"She went around with a broken heart,
and she wasn't sure who'd broken it.
She thought it was herself, mostly."
― Ann Brashares
Chapter Thirteen – Addie
I signed those papers and called Nathan the next day for us to meet up. Auntie brought me and wouldn't let me go on my own.
"I see Liam stayed last night." She said and I nodded
"He did."
"You two back together?" she asked me
"No and we were never together." I told her
"Is he staying tonight?" she asked me and I nodded
"He's staying to help me sleep, nothing more nothing less."
"Are you going to tell him about the trial?" she asked me, I've thought about it but I haven't told him
"No. I can't deal with him walking away and he has thinking to do, I don't want him to be with me because of the trial, I want him to be with me because he wants to." we pulled up to a hotel. We were meeting him one of the conference rooms they had.
He greeted me and I handed him the papers and he signed them too.
"So this means that you officially are on our side?" Lalan asks
"Yes."
"Even if it means putting your son in jail for possibly the rest of his life?" Auntie asked and he sighed
"I've come to terms with it. I raised him better than that and his mother would be ashamed of him. I don't know if he's done this before but if he doesn't get put away he's going to do it again." he told me.
"Please don't make me regret this." I told him
"You won't. We need to figure out what charges to file against your parents, Than and then Jason and Lucas."
"Where do we start?" I asked
"Your parents." He told me and pulled out a pen and paper "Tell me what they did."
"My dad's been beating me since I was a kid and until I came back here. My mom just let him. They both knew what was going on with Than and his friends and they would make me keep my mouth shut and they made me move in with him." I told him and he wrote it down
"Lucas and Jason." He was moving on
"They rap ed me usually all three of them at once sometime he would lend me out to them. They beat me and watched Than cut me." I told him and I know what was coming next
"And Than." He said this was the hardest for both of us.
"He's been hitting me since we were together about six months. It wasn't very often at first and then it got worse. He uh, the first time he, did it was for our one year and after that it was more frequent. I was seventeen. I was also seventeen when he started bringing his friends. The first time he brought them over was the first time he cut me. He also brought another guy in."
"Why aren't you filing charges against this other guy?" he asked
"Than didn't know I was getting kits done, he brought the other guy in and told him I was into sleeping with someone else while he watched. He told me I was a whore and that this other guy would prove it. He took pictures too"
"What's his name?" Nathan asked
"Alex Felton." I said
"The one that works in my office?" he asked and I nodded
"I don't mean to sound rude but why didn't you say no to him?" he asked and Auntie glared at him but I pus a hand on hers
"It was an understanding. If I slept with Alex then Than wouldn't try anything with me or bring Lucas and Jason over for a week. I guess that makes me a slut but I would rather deal with Alex then the other three."
"You aren't a slut, none of this is your fault, what else did he do?" He asked me
"He cut me usually on my legs and then he moved to my stomach and back. I tried running once and he found me and stabbed me in the stomach, someone ran over and saw and called 911 and then the time he almost killed me just recently."
"Is there anything else he did, anything I can use?" he asked me
"He threatened me, told me it was marriage or death for me and he would talk about the cases he tried, he would tell me details about how they tortured people or the horrible things they did."
"So he talked about private details of cases. I know it's hard but if you can tell me about some of them I can prove he violated that privilege and it may be something else to get him on."
"How many charges are we filing?" I asked and he sighed and looked at what I told him
"Against your mom there isn't much, your dad there's the abuse. We need to prove they knew. Lucas and Jason, if you did the kits, there's definitely a ra pe charge we can file, we can file on them knowing about all the abuse and an abuse charge. Then for Than there's the ra pe, abuse, and two counts of attempted murder if we can put him there when he did it and I'm sure there are more I can find for them too, just let me look over everything and we can file charges soon."
"I can't believe this is happening." I groaned
"Addison I'm going to need you to tell me everything that happened. I know it's going to be hard but I need to know all the details even if you think that it's not important. Are you going to be able to go through it all?" he asked me
"I think so." I told him
"I'm going to ask you to go over it time and time again because as soon as you're in that court room they're going to try to discredit it all and they aren't going to be nice when they ask details."
I decided to keep the pictures to myself until he filed charges, I just skeptical and worried. I know papers were signed
"So I'm going to have to relive it all the time until the trials over." I said
"I'm afraid so. I'll pull the witness who called 911, I'll get the kits, I'll talk to nurses and I'll subpoena Alex, we have to get to him first."
"Who's representing them?" I asked
"Your parents are representing all three of them, I told Than I wouldn't do it and he was angry so he went to them, he doesn't know yet that I'm your lawyer; If they try to call you or contact you in any way, even though other people call me right away."
"How are we doing this?" I asked
"I'm going to fly back so file the charges and then I can come down here and we can prep you for the trial. I think being away from them will be best, you'll have to fly back for the hearing probably next week and then Jury selection will take place and from there things will move quickly. We'll be in trial in the next couple months at the max." he told me and I sighed
"Do you think we have a chance?" I asked
"I think we do. Have some faith in me." he told me and I gave him a small smile.
"I do." I told him
"I understand you're skepticism but I'm putting everything on the line for this case. It's my reputation I can lose and it's going to be even more intense because he's my son. I will do everything I can to make sure you get the justice you deserve." He put a hand over mine and I nodded
"Is there anything else?" I asked
"Don't let him dictate your life, I know it will take a while but don't let him control you still. Enjoy your life Addison, you're only nineteen." He said sadly. I was nineteen and he was twenty-four now. Fifteen, I was fifteen when they started pairing us together; he's taken four years of my life!
"Thank you." I stood up
"I'll call when I officially file charges as your lawyer, you already did but we have more to add and we're skipping to grand jury based on the charges pre your parents request and mine too."
"Why?" I asked
"Because then a jury can hear and it's less likely they'll be able to mess with our case."
"How long is this all going to take?" I asked
"We'll have time while they select a jury and then I'll try to stretch it as long as possible but it's possible that we won't make it until the quarter is out." I groaned
"Okay."
"The sooner it's here the sooner it's over. There's a lot of evidence to go through and since you're filing multiple charges against multiple people it's going to take longer."
"I know. I just want it to be over, I hate not knowing what's going to happen."
"I'll call in a couple days and come down to go over the case."
"Thank you." I told him and then we left.
"It's going to be okay." She told me when we got in the car
"Maybe, but it's all just so fast." I mumbled
"Then the quicker they get put away. We're all here for you, your grandparents are all flying up for the trial.
"It's going to take forever." I complained
"it's going to be okay, you should think about telling him." she told me and I shook my head
"No."
"He loves you baby and he should know."
"I said it before, I'm not going to make him come back, when he's ready he'll either tell me yes or no but that has to be entirely his decision." I know if I told him he would be there and I didn't want it to be fake, if he came back I wanted it on his terms and for it to be real.
I've been researching like crazy but i know that there may be some mistakes in maybe the charges or how the trial goes, but i'm REALLY trying to get it as right as i can.
please no nasty comments and if you know somthing i don't PM me.