lit up when he spoke her name, and the way he watched her from across the room, like nobody else on earth existed.
“Ms. Hartley?”
“I’m sorry.” She blinked to bring the lawyer back into focus. “What was the question?”
“Did your sister believe Konrad loved her?”
“Yes.”
“Would you say they were happy together?”
“At first,” Devin admitted.
“What changed?”
Devin’s glanced drifted to Lucas again. “She found out it was all a scam. Lucas and Konrad wanted Amelia to inherit their grandfather’s estate.”
The lawyer moved closer, his voice going lower, less theatrical. “How did she find this out?”
“She overheard a conversation between Konrad and his brother Lucas.”
“What did they say?”
“That they’d thwart Steve by having Amelia.”
“Any chance your sister misunderstood their meaning?”
“No.”
“Any chance she heard the words out of context?”
“No.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“I spent the next year helping her get over Konrad’s betrayal.”
The lawyer backed off, and Devin took a breath. She tried hard not to meet Lucas’s eyes, but she found her attention drawn in his direction, more and more frequently.
“And what did Konrad do during that year?” asked the lawyer.
“He tried to win her back.” Devin said the words more to Lucas than to anyone else. “He tried every trick in the book to get her and Amelia to come back to him. But she wouldn’t do it.”
Lucas’s lips compressed in a thin line.
“You believe Konrad was insincere?” asked the lawyer.
“Yes.”
The lawyer looked to Lucas, and Lucas gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head.
The lawyer cocked his head sideways and waited.
Lucas shook again.
There was some kind of silent argument going on between them.
Then the lawyer turned back to Devin. “Ms. Hartley, I understand you broke into Lucas Demarco’s personal email account.”
Lucas brought his hand down on the table and started to rise, but another lawyer grasped his shoulder to hold him down.
“Ms. Hartley?”
“I didn’t ‘break’ into it.” There’d been no password. It was conceivable that she’d accidentally opened it.
“But you did look at Mr. Demarco’s private emails.”
Devin swallowed. “Yes.”
“Why?”
Her voice came out slightly high-pitched, but the man was beginning to frustrate her. “To prove I was right.”
“And did you prove that?”
Devin resettled herself in the witness chair and told herself to calm down. “I read an email from Lucas to Konrad that said, ‘I’m counting on you.’ They were talking about Monica.”
“And you interpreted that to mean Lucas was counting on Konrad to woo Monica, marry her quickly and have a baby in order to capitalize on their grandfather’s will.”
“Yes.”
“Is that what the email said?”
Devin didn’t understand the question, and she gave her head a reflexive little shake.
“Was the email that specific?” asked the lawyer. “Did it go in to the details of the alleged plot, or did it simply say ‘I’m counting on you’?”
“‘I’m counting on you,’” Devin repeated.
“So, for all you know, Lucas could have been counting on Konrad to pick up a quart of milk on the way home?”
Devin’s lawyer jumped to his feet. “Objection, Your Honor.”
“I’ll allow it,” said the judge.
The lawyer carried on. “They could have been referring to anything.”
“Maybe,” Devin was forced to admit. “But-”
“Why would he try to win her back?” the lawyer shot out, startling Devin.
“Excuse me?”
“Why would Konrad, having already married Monica, already impregnated Monica, clearly having fulfilled the terms of his grandfather’s will. Why would he then spend pretty much every waking minute for the next year trying to win her back?”
Devin hesitated.
Once again, she found her glance going to Lucas.
For some reason, he’d stopped looking aggressive. He almost looked compassionate. Was he feeling sorry for her? Was she doing so badly on the stand that she evoked his pity?
“He wanted her back because he loved her,” said the lawyer.
“Speculation,” said Devin’s lawyer.
“Rephrase,” said the judge.
The lawyer moved closer to Devin, speaking slowly and deliberately. “If Konrad had truly loved Monica, and if she had misunderstood a conversation between him and his brother, and if she had left him, what would you expect him to do?”
Devin paused. She knew she’d walked right into a trap. But there she was. She couldn’t get out.
And the lawyer was right. If she took a giant step back from her sister’s emotional upset, Konrad had done everything a man in love might do. Devin couldn’t be positive he hadn’t loved Monica. Nor could she be positive he’d manipulated her.
The truth came to Devin in a blinding wave.
Lucas was right. He’d been right all along, and she couldn’t lie about it.
She looked directly at Lucas. “I’d expect a man in love to try to win his wife back.”
Lucas gave Devin a ghost of a soft, compassionate smile. He looked genuinely regretful at the turns of events. He couldn’t be, of course. By rights, he should be celebrating.
There was a strangled exclamation from the back of the room, as Steve threw up his hands in disgust.
“I ask again,” said the lawyer to Devin, “is there any chance Monica misunderstood Konrad and Lucas’s conversation?”
“Yes,” Devin admitted, blinking against the sting of tears. Lucas was going to win it all. And he was going to take Amelia away from her. And she’d have to beg him for every second she spent with her niece.
The lawyer looked to Lucas again, and this time Lucas nodded.
“Why did you take Amelia away from the Demarco security last weekend?” asked the lawyer.
Here it was. The final nail in Devin’s coffin. She drew a bracing breath. “I found out Lucas was manipulating me.” She stopped talking, feeling sick to her stomach. Was Lucas really going to make her admit in open court that they’d had an affair.
“Because you overheard a conversation?” asked the lawyer.
Devin nodded. Her throat was closing over and her stomach was in knots.
“Any chance you misunderstood?”
Devin started to shake her head.
