Defenseless by Adrianne Byrd

husband, isn’t that correct?”
    Laura hesitated again, then slowly nodded her head.
    â€œThen you have no reason to feel guilty,” Dwayne reasoned, reaching out to take her hand.
    Laura quickly pulled back. “I have every right to feel this way,” she began. “I am guilty. I may or may not have physically killed him, but in my heart…I wanted to.”
    Dwayne leaned away from her and watched fresh tears roll down her face.
    â€œI loved him. I always thought that I could make this marriage work. He made me feel as if everything that was wrong was my fault. I wanted him to love me.”
    Dwayne’s jaw tightened as he listened to her confession. Her whole body shook as she wept. “I understand what you’re going through, Laura. There is no way we can change what has happened. It’s okay to feel this way—”
    â€œNo,” she interrupted, shaking her head. “It’s worse than that. I don’t know when I stopped loving him and started hating him.”
    Dwayne shook his head, not believing her words. “Laura, this man hurt you. He took your love, your trust and anything else you had to offer and just threw it away. I think you know exactly when you stopped loving him.”
    Laura closed her eyes and laughed softly to herself. “You sound like my sister.”
    â€œYour sister is right. You deserve better.”
    Laura fell silent again and nodded her head. A long pause hung in the air between them.
    Dwayne again noticed the purple and blue bruises across her face and felt his own anger mount at the animal who could inflict such brutality on his own wife. “Mrs. Durden, should I come back?”
    She shook her head.
    â€œFirst, I’m going to arrange your bail,” Dwayne said.
    Laura looked neither happy nor disappointed at the news. She just sat there as if she was lost in a trance.
    â€œMrs. Durden?”
    More tears rolled down her swollen cheeks. “I feel very confident about your innocence, and I know that your sister does, too.”
    â€œYeah,” Laura answered, dropping her head down to stare at her feet. “Good ole Sonya coming to the rescue.”
    Dwayne frowned at the sarcasm in her voice.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said as if reading his mind. “It’s just that I’m so scared.”
    Dwayne nodded his head in understanding. “I’ll get you out of here. I’ll talk to your sister about your bail.”
    Laura shook her head. “I don’t want you going to my sister about my bail money. I have some money in the bank. I insist on using it.”
    â€œDo you know how much your bail will be?”
    â€œI don’t care. I’ll use the house if I have to,” Laura answered, looking up to stare at him.
    Again Dwayne nodded. He didn’t quite understand what was going on, but if this was what she wanted to do, then so be it.
    A prison guard entered the room, and both Dwayne and Laura stood up. Dwayne remained watching Laura as she departed. He tried to absorb what had just happened. He sat down in his chair and let his mind drift to what he would’ve done had it been his sister behind these bars. Hell, if he even thought that James lifted a finger to his sister, it would’ve been him waiting to stand trial for murder. He reached for his pen as he wondered, what if it had been Bridget? His anger quickly returned and his pen snapped in half as he entertained such a thought. The ink oozing from his pen brought his attention back to reality. “Damn!” he cursed, jumping to his feet. He didn’t expect to feel so emotional about this case. Another rule he was breaking. What was it about these sisters that kept him on the edge?
    He left the small holding room to call his office.
    â€œHamilton, Locke and Associates.”
    â€œHello, Carmen. This is Dwayne. Did you get hold of Anthony for me?”
    â€œYes, and I was right. He wasn’t too happy