Green eyes she couldn’t remember. Full lips and shaped eyebrows. Did she pluck them or have them waxed? And how was it possible that she knew that women plucked and waxed but couldn’t remember what she preferred?
Her eyes started to water, and even that felt unfamiliar.
People cried. Emotions, pain . . . or both. So why did tears slipping down her cheeks feel like they were doing so for the first time?
“Take it,” she said, pushing the mirror into Ben’s hands.
“It will come back.”
She looked away and ignored his look of sympathy as he exited the room.
A few minutes passed, and the curtain moved.
“I know you’re out there,” she said to the woman lurking outside.
Finally, the woman exposed herself by walking around the curtain.
Tall, rail thin, rich dark hair pulled back into a single ponytail. Dark eyes, olive skin. She wore black from head to toe. She neither smiled nor frowned.
What she did do was stare.
“Do I know you?”
The woman didn’t answer the direct question. “My name is Sasha.”
“We find the defendant, Mykonos Sobol, guilty of . . .”
Leo blew out a long breath as the foreperson rattled off a dozen charges.
His fists clenched at his sides, and the smile in his heart punched his gut with relief. He glanced at the back of Marie Nickerson’s head. A head with a pixie cut courtesy of her assailants.
Her shoulders slumped, and her female attorney placed an arm over her shoulders while the male whispered in Marie’s ear.
Leo pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and immediately texted Claire. He knew Neil would inform her of the outcome, but he’d likely wait, and if it were him, Leo would want to know, real time, if he wasn’t there.
Guilty.
She texted back almost instantly.
Thank God.
Leo tucked his phone away and listened while the judge thanked the jury for their time and quick deliberation.
Mykonos sat huddled with his attorneys, eyes glaring across the room toward Marie.
Sitting behind him, Navi and his henchmen kept their eyes forward.
The courtroom itself was humming with activity as reporters undoubtedly texted their bosses in an attempt to get a jump on the headlines.
The judge closed the session by telling the defendant when sentencing would take place, then dismissed the jury and adjourned the trial.
Reporters rushed out.
The bailiff approached Mykonos to take him back into custody.
“Watch, the judge will go easy on him,” Fitz whispered at Leo’s side.
They’d seen it before. The jury did the right thing. The bad guy received a guilty verdict. And then the judge slaps him with a prickly rose and not a sledgehammer. Though there were too many charges for him to get off without doing real time in jail, there were no guarantees the judge would do the right thing.
Marie’s attorneys hugged the girl and offered their congratulations.
While she did have a slight smile on her lips, her expression was blank.
Numb.
One of the attorneys turned to Leo and Fitz. “Thank you. All of you.”
“I’ll pass that on to everyone.”
Marie looked in Leo’s eyes. “Thank Claire for me.”
“I’ll do that.” Leo smiled . . . wanted to give her some kind of assurance. Once she left the room, he’d likely never see her again. “Go grab that life you deserve.”
She lifted her chin ever so slightly. “I’ll try.”
A noise on the other side of the courtroom caught their attention.
Everyone turned to see Mykonos offer a confident smile to Marie.
Her attorney stood in front of her as Mykonos was escorted from the courtroom.
“Don’t let him rattle you, not now,” Leo told Marie. “We have the area secured. Once you’re settled, that man will have no way of knowing where you are.”
She looked blankly at a wall. “That won’t stop me from looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.”
No, he didn’t imagine it would.
Navi made his way to the end of the aisle and stopped only a few feet from where Leo and Fitz stood.
“We meet again,” Navi said to him.
Leo squared his shoulders, put himself between Marie and Navi.
“Get her out of here,” Fitz told Marie’s personal detail.
Out of the corner of his eye, Leo saw Marie being escorted away from the activity. Once she was out of view, he turned back to Navi.
“I hear you had an unfortunate accident the other night,” Navi said.
“And where did you hear that?”
“Shootings in Vegas are commonplace, but they still make the paper.”