Free Unbreakable by Emma Scott

only earlier today, even if it felt like I’d known him for years.
    It’s just the stress of this situation. It’s forcing us all to bond together. For survival.
    “Hey.” I nudged his arm. “Tell me about Callie. You said she’s seven? In…second grade?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Does she like school?”
    “She does. She’s good at it. She likes to write stories.”
    He laughed lightly, his whole body relaxing, his face morphing back into the ‘breathtaking’ range of beauty as he spoke of his daughter.
    “She wrote this one story about a kid, a superhero, who flies around giving food to homeless people. That’s her whole superpower. Feeding the homeless.”
    “She’s got a big heart,” I said.
    “Yeah, she does,” he said. “What about you? You and your fiancé going to have kids?”
    I shifted again. I told myself it was just the hard floor. “Uh, no. We’re not. We’ve decided we’re too busy with our jobs. It wouldn’t be fair. To the child.”
    He blinked. “Really?”
    “Yes, really. Pardon me for offending.”
    “No, I just…” He made an inscrutable face. “Nothing.”
    “Are you one of those, ‘you aren’t a complete woman unless you have kids’-type of people?”
    “No, not at all.” Cory turned so that he was facing me head-on. “Kids or no kids, that doesn’t make a woman any less a woman. Doesn’t make her less of anything .” He shifted, his head cocked to the side as if he were studying me. “But you…It surprised me, is all. I had you pegged for a mom. Someday.” That crooked smile of his returned. “I’d make a terrible jury-picker, wouldn’t I?”
    No, you’d do just fine. I sighed. “I’m sorry I got pissy with you.”
    “You sure like to argue, don’t you?”
    A retort came to mind but I laughed instead. “It’s in my job description. If I still have a job when I get out of here.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Remember how I said the jury was in deliberations for a very important case? My most important case?”
    He nodded.
    “Well, they’re not sequestered. No doubt they’ve heard about my situation by now and if the defense attorney is any good—which I know he is—he’s going to ask the judge to declare a mistrial. He’ll argue that the jury might be overly sympathetic to me. Enough to sway their decision.”
    “You think the other side would do that?”
    “It’s what I’d do.”
    “So, if you lose this case or it’s a mistrial or whatever, you’ll lose your job?”
    I sighed. “Not really. It’ll just set me back. I’m hoping to be made partner at the firm I work for, and winning this trial would be my ace in the hole.”
    Cory furrowed his brow. “Oh.”
    “I mean, I’d have to start all over, practically from scratch,” I said quickly. “It would be a ton of work and I’d have to push back other potential suits and…” And why am I justifying myself to him? “Anyway, it’d be a lot of extra work.”
    He nodded. The worry line was back.
    “What about you?” I asked. “Is your boss going to give you a hard time for missing work? You’ve got a fool-proof alibi if he does.” I offered a smile he didn’t return.
    “Yeah, and a new scar to prove it,” he said grimly. “No, it’ll be business as usual for the contractor I work for. It’s like pulling teeth to get him to pay me and when he does, it’s usually for a lot fewer hours than I actually worked.”
    He sighed and toyed with the bloody rag in his hand.
    “No, the real question is going to be with my landlord. He only takes rent in cash or cashier’s checks. Been burned before by bad tenants. That’s why I was at this bank. My boss waited until the last damn minute to pay me, so I had to try to cash the check right away to pay the rent. But thanks to being stuck in here, I’m going to miss the payment. I’m pretty sure I’ll have been evicted from my apartment by the time we get out of here.”
    “Would he do that, your landlord? Even knowing the