Champagne Brunch: The Stiletto Sisters Series by Ainsley Claire (easy readers .txt) 📗

When I walk out, things are considerably less hectic, and I feel better too.

“Bex and Katrina have gone downstairs to watch a movie,” Lilly tells me when I enter the kitchen. “You look comfortable. How do you feel?”

“The slice of pizza and bourbon were a great help.”

“Would you like more?” Lilly asks.

“That would be fantastic. I didn’t eat at all today because I didn’t want to be sick before this morning started.”

As Lilly grabs me more pizza, Nate pours the bourbon and looks at Walker. “What can you tell us?”

I shrug.

Marci shakes her head. “It’s hard to say. We were shuttled back from the courthouse by the local team. The pilot was with the helicopter most of the day, as far as I know. We arrived, and I made polite conversation until we took off. Everything seemed fine, but when we were over the densest forest, there was a pop sound, and just like in the movies, every alarm started going off and the pilot told us to hang on.”

I shiver, thinking how quickly I went from daydreaming about Corinne and Jackson’s beautiful wedding and Landon’s last-minute win at the poker weekend in Hawaii to holding on and cursing Viviana for trying to kill me.

“I know Viviana was behind it,” I tell everyone. “We may never be able to prove it, but she’s always been a little vindictive. Remember when she sold her company and thought she didn’t get a good enough deal so she dished all that shit at Mason? She froze him out after that.”

“I think Mason came out ahead in that one,” Walker notes.

“They must be really scared about what you had to say to the State Department,” Nate says to me. “Tell us how this morning went.”

I look over at Marci next to Walker, and it seems like he’s almost holding her up. But she smiles at me all the same. “Mia was incredible again today.”

“It was pretty amazing,” I tell them. “Outside was wall to wall reporters, and inside it was Marci and me with the attorneys for the government. Viviana was there via television from Colorado, plus a court reporter and a sketch artist.”

“They didn’t fly her in?” Nate asks. “Did you guys know that?”

Walker puts down his glass of water. “They decided it was too risky to move her. Her network is deep and reaches well beyond our borders, so they didn’t want to take any chances.”

“Wow,” Lilly says. “I thought she had the right to face her accusers.”

“That’s why she was on a videocall,” Walker explains. “That took us the longest to litigate before the hearing. It went all the way to the attorney general, and there is precedence in extreme cases.”

“She can enjoy Colorado weather for the rest of her life, as far as I’m concerned,” Nate says. “How did it seem the government was leaning? I’m due to have lunch next week with President Bolden.”

I shrug. “I couldn’t tell.”

“How did it go seeing Viv again—even if it was on a screen?” Lilly asks.

I shake my head. “I really didn’t see her. I sat back, and the television was positioned so the attorneys could see her. She may have seen me, but I had no more than a glimpse. She didn’t look very good. I’m not sure incarceration agrees with her.” I smirk. “Her red highlights have grown out, and she had dark circles under her eyes.”

“Was she dressed nice, at least?” Lilly asks.

I shake my head. “It probably pisses her off. She was always so put together—perfectly highlighted hair, perfect manicure and makeup, and of course, high-fashion outfits. Today she was in an orange prison jumpsuit with a white long-sleeve shirt underneath.”

“My how the mighty have fallen,” Nate snarks. “What about the questions from the government and her lawyers?”

“Nothing was too surprising. They asked me the questions about how we met, what we did together, if she ever talked about Cecelia or Nate. There were no curveballs.”

“I know Abram Frieman, the US Attorney for the District of Oregon, comes off a little too…” Walker crunches up his face.

“Smarmy?” Marci suggests.

“I don’t know if I’d say that—”

“I would,” Nate agrees, and I nod.

Walker rolls his eyes. “Anyway, he’s a good attorney, and I’m just glad this case is with him, rather than his assistant. He doesn’t want to see her go back to Russia either.”

“What did her counsel ask you?” Nate inquires.

“If you can believe this, absolutely nothing. They reserved the right to recall me at a later date.”

Nate whips his head over to Marci and Walker. “What do you think she’s planning?”

Marci looks at Walker. She knows something we don’t.

“Remember, this isn’t the trial,” Walker says. “This is only reviewing the facts to determine whether the State Department is going to trade Viviana for three US citizens the Russians are holding because they claim they’re spies. There are three prongs to the indictment. You guys are with the murder prong. They also have to work through corporate espionage and stealing state secrets. Meanwhile, the Russian government doesn’t want to tip their hand until the trial.”

He takes a drink of his water. “The trial—if they don’t trade her back to the Russians—is scheduled to start in January. The US Attorney will call witnesses, which we think will mean almost sixty days in court. Then Viviana’s legal team will move to dismiss. Since they won’t get that, they’ll just rest their case. They won’t present any defense. They feel confident they have a trump card with either the Bolden administration or by waiting four years and asking a new administration for a trade. Meanwhile, they’re jailing more tourists each month under false pretenses.”

“They want to trade Viviana, a high-profile Russian spy, for a group of tourists?” Axel says in a low voice.

Walker sighs. “Most