Attest (Centrifuge Duet Book 2)(4)
Her cryptic statement sends a chill up my spine that quickly spreads through me. The determined gleam that I find when I meet her eyes turns the cold into ice and I feel my organs freeze inside my body. I thought that losing Amber and being jailed for life for two murders that I didn’t commit were the worst things that could happen. Unfortunately, the woman who stands across the room from me with evil intent written all over her promises otherwise.
I’m being unwillingly recruited into a viper’s den of deception.
“Why are you showing me all this?” I jab the picture of Amber’s parents to emphasise my point, studiously avoiding looking at Amber and her children again. “What the fuck do you want from me?”
A leering grin is my only response. The woman is silent as she bundles the photos back into the file, then folds it shut and pushes it across the cold, metal surface until it hits my chest where I rest against the table. Gritting my teeth, I’m vaguely aware of her heels clacking against the concrete floor while I read the sheet of paper clipped to the front of the folder. The muscle in my jaw screams and I hear one of my teeth crack as what I’m reading sinks in.
NAME: Xander Barrett
AGE: 32
CRIME: Two Counts of Murder in the First Degree
CURRENT SENTENCE: Life without parole
PROPOSED NEW SENTENCE: $3,000,000 restitution and parole with strict conditions
PROPOSED PAROLE CONDITIONS: Assassination of Judge Brian McManus and wife, Marigold, Malcom and Cynthia St. George, Henry and Elizabeth Ray, and Amber, Jaxon Jnr., and Charlie Ray within thirty (30) days of release.
NOTES: This is not a negotiation, Xander. I say proposed when I truly mean “agreed”. Inside you will find outlined a list of methods of persuasion to be employed in the unlikely event that you do not willingly accept this plea deal.
I look forward to working with you,
B xx
The door to the visitor’s room slams shut at the same time as I slap my hands down on the table and explode to my feet. My movements are hampered by the chains that bind my limbs; however, I still manage to march to the door in just a few seconds. The guards cross their arms over their chests and refuse to step aside when I attempt to grab the door handle. I push between them anyway, raising my fist and belting the steel door with a fury that threatens to explode from my fingertips.
“Do you think this is funny?” I yell as loud as I can. “You’re already dead as far as everyone is concerned. It won’t strain my conscience a bit to make that a fucking reality.”
When I try to punch the door again, my arms are seized by the guards and I’m wrestled to the ground. They bash my face into the concrete and my nose explodes from the impact. The heaviest guard sits on me, ramming his knee into my kidney for good measure, while the second one opens the door. Then, I’m lifted to my feet and they begin dragging me back down the corridor.
The fight has left me. My head is spinning—not just from the collision with the floor, but in confusion. How daft is this bitch to think that she can propose that I can just up and murder nine people? And, in exchange for what? My freedom? My life? I’d rather fucking die than touch a hair on Amber’s head.
And, her kids? The crazy cunt is dreaming if she thinks I’m capable of murdering two little kids.
My breath is stolen when I’m thrown through the door of my cell and onto the floor. I roll into a ball, wincing when I brush my busted nose against my upper arm. A bunch of paperwork floats down over my prone form when one of the guard’s tosses the folder into my cell after me.
“Use your brains, Barrett.” The gruff voice of the porn-loving guard bounces around my aching skull. “People like you don’t get offered deals like this every damn day. What would you rather? Rot away in here or get paid to off some rich fuckers so you can go free? Seems like a no-brainer to me.”
Blood is dripping down the back of my throat from my bleeding nose. I spit a mouthful onto the floor before I push myself into a sitting position. The guard’s gaze burns a hot trail over me while I gather the contents of the folder together, but I ignore him.
What the hell is there left to say?
He makes it sound so simple.
Except it’s anything but.
I’m just a school teacher.
I can’t kill anyone.
TWO
The moment the door to my cell slams shut, I let the pages in my hands fall to the ground. Drawing my knees to my chest, I hug them and rock myself back and forth. My nerve endings are fried. My brain is working in overdrive, and I’d love nothing more than a jackhammer and enough time to dig my way out of this prison.
I need to get away from this hell.
It takes some serious concentration, but I eventually force my thoughts to quit spiralling. Before I found myself trapped in the chaos created by Amber’s past, I was known for my iron self-control and never back down attitude. Once I used it to calm a classroom full of twelve-year-old students who resented my presence, right now I need it to find a way out of this mess I’m in.
Preferably without blood on my hands.
“Righto,” I mutter to myself without an iota of embarrassment as I cross my legs in front of me on the cold floor. “Let’s see what I’m up against.”
Sorting the contents of the file into piles helps me settle a little more, and by the time I have three neat stacks in front of me, I’m ready to tackle the depravity that I know lays within.