What He Commits (What He Wants, Book Thirteen) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the way
he was looking at me made me feel like I had to say something, that me just
insisting everything was okay wasn’t going to be enough for him.   Maybe a part of me wanted him to tell
me everything was going to be okay.   But instead of comforting me, his tone turned dark.
    “Charlotte,” he said.   “You need to get it together.   In a couple of hours, you are going to
be one of the most important witnesses in an evidentiary hearing in which the
stakes could not be higher.”
    “I know,” I said.  
    “Do you?”    he asked.   “Do you really?”   His voice
was raised, and group of girls walking down the hall glanced at us
curiously.   It wasn’t unusual to
see a student have a meltdown, but it was unusual for her to be doing it in
front of her professor.  
    “Charlotte,” Professor Worthington said
and moved closer to me.   “Get
yourself together.   This is
nothing.   I have been working
nonstop on this case, keeping my practice running, going through a divorce, and
still teaching my classes.   You
have no idea what pressure is.   Now
figure it out.”
    He turned around and walked back into the
classroom, the heavy oak door shutting behind him.
    My knees felt weak, and my first instinct
was to collapse into one of the chairs by the window, or to run to Noah.
    But then I realized Professor Worthington
was right.
    When had I become so weak?   When had I become the kind of girl who
forgot about tests and worried about what her classmates thought of her?   I’d earned my place in this
school.   I’d always been a hard
worker, a fighter, the kind of person who didn’t give up.
    Was it Noah? I wondered.   Had he made me weak?
    No, I decided.   It wasn’t Noah.   There was nothing weak about giving yourself to another person, to
letting your walls down so much that you gave your trust without expecting
anything in return.   That was one
of the strongest, hardest things you could do.
    No, if anything, Noah made me
stronger.   Fighting for someone you
loved was one of the most difficult things you could do.
    I was strong.
    I was going to get through this.
    I was going to get Noah out of this
mess.  
    I would go to the evidentiary
hearing.   I would kick ass.   I would show the prosecutors I was
anything but weak.
    And then I would lure Josh out.   I’d get him to make a mistake.   And I’d prove once and for all that he
was the one who killed Katie.

 
    ***

 
    When I met back up with Noah, I showed no
sign that I’d been having a meltdown.
    We made a pit stop back at his apartment,
where I changed into a dark skirt, heels, and dark jacket.   I pulled my hair back into a low bun
and slid a pair of simple gold hoops through my ears.
    The ride to the courthouse was silent,
the air between us heavy with tension.
    I knew this was a big deal, and Noah did
too.
    And yet we didn’t talk.  
    Surprisingly, the silence was almost
comforting.   There was nothing to
say, and talking would have done nothing but make me more nervous, jumbling my
head into a tangle.   The quiet
allowed me to get my thoughts together, to collect myself, to get into a
zone.   I felt like a soldier going
off to battle.   I had weapons on my
side – my smarts, my strength, my love for Noah and his love for me, the
fact that I had some knowledge of the law, which would make me more able to
recognize when the prosecution was trying to trip me up.
    We parked the car and walked toward the
courthouse.
    I felt strong.
    I felt like it was me and Noah against
the world.    He reached for my
hand, and I held it tight.   There
was a throng of reporters outside of the courthouse, and they snapped pictures
of us.
    I didn’t care.
    I wasn’t even thinking about it.
    I was laser focused.
    We walked through the metal detectors and
into the courtroom.
    Professor Worthington was already
there.   Clementine sat next to him,
her head bent over a document, looking chic in a navy pantsuit and cream
blouse.
    But there