice," I said. "But it was not … ah, like, a kiss, you know. He was upset. Over Eva. She, uh, she really put him through the wringer. The first time Pippa ran away, he, uh…" I lowered my gaze. "He cried. He hurt so badly for how badly Pippa was hurting, that he cried too. I held him, and then I kissed him on the forehead."

  The judge let out a low, long hiss.

  I saw the same shadow of grief in Adam's eyes now that I had seen the day he'd crawled into my arms and wept.

  Eva looked away.

  Eva's father began to gesticulate wildly at her legal team. Her other barristers began to shuffle their papers.

  "And what about the other time?" Eva's barrister asked. He crinkled the paper menacingly.

  I swallowed. It was the question they'd been getting to all along. But the answer was not the one they thought they knew.

  "Adam kissed me," I said.

  "Why?"

  "I was upset."

  "Why?"

  I twisted my hand around my bracelet.

  "I dunno," I mumbled. "I never did figure that one out. Sometimes … a girl just needs a good cry."

  "Where did he kiss you?"

  On my lips. I think. While I was sleeping. But maybe it was just a dream?

  "In my hair." I pointed to my hairline just above my forehead.

  Eva's barrister looked exceptionally frustrated, but other than jumping up and down and shouting she's a liar, he had no way to make me say what I'd wished had happened and not what actually had happened.

  "So you want us to believe you lived with the defendant's HUSBAND, alone, for eleven weeks, on a remote cattle station in the middle of nowhere, and he trusted you enough to crawl into your arms and cry, but at no time did you two ever end up in bed?"

  "Objection!"

  "Sustained!" The judge pounded down his gavel.

  Eva looked like the cat that'd just swallowed a canary. So … that's what she was up to now? The adultery card? She'd been caught bedding the stallions in a few dozen stables, so now she wanted to point her finger at her husband who'd only started noticing other women after he'd filed for divorce?