Complete Me (Stark Trilogy, #3)(10)

I believe him, but I still don’t like seeing those pictures on newsstands and all over the television and Internet.

Right now, though, I’d be happy if the press’s only interest in us was who Damien was sleeping with. But that is not the focus of their attention today. Today, they’re out for blood, and murder is on the agenda.

It isn’t until we cross the threshold and enter the building that I realize that I have forgotten to breathe. I glance at Damien and manage a wan smile. He shakes his head. “If I could have left you in the hotel today, I would have.”

“I’d rather die than not be here with you.” Unfortunately, I think, being here may come close to killing me.

The halls are bustling with attorneys and court personnel, all moving efficiently to wherever it is they are going. I barely notice them. Honestly, I barely notice anything, and it’s with a bit of surprise that a uniformed guard hands me my purse and I realize that we’ve stepped through security.

A polished man in his mid-fifties with salt-and-pepper hair is hurrying toward us. This is Charles Maynard, the attorney who has represented Damien since he burst onto the tennis scene as a nine-year-old prodigy. He holds out his hand for Damien even as his eyes go to me. “Hello, Nikki. The row of seats immediately behind the defense table is reserved for my staff. You’ll sit there too, of course.”

I nod, grateful. If I can’t be beside Damien, at least I’ll only be inches away.

“We should talk before this begins,” he continues, his words directed to Damien. He glances at me. “You’ll excuse us?”

I want to scream in protest, but instead I nod. I don’t try to speak, too afraid that my voice will shake and betray me.

Damien reaches out and squeezes my hand. “Go on in,” he says. “I’ll see you shortly.”

Once again, I nod assent, but I don’t move. Instead I stand dully in the hallway as Maynard leads Damien a few yards away and then through the doors of the small conference room that I know has been assigned to his team for use during the trial. I stand a moment longer, unwilling to go through the heavy wooden doors that lead to the courtroom. Maybe if I never go in, the proceedings can never start.

I’m still there, cursing my own foolishness, when I think I hear my name from somewhere behind me, muddled by the sound of the crowd bustling in this wide, echoing hall. At first, I think it’s one of the reporters trying to get my attention. But there’s something familiar about it. I frown, because surely it’s not—

But it is. Ollie.

I see him the instant I turn around. Orlando McKee, the boy I grew up with, who has been one of my best friends since forever. The man who has repeatedly said that Damien is a danger to me.

The man who Damien believes is in love with me.

There was a time when I would have run to him, thrown my arms around him, and spilled out all my fears. Now, I’m not even certain how I feel about seeing him here.

I stand frozen as he hurries toward me. He arrives out of breath, his hand outstretched for mine. Slowly, he drops his when he realizes that I am not reaching out in return.

“I didn’t know you were going to be here,” I say blandly.

“I tried to reach you at the Kempinski this morning,” he says, “but you’d already left.”

“I have a cell phone,” I say.

He nods. “I know. I should have called. This was last minute. Maynard learned that I went to school with one of the junior attorneys on the prosecutor’s staff, and he wanted me here.”

“Law school?” I can’t figure out why a German prosecutor would go to a United States law school.

He shakes his head. “Undergrad. Small world, huh?”

“Does Damien know you’re here?” My voice is cold and clipped, and I’m certain that Ollie knows why. If Damien were selecting the legal team, Ollie would not be included.

Ollie has the good grace to look embarrassed. “No,” he says, then runs his hand through his hair. His usually unruly waves are combed back, and his fingers loosen a few strands that now fall in his face, brushing over his John Lennon–style glasses. “What was I supposed to tell Maynard?” he asks. “That Stark doesn’t want me around? I say that and I have to say why. And if Stark hasn’t told Maynard that I told you attorney-client privileged information, then I don’t see any reason to tell him myself.”

“You could have thought of something,” I say.

He nods slowly. “Maybe. But I’ve been working on Stark’s defense from Los Angeles. It’s been my full-time gig for over three weeks. I’m not here just because I have a personal connection, I’m here because I understand the law. I can be an asset, Nikki. And you know as well as I do that Damien needs all the help he can get.”

I force myself not to ask him what he means. Maynard is aware of the abuse in Damien’s past, that much I know for certain. But it was my understanding that not everyone on the team knows. Does Ollie? The thought makes me queasy, because I know how much Damien wants that aspect of his past to stay private. I can’t ask without revealing the facts, though. All I can do is hope that the reason Ollie isn’t in the current meeting is because he isn’t in that inner circle.

“Are you sitting at the counsel table?” I ask, and am relieved when he shakes his head.

“I thought I’d sit with you. If that’s okay.”