"We walk together into the light and my love will be your armor tonight. We are lionhearts. And we stand together, facing a war, and our love is gonna conquer it all"
~ Lionheart (Confident)
(THE WORD RAPE IS MENTIONED A FEW TIMES IN THIS CHAPTER, BUT NO DETAILS ARE USED AND NO DESCRIPTIONS ARE WRITTEN)
Now that I've gotten what I needed from the girls, there was no point in hiding my relationship with Nick anymore. For some reason, though, I was afraid to bring it up to him. I didn't know how to tell him that I wanted to go public with our relationship now. What would be my reasoning since nothing has changed from his perspective? I was also afraid of coming clean about my involvement in his downfall. I didn't want him to resent me.
God, I am a complete mess.
Besides, things continued to get worse with the public as the weeks passed. Local news got wind of the story and they decided to plaster it all over the newspapers, online articles, and on TV. They brought it up every damn five minutes on air and it hurt to watch it all. It didn't take long for the story to go national. Soon enough, people all over social media were pressuring the school to expel Nick. They ridiculed the school officials for protecting a rapist. Support for the "victims" grew every day. There were multiple viral tweets about it every day. I feared the school would buckle under the pressure soon.
All of it made me sick. I didn't know how to protect Nick from any of it. I felt awful. He always seemed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. His confidence had evaporated. He was always staring out into space, deep in thought. He wasn't even eating anymore. I had to forcefully remind him to take care of himself. Sometimes I had to feed him myself. The pain in his eyes brought me to tears every time I looked into them.
He told me the news was getting to his family as well. The stress wasn't good for his dad's fragile heart. We still haven't told our parents about us so I could only comfort him. When he told me about how his mom cried every day when she thought she was alone absolutely broke my heart. She was already scared to lose her husband...and now, her son as well. His family believed him, that I was sure of, but they were still being dragged through hell anyway. I hated this. I wanted to comfort them all. I wanted Nick to smile again. I wanted the pain in his eyes washed away. I wanted his family to be okay again, for his dad to not have stressors in his life such as this that could result in something terribly ugly.
So, I did what I thought was best. I got the name of Nick's lawyer, Seth Davidson, from the news and got his phone number from his firm's website. After calling over and over and over again, I finally got through to him. When I told him that I was Nick's secret girlfriend, he almost hung up on me. Before he could, though, I blurted out that I had proof that could exonerate Nick. He stopped shortly then, telling me to go on. I told him it was something I needed to show him in person rather than say over the phone. Reluctantly, he agreed.
And that's the reason I'm sitting in his office now with my hands fidgeting in nervousness as he finished a call not relating to Nick's case.
My heart was beating way too fast, my hands were sweaty, and my stomach hurt. I was so nervous that I kept contemplating on running out of his office to escape. My laptop was in my bag, weighing heavily down on my lap even though it actually barely weighed a pound. It held the video file I'd transferred on there from my camera.
"Iris Ronan, right?" Seth spoke up. His voice was deep and stern, almost commanding.
I about sunk in fear but forced myself to sit up straighter and project confidence I didn't have. "Yeah, it is."
He gave me a tight smile. "So what is it you claim to have that can exonerate Nick?"
I took in a deep breath, encouraging myself to go forward with the story. "I-I used to be friends with the girls who're accusing Nick. Well, technically, we were acquaintances but anyway, I helped them get Nick to that party. They didn't want to ask him themselves, because he'd broken up with every one of them by then and he wouldn't have come if they'd asked. So, they asked me to do it. I met Daisy in one of my classes and when she asked me for help, I agreed. I was only trying to be nice. He'd hurt them and I thought he deserved to have a taste of his own medicine. At least, that's what they told me was going to happen. I thought they were going to play an innocent prank on him, not go on to accuse him of rape. I left the party before everything took place.
You have to know that at this point, I was beyond angry with Nick. We used to be the best of friends when we were younger. Then he just cut me off one day three years ago. My family and I moved but just came back this year. We'd only been here two months when the girls approached me. I'm sure they thought my "new" face would be an advantage to him agreeing to come to the party.
After the accusations came out, I was alarmed. When I met up with the girls again, I asked them what had happened at the party. For some reason, they came out and told me they'd lied about the accusations. That was the day Nick got arrested. After that, I decided to actually use their trust in me to my advantage. So, I invited all of them over to a sleepover. I recorded them admitting to everything." I spoke way too fast and by the end, I was breathless. But I suddenly felt lighter; I'd kept all of this to myself in fear of it all falling apart. It felt good to finally tell someone else about this.
