The phone call to the barrister dragged on, and I could feel the knot in my stomach tightening. They had to let William testify again—he had to. After talking to Tim last night, I realized I couldn’t keep running from this, not from her, not anymore. When I got off the phone, Jette tried to steady me.
She warned me that Adam wouldn’t go easy on the lad, that it floored him last time. I told her I wasn’t scared of him. My brief reckoned the judge would give Will another chance to say his piece. When I asked him if he still wanted to go through with it, he didn’t hesitate.
“I do. ”
I gave the box a quick once-over and told him we’d be heading back to court. The glamour never stops. We found Sam waiting outside the court with magazines—one on general science, one on astronomy.
He was still angry, and I couldn’t blame him. We hadn’t told him the truth about the trial, and he was tired of being lied to. He mentioned Leon was supposed to visit him yesterday but never showed. I promised to call her.
The ushers announced another hold-up. Sam was getting restless, muttering about how long this was dragging on. I told him to be patient, but I could see the frustration boiling over. Meanwhile, the charm offensive was in full swing.
The hotel room, the room service, the bottle of bubbly—it was all part of the act. She was playing him, and he was falling for it. She asked if it was all to impress her. He laughed and said maybe.
It was working. We found out later that Leon had been shacked up in a hotel room with that creep Idris. That’s why she forgot Sam. When Toya confronted her, Leon tried to play it off, but the damage was done.
She hadn’t even heard her phone ring because it was on silent. Turns out, her boyfriend muted it so she wouldn’t be disturbed during their little getaway. When the court finally reconvened, the judge allowed the crown’s application to recall William. Miss Lambert wasted no time.
She took him back through his original interview, where he’d denied everything. Now he was changing his story—admitting the relationship was sexual, admitting Megan had threatened him to keep quiet. Adam ripped into him, calling him a liar, pointing out he’d lied under oath before. But William held his ground.
He said he was scared for Megan, scared of what would happen to her in prison. But now he was done protecting her. He said she groomed him, abused him, and someone needed to stop her before she did it again. When he stepped down, I told him he did brilliantly.
But he was still doubting himself, worried the jury wouldn’t believe him after he’d lied before. I told him we believed him, and the jury would too. Later, the psychiatrist pulled us aside and said Sam’s release would have to be delayed because he was still upset and not talking much. Sam didn’t take it well.
He said he felt like a prisoner and he was getting out of there no matter what anyone said. And then, on the way out, Megan cornered William. She called him a pathetic little boy, said she only gave him the time of day because she felt sorry for him. She told him the jury would never find her guilty and warned him to watch his back.
She was still playing games. But for the first time, William didn’t back down.
