Chapter 24: 16| Bleed-2

An agitated sigh escaped me as I rolled my window down and rested my elbow on it, running my thumb along my bottom lip. I used to wonder if things would be different had she not left after fighting my case but I suppose I was lucky never to find out. The cuffs were chained down to the table, keeping me from moving more than a foot away from it. Two days in this dingy interrogation room were enough to push my patience to its limit. "What happened to your face?" Dante asked, leaning back in his seat. Upon his mentioning it, I lifted the back of my hand, wiping the blood off the corner of my mouth and nose. "They treated me really fucking well here," I replied dryly. "Did you find me an attorney?" Pausing, he checked the time on his watch. "Cal should be here with her any second now." I sighed slowly as the realization dawned on me, my jaw ticking as I ground my teeth. "Her?" "You don't have another choice, Tristan. She's the only one who we managed to convince. Trust me, she's not happy to do this and you'll be paying her nothing less than a million dollars. That was the deal." And they were foolish enough to take it. Un-fucking-believable. "Don't fuck this up," he warned me, rising to his feet, "she's your last shot." The door swung open again with an annoyed Wilson standing there. "Mr. Harper," he said to me, "your attorney's here. I'm afraid you must leave, Mr. Rossi." "With pleasure," Dante replied, holding my gaze until he spun around and left. As Wilson continued to hold the door open, I saw Dante stop beside Cal outside first but only seconds later, she finally came into view. Instead of walking in, she stopped in the doorway, right in front of Wilson. "Uncuff him," she demanded, turning to the cop. "Excuse me?" Wilson scoffed in response. "I said, uncuff him." "He's being detained, Ms. Milano." "Then you can detain him without the cuffs." Wilson shifted his weight. "We decided he was too dangerous to be left uncuffed." "Well, I'm the one meeting him, Mr. Wilson. If he hurts me, I'll take responsibility for it. So do as I say… and uncuff him. Now." Her eyes met mine. Neither one of us looked away, not even as Wilson walked over and unlocked the handcuffs for the first time since I'd been here. They wouldn't even let me use the fucking bathroom without cuffs on me. "You may leave," she said to him, strolling in with a file in her hands like she owned the damn place. Throwing the file on the table, she sighed softly and shrugged off her blazer. She was dressed in all white, looking purer than a goddamn angel. Without the suit, she revealed the matching plain white waistcoat she wore. Without pausing, she grabbed her pencil out of the file and twisted her hair back, pinning it in place as she sat. "Mr. Harper," she greeted. "Ms. Milano," I greeted. Her eyes danced across my face for several seconds, taking in every inch. "How much did they beat you?" she asked, diverting her attention to the file as she opened it. I ran my thumb under my nose, wiping whatever was left of the blood. "Enough," I retorted. "To get a false confession?" she asked. I shot her a blank look. "No?" she mused, lifting a brow, "just enough to scare you then?" I ran my tongue over the cut on my lip as I exhaled. "Why are you here?" I questioned. She chuckled dryly, leaning back in her chair. "I'm here to save your ass from going to jail, Mr. Harper. This is the first and quite possibly the last time I'm coming here to see you. If you refuse to work with me, I'll walk away. But remember, if you agree, you'll do as I say." "Will I now?" She shrugged lightly and stood up, rounding the table and sitting on top of it right in front of me. "If you want to be acquitted in court, you have to do things my way." Her gaze drifted down to my attire as she took in my button-up. The sleeves had been rolled up to my forearms for the sake of the handcuffs but the loose tie and the broken buttons told her enough. "They made you bleed. Since Torrance did this, I'm sure you'd like to see him bleed too, wouldn't you? Did you fight back?" she interrogated, tugging the pencil out of her hair. As it fell down her back, she brought the back of the pencil under my chin, tilting my face up as she analyzed every wound. "Do you think I would have so many wounds on me if I had?" I retorted. "I doubt you can fight," she taunted. I moved to grab her pencil but she moved faster, her reflexes heightened the way they usually would be around me. Grabbing my wrist, she pinned my hand onto the table and brought the pencil down with full force, nailing it to the table, right between my fingers, missing one by less than an inch. Taking my tie, she pulled me closer. "My patience is already wearing thin and Cal's nagging has pissed me off enough for one day. Don't tempt me. If you want me to be your attorney, you have to learn to work with me. Once we're done, you can go your way and I'll go mine. We'll be back to business. But until then I'm in control. Understand?" I held her gaze as she leaned in closer, leaving just an inch between us. "Tristan?" she called out warningly. "On one condition," I bargained. She stared at me impatiently. "Get me out of here tonight. If you manage to bail me out, you're hired." She snickered, sliding off the table. "You need this more than I do and you're in no position to hire me. But I'll humor you. Give me two hours and I'll make sure your bail is approved." Spinning around, she sauntered out of the room. When she came back just over an hour later, it was with my bail paid and the approved paperwork in her hands. As my attorney, she did everything right, she did whatever the fuck it took to keep me out of jail, even though I was being wrongfully committed. When Torrance made me bleed and she took the responsibility of being my attorney, she made sure he shed as much blood as I did. Since those bastards made her bleed, I'd make sure they bled out to death. . . . . . Chapter 16 the next chapter will be in Tristan's POV again cuz I just want to write how he tortured those men lol