𝐀𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐫 || 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐖𝐨𝐧

Chapter 33

Once Mingyu had established that Wonwoo was safe and out of reach of his alpha team, the next step was getting access to him. That turned out to be a lot more complicated than it sounded, with a ton of paperwork and constant phone calls.

All in all, it was almost a week before they agreed to let him see Wonwoo. And another three days before they’d even schedule their meeting. As Wonwoo’s alpha, Mingyu was allowed to attend the meeting with his legal representative, as well as visit with Wonwoo one-on-one.

He and Corporal Jaehwan—Wonwoo’s legal advocate—were sitting in the meeting room waiting for Wonwoo to be brought in.

“Don’t get up,” the corporal told him. “Stay seated until the guards have sat Anchor Jeon down and left again. For your omega’s sake, it would be best to minimize emotional outbursts. We have a lot of work to get through.”

Mingyu barely had time to acknowledge Corporal Jaehwan’s words before the door opened and Wonwoo was led in. His wrists were bound, but that was all, which helped Mingyu keep calm as his mate was led across the room. He wanted to get up and shove the guards off him, wanted to break Wonwoo out of there and run away with him. But that wouldn’t help Wonwoo, not really, so he did as the corporal asked and sat there. He never once took his eyes from Wonwoo as the omega was seated across from them.

The guards exited the room, the heavy door closing securely behind them. Before he or Wonwoo could speak, the corporal got down to business.

“Anchor Jeon, I’m your legal advocate, Corporal Jaehwan. We have much to do this morning. Let’s start with—”

Wonwoo exchanged a wide-eyed look with Mingyu, who shrugged helplessly and reached a hand across the table for the omega. He clasped Wonwoo’s bound hands tightly, and they both gave Corporal Maven their full attention.

To say the outlook was grim was an understatement.

“They tend to sentence consecutively rather than concurrently for charges of this magnitude.” Corporal Jaehwan spoke as if he was discussing something routine and not the rest of Wonwoo’s life. Hell, for the corporal, this was probably an everyday conversation. “For the assaults, you’re looking at three to five years apiece. Three years for desertion of your post. And a handful of other charges they’ve tacked on that’ll add six to twelve months each. All in all, worst-case scenario, you’re looking at eighteen years.”

Mingyu swallowed heavily at that. Eighteen years? Their kids would be all grown up by the time Wonwoo saw freedom again.

“I should be able to have some of the lesser charges dismissed, and possibly get at least one of the assault charges bargained down to the lower sentence. Best case, I’d say… eleven years. Maybe ten.”

Wonwoo was staring at the wall behind them, his face pale.

“Ten years?”

“Best case,” the corporal repeated. “They may want to make an example out of you, to discourage others from following in your footsteps.”

“No one would willingly do what I did,” Wonwoo said quietly.

“That’s a good point,” Mingyu said. “What about the circumstances? Surely, they take those into account? Wonwoo reported what was going on multiple times to half a dozen people. That must count for something.”

The corporal looked confused. “What circumstances are these? What reports?”

Mingyu exchanged another wide-eyed glance with the omega. “Wonwoo, has anyone actually spoken to you yet? Got your side of the story?”