“Come here and give me a kiss.”
My fist squeezes tightly, all I want to do is smack him, but thankfully before I can do anything stupid which will put me in a position where I can’t help Nova, I take out my cell phone instead. I need evidence to get her away from him and smacking him won’t do that. Getting a picture of him kissing someone else is better.
I must be discreet, it isn’t the easiest, but I sneak a picture with his mouth on someone else’s. Another, much younger, woman. I don’t imagine she’s over the age of nineteen. Same age as Nova was when he married her. I suppose this could easily be explained away as just a friendly thing, but it will be combined with so much more.
I head back to the table, my head absolutely buzzing with new ideas now for Nova…
“Where are the drinks?” Megan demands as soon as she spots me. “I need a refill.”
I completely forgot what I was doing in the heat of the moment. “Oh, I’m sorry, I have to go.”
“You can’t leave. That’s so rude! This is a date.”
“I know, I’m sorry but it’s work. I have to get back to it.” I drop a note on the table to cover the cost of some of the drinks. “Tell Dan I will see him later, okay? This is very important.”
I can hear Megan calling after me as I go, but I don’t turn back. I need to get the hell away from her before
she winds me up even further. She’s never going to be for me so why waste time? Anyway, I need to get the fuck away from Jeremy before I lose my control.
I rush home with my brain spinning. All I can think about is the beautiful blonde woman with sheer terror in those sparkling pale green eyes of hers, as she cowers away at home. He’s kissing other women and she’s afraid, it isn’t right. I know that I’m helping her, but I need things to move quicker.
I need to speak to the only person who has a chance of understanding this. As soon as I crash through my front door, I pry open my laptop and hit the video call icon. I need to see Mom as I speak to her.
“Hello, son.” She looks tired. I think I might have woken her up, but she always answers my call. “You okay?”
“Oh, sorry, Mom. It’s only about eight AM there, isn’t it?”
“It’s okay. I wasn’t asleep. I was just getting up for some breakfast. You look harassed.” She runs her fingers through her hair, trying to calm her bed head down a bit. “You want to talk to me about it?”
“Yeah, I do if you don’t mind. I want to talk a bit about a case I’m working on.”
“The charity one?” I nod agreeably. “Okay, but don’t say too much.”
“I know, I can’t, but I can speak in vague terms, can’t I? So, there’s this woman who I’ve been working with who is incredibly vulnerable. She grew up in care and doesn’t have any biological family, which is how she ended up getting sucked into this marriage. Someone who seemed like a nice guy on the surface.”
“Yes, that’s the sort of women those monsters’ pry on. The women they should avoid.”
“Right, exactly. And I guess it’s the typical story that he turned on the charm at first, then turned into an asshole. Nasty to her, emotionally abusive, yelling all the time, frightening her…”
“Physically abusive?” Mom demands, needing the full picture.
“A bit. Nothing like you suffered, but I guess it could end up heading down that route.”
“It always starts small and ends up in a nightmare. Every story that I’ve heard follows that pattern.”
“Right, and he cheats on her a lot too. She told me that, and I also saw him kissing another woman at a bar tonight. I snapped a picture of him kissing for evidence…”
“You know this husband?”
“I don’t know him, but I am aware of him from the business scene.”
“Isn’t that a bit…?” She screws up her nose. “Unethical? That doesn’t feel… right to me.”
“I have to help her, Mom. You don’t understand. She needs help and only I can give it.”
“Why you? There are plenty of good lawyers in the city. It doesn’t have to be you at all.”
“Yes, but they don’t all work in the charity sector as well. I need it to be me,”