I maintained eye contact with Seth the entire time I was babbling. The sternness of his features didn't change. The fear he may not believe me slashed through my heart and I gulped.
Then, he sighed. "The video wouldn't be permissible if they didn't know they were being recorded."
Hope refueled me and my shoulders rose from their fallen stature. "No, no. They knew they were being recorded. The camera was right there in front of them. I got their consent to record. I told them my dad needed me to record until the battery died to prove a point to my mom over a fight they had about the camera. They were fine with it. I got it all on camera."
As I spoke in excitement, his stone cold eyes brightened by the second. When a small smile cracked his tight lips, my heart burst with warmth. "You came prepared," he said in a softer tone, his shock evident in his voice.
I beamed. "Yeah. I wanted this to work, so I did my research. I knew it was illegal to record someone without their knowledge in a private property. I want to clear his name, Seth. I want to end this madness."
His smile widened. "You know, I didn't know he was dating anyone."
"I wanted to keep it a secret. This wouldn't have worked if the girls knew I was with him," I shrugged.
He shook his head, seeming genuinely amazed. "I always thought miracles were a joke."
My eyebrows furrowed. "I'm sorry?"
He shook his head once more. "I was sure his case was a closed deal; he was going to be convicted, at least in the public eye if not in court," he said, then pointed to me, "until you came along. You're gonna turn the case around with this video." He stopped for a short while and inhaled a large breath. It appeared as if a large weight was lifted off his shoulders at the moment as well. Then he spoke again. "May I see the video?"
I nodded fast and took out my laptop. It didn't take me long to pull up the video file. I pressed play and handed him my laptop.
I watched his face closely as the video played. My heartbeat was loud in my ear, drowning out the voices in the video. As time went on, the glee in his eyes grew and grew until a bright smile stretched on his face.
I felt like I was about to pass out when he looked up to meet my fearful gaze. "You did amazing with this, Iris. This...this might just exonerate him."
My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. "Are you saying this might not work?" My voice cracked towards the end as I tried to fight off the tears in my eyes.
He shook his head fast, trying to calm me down. "Every case has at least one loophole but, he will most likely be exonerated, Iris. I'm just trying to be realistic."
A dry laugh escaped me. "Sign of a good lawyer?"
He shrugged, but his smile remained. The genuineness in his eyes bringing hope back into my heart. "I hope so."
I swallowed. "So this might just work? Most likely, you think?"
He nodded. "Yes."
I let out a shuddery breath. "Jesus Christ. Thank God." The tears I tried to keep at bay fell. I clapped my hand on my mouth to keep the emerging sob from coming out. The tears, however, I couldn't do anything to stop.
Seth stood from his seat behind his desk and came around to take the seat next to me. Handing me a tissue, he placed his hand on my shoulder in a comforting manner. "This will all be over soon," he said calmly, "and I promise I will do my very best to make sure this video clears his name. I'm going to need you to be his rock, Iris. He can't handle all of this on his own. Whatever he did to you in the past, he needs you now. Do you think you can forgive him to do that?"
I sniffed, giving him a short nod. "I've already forgiven him for everything; it was all a misunderstanding on my part anyway," I whispered, trying to keep my voice steady, "but, yeah, I will be there for him. He has my entire focus right now."
"Good." He cracked an encouraging smile. "He might just come out of this unscathed if you're there. Promise me something else?"
"I'll do anything for him," I eagerly nodded.
A flash of worry appeared in his eyes. "I want you to promise to take care of yourself as well. Talk to your parents about his, if you can. You can't be strong for him if you're struggling yourself. Your mental health is just as important."
I wiped my tears away with both hands and forced my self to sit up straighter for the billionth time today. "I promise. I will take care of myself if you promise to do everything you can and more for Nick."
He nodded, his features changing in a way that told me he was taking me very much seriously. "I promise."
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{please don't forget to comment and vote. thank you so much for the support}
QUESTIONS I HAVE:
- What do you think about the story so far?
- What do you think about the girls, Nick, and Iris?
- What would you do if you were in Iris's position?
- What do you like most about this story and/or what do you most dislike about this story?
THANK YOU!