He Massaged My Legs While Marrying Another Woman novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Cost

Knox's POV

Lydia's lawyer called her in the truck, before we were out of Judith's driveway.

I heard his voice through the speaker, dry and fast.

"An emergency judge granted Preston a stay this morning," he said. "The board vote is off until the hearing on her capacity. They cited the medical forms she signed."

"When is the hearing?" Lydia asked.

"Friday. I'll need more than a recording. The detective who closed the case will reopen it for a confession, or for a lab result on that cuff. The lab says Thursday."

"Thursday," she said.

She hung up and sat looking out the windshield with her jaw set.

I wanted to put my hand on hers, and I didn't.

I had not earned the right, and she had not given it.

I dropped her at the hotel, and I did not go up with her.

I sat in the loading bay all night with the door rolled up, and I did not sleep.

I did three things on Monday morning, and I did them in front of people.

At seven, I called my lawyer into the ballroom.

He found me standing under the white floral arch, which the staff had not yet taken down.

"You want to do what?" he said.

"Withdraw the civil claim against Lydia Conwell. All of it, today, in writing."

"Knox, we filed that claim in August. It's the one thing that gives us a seat at the table if the Aldous side settles."

"I don't want a seat at that table."

"And the two million?"

"It's sitting in the Hartigan account where Judith's wire landed. I never spent a cent. I'll send it back to her trust before noon."

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