Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 113944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
“Stop saying nice stuff or I can’t stay mad.” She glanced down the bench to check on her family. Yvonne gripped her purse tightly, offering Gwen a strained smile, as Marlon eyed each council member. An anxious Julie was leaning against a rigid Chase, whose mouth was tight with annoyance. Yeah, she was annoyed herself. The Moores seemed to be deliberately making them wait—probably to convey a message that they didn’t find the hearing important.
It was a further ten minutes—literally one minute before the hearing was due to start—that the door on their far right opened and the other party filed out, led by Ezra. Aside from a snarling Brandt, the others cast smirks at Gwen. Ezra and his supporters all settled on the benches at the front of the gallery’s right side.
Ezra placed himself on the edge of the bench, meaning he was almost within touching distance of Gwen. He shot her a smug smile. Well, he wouldn’t be so pleased when he realized she was there to damn his precious and exceedingly stupid son.
The gray-haired council member cleared his throat. “I am Parker Brant.” After introducing the other members, he rested his gaze on Gwen. “According to what I have read, you witnessed a shifter, Andie Windsor, being attacked and are here to tell your version of events—a version that massively conflicts with that of the accused.” His eyes then cut to Brandt. “Before we go any further, I must ask if you still wish to plead your innocence.”
Brandt lifted his chin, looking like a petulant kid. “I did nothing wrong.” The thing was . . . he probably didn’t think he had done anything wrong.
Parker turned back to Gwen. “We would like to hear from you first, Miss Miller. Please come forward.”
It went against everything in Zander to let her walk away. He wanted to scoop her up and take her home. Instead, he lightly squeezed her shoulder and spoke into her ear. “You’ll be fine, baby.”
Gwen nodded, blowing out a breath. On legs that were surprisingly steady, she moved through the gate and crossed to the chair at the right side of the panel. Feeling all eyes on her made her skin itch. She shifted on the uncomfortably hard seat.
“Please tell us what happened that night,” said Parker.
She took a deep, preparatory breath. “I heard laughing. Loud, boisterous laughing. Straight away, I knew someone was either on our land or nearby. It wouldn’t be the first time that teenagers had gathered there to get drunk or smoke cannabis. I grabbed my shotgun, and I followed the sounds. Soon, I heard the cries, the horrible sounds of metal hitting bone. I hurried, and then I saw them. Andie was on the ground, her face all messed up and her clothes dirty. She was trying to crawl away from someone—he kept hitting her with a metal pole while his friends laughed and urged him on. I shot at the ground near their feet to make them run off. Then I helped Andie back to my house and called the sheriff to report the incident.”
“Can you identify this male that you saw assault Andie Windsor?”
“Yes.” Gwen glared at the asshole in question. “His name is Brandt Moore.”
Curses and abrasive mutters came from Moore’s group. Only Ezra and Colt seemed unsurprised that she’d reneged on her deal. They’d probably half expected it, given that Brandt had turned up at her house again.
Emilio studied her carefully. “This is the same account that you gave to Sheriff Johnson the night it happened, but you recently altered your statement.”
Gwen straightened her shoulders. “It was made clear to me that it was the only way I would keep my family safe. I didn’t see the harm in giving a different statement to the sheriff—he hasn’t exactly had any official involvement in the case, so I doubted he’d care.”
Harrison narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean when you say the sheriff had little involvement?”
“Sheriff Johnson didn’t hold the boys for more than an hour. He seemed skeptical when he took Andie’s statement, he didn’t do a drug test to corroborate or even dismiss her story, he didn’t take photos of her injuries, and he wouldn’t have even taken my statement to support her story if I hadn’t insisted on it. He was also of no help to her when Brandt and his friends terrorized her, harassing her into altering her statement. Finally, she did.”
“As did you,” Emilio pointed out. “And you say it was to keep your family safe?”
“Brandt and his friends harassed me to change my statement.” She told them how the harassment had begun as pranks and steadily got worse. “Brandt didn’t once plead his innocence to me or insist that I’d seen someone else that night. Brandt confessed that he wasn’t sorry for what he’d done and that, in his view, Andie’s nothing more than an animal.