Free What He Hides (What He Wants, Book Seven) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) by Hannah Ford Page B

these sex games, tortured them mercilessly and then
hurt or killed them.
    The parallels between his case and Noah’s
were almost shocking.   There had
been other women Audi had been involved with, other women who’d ended up
missing or murdered. But there had never been enough evidence to arrest him.
    They’d finally gotten him with Rhonda
Callahan.   Audi had been spotted in
her apartment building moments before she was killed.   His DNA was all over the scene, and the knife he’d used to
kill her was left in the bedroom with his fingerprints on it.
    The prosecution painted a picture of a
sex game gone wrong.   They claimed
the sex had started out as consensual, but that Audi had pushed it too far,
that he’d kept going, tying Rhonda up and raping her for hours, even after she
told him to stop.
    Audi admitted that he’d killed
Rhonda.   But he claimed it had been
in self-defense.   He said he’d gone
to her apartment to break up with her, that they’d had sex before he told her
he wanted to end things.   They’d
participated in their rough sex games that night, but Rhonda liked it, had
pushed for it, had insisted it was the kind of sex she
wanted.
    When it was over, Audi claimed, he told
her he didn’t want to see her anymore. He said Rhonda lost it, ranting and
raving before coming after him with a knife, which he’d then used to kill her.
    It was a crazy story that stretched the
edges of believability.   Audi was a
big man, and to think that he needed to stab Rhonda twenty-one times in
self-defense was really beyond incredulity.
    But he’d gotten off.
    The man next to me shifted on his seat,
his leg pushing into mine and interrupting my thoughts.  
    “Sorry,” he said, giving me a smile.   He held out the bag of popcorn.   “Want some?”
    “No, thank you.”
    He was dressed in a pair of khakis and a
white dress shirt, obviously on his way to work.   I had no idea why he would be eating cheese popcorn for
breakfast, but his fingers were turning orange and it was making me
nervous.   He was going to get a
stain all over his crisp white shirt.
    He leaned over and glanced at my
screen.   “Audi James, huh?” he
said.   “That shit was crazy.”
    “You know the case?”
    “Oh, yeah,” he said.   “I’m kind of a trial junkie.   I watch them on livestreams, that kind
of thing.   You?”
    “I’m a law student.”
    “Oh, nice,” he said.   “You doing some kind of report or
something?”
    “Or something,” I said.   I gave him a polite smile, but I didn’t
really feel like making small talk with a stranger.   I had too much other stuff on my mind.  
    “That case was crazy,” the guy said,
obviously not getting the hint.   He
munched on his popcorn and shook his head, remembering.   “That guy was guilty as all hell.   It was so obvious to everyone.   But his attorney, man, he was
something.”   He frowned, a deep V
appearing in between his eyes as he tried to remember.   “What was that guy’s name?   He was the reason Audi James got
off.   No one else could have done
that.   Guy’s a legend.”
    My heart pounded in my chest and the
blood rushed through my ears.  
    I knew who had defended Audi James before
I even looked back down at the Wikipedia page.
    But I did anyway, just to see it there in
black and white.
    Audi James had been defended by Noah
Cutler .

 
    ***

 
    I couldn’t concentrate.
    All during class, my mind was a million
miles away.   When it was over, I
had no idea what had been discussed.   I was dimly aware of taking notes, but if you asked me what they were
on, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you.  
    When class was finished, I walked across
campus to the library, where I pulled out my laptop and typed up an email to
Professor Worthington summarizing what I’d learned from Noah this morning.   It wasn’t much, and I tried to pad the
email without making it obvious that’s what I was doing.   My fear was that if I didn’t get