The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate (Jason and Laila) by Caroline Above Story novel Chapter 246

Chapter 246

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He seemed stressed and fired He was only assigned my case this morning? Had he even finished looking at my files?

Gods, things were looking worse and worse for me.

“So… Laila… please tell me why exactly you’ve been masquerading as Vanessa Harper.”

He was my lawyer, so I did my best to explain as clearly as I could, telling him about my time at the pack house, about how I was kicked out, how I tried to survive through a tough pregnancy and how Vanessa found me and supported me. How she was going through her own hard times with her terminal diagnosis.

“So you are saying she just… gave you permission to take over her life?” he asked, his skepticism clear in his tone of voice. “Vanessa insisted,” I said. “It’s what she wanted. She only asked that I helped take care of her little sisters.”

Perry ran his hand down his face. “You have to know how insane that sounds. Please tell me you have some proof to back up these claims.”

Defeat started to swell inside of me. “All of our conversations were done on the phone or in person…”

“No letters? Emails? Text threats? Nothing?”

T

I shrugged, hopeless.

He sighed. “I’m going to be honest with you, Laila. Without proof of what you are saying, we can’t counter the imposter charges against you. And with those charges in place, murder isn’t too far of a leap, though I’ll say otherwise in court. It might be better for you to try to take a plea deal. Maybe we can get your sentence down to a handful of years in prison.”

“I can’t go to prison,” I said adamantly. “My daughter needs me.”

My lawyer looked at me a moment, then shook his head. “Alright. Your funeral. I’ll do my best for you, but don’t blame me when they throw the book at you. There’s no defense here. I can’t just magic this away for you.”

“I’ll tell them the truth,” I said.

“That’s all we really can do,” he said. “Well, that and pray. I’ve already started doing that.”

Me, too.

Mr. Waters and I continued to try to formulate some strategy, but even as he thought of different angles, he would change his mind and mutter, “That will never work.”

Eventually, it came time for my proceeding, so we walked from the meeting room across the hallway to the courtroom.

To my surprise, more people than I had thought filled the seats. Most of them seemed to be reporters, probably looking for a scoop. Impersonation was a big deal in the werewolf world, and with a murder charge on top of it, the case was bound to be sensationalized by the media.

I searched the crowd and saw Riley. Sitting beside her was… Jason?

Our eyes met, and my treacherous heart fluttered. I scolded myself for feeling attraction to him, even now, on the cusp of my ruin. Still, something about seeing him here helped renew my strength that had been flagging since seeing Adelaide talking to the judge.

I had reasons to fight. Reasons to stay strong and not give in to despair.

Walking with Perry, we moved to the defendant’s table. We stood as the judge came in, and then sat down again as the proceeding began. As I dreaded, the judge was the same one that had been friendly with Adelaide.

“Now,” the judge said. “I would like this young lady to stand up and tell this court exactly who she is. None of these proceedings

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