Razor Sharp | ✓

Thirty-Five

I suck in a breath, scared to ask my next question. "Where is he, Noah? Where is everyone?"

"I'm going to start at the beginning," he says, leaning back in his chair, lacing his hands through his hair. "You've been here for a week now and so much has happened. A lot of it you aren't going to like, so just prepare yourself, alright?"

I gulp, my hands shaking once again. "Okay," I whisper. "Just—just get this over with."

Noah breathes out slowly, looking anywhere around the room except at me. Until eventually, his gaze finds mine and I know that I'm going to be heartbroken. 

"Andy got bail," he stammers, bringing his hands into fists, "and he's awaiting his trial which has been pushed forward to next month. The prosecution has a very strong case against him and it's highly unlikely that he will get anything less than 25 years."

"Ridge...well, because he's still seventeen his trial will be at the children's court. Honestly, the people I've been speaking to don't think he'll even go to a juvenile detention centre. They think he's most likely looking at a 12-month community corrections order, especially seeing as he had no direct involvement with your kidnapping. Although, he was aware of you being there and he often helped his dad out with drug runs. We'll have to wait and see what happens."

Ridge. I never even thought that he would be affected by this. I never even thought that he might end up in trouble for his father's mess. It isn't even really his fault. His dad is manipulative and he is the only parent that he has left. How can you blame a kid for doing something wrong when everything he does begins with the man who is supposed to look after him?

Noah drops his gaze and I realise that now he's about to tell me the worst part of it. That everything he's just explained isn't even half as bad.

"Dad, he...dad covered for me," he whispers, lacing his fingers together in his lap. "He lied to the police when they raided our house and found the drugs. He said I never knew anything about it. I was going to confess, but he—he made me promise that I would be there for you, that I wouldn't leave you alone, not now, when you need all the family support you can get."

I close my eyes, scared about what he's going to say next. I love Noah, and I know that family is one of the most important things to him. It would have been hard to let our father get the fall for all of it when Noah used to willingly help with the drug runs.

"The Razors were arrested and—and so were The Skulls. They're all awaiting their trials." He stays quiet, too quiet for too long.

"Noah," I whisper, "where's dad?"

When he glances back at me, I almost begin to cry. The look of absolute pain written across his face makes me want to crawl into a ball, burying myself from the rest of this terrible world.

"He got bail. But he was arrested for drug possession and dealing. He's been charged, and the lawyers think that he'll get..." Noah trails off and I clench my fists, preparing for my heart to shatter.

"How long, Noah? How long will he be gone?"

"They think—they think that he'll get... around fifteen years."

Fifteen years? Fifteen years? I'll be in my thirties. I might be married and have children. I might have a completely new life that my dad will have missed out on. He will be locked away while my life changes.

"It's possible he could get less, but...it's unlikely," Noah says, hanging his head.

I look up at the white-washed ceiling, feeling my life crumbling to pieces in a matter of seconds. A tear falls across my cheek, rushing past my ear.