Hopes and dreams
Arin
The courthouse felt cooler than usual. It was the day our trials began. The last time we were here, it was Brandon trying to move the court dates up for his benefit. Now again, we were to face him in the final rounds of who gets whom. Who controls Murphy Enterprises?
Roger held my hand and walked into the courthouse. Dad saw us and waved. He leaned over, greeting us both with a long-lasting hug as if we were going to be deployed. We also saw most of our office staff who came, rallying for us. With a head tilt, a cursory handshake and words of appreciation, Roger interacted with every one of them before turning to dad.
"We need all the support we can. Thank you for bringing them here."
His words made both dad and Xavier cover up the grime look on their faces. I wasn't sure if it was this day or the fact that for one month, we all faced our demons, which took a toll on all of us but suffice to say, we endured.
Straightening his backbone, dad placed a hand over Roger's shoulder, rattling him. For a while, he'd been focused at a distance as if contemplating how all this would turn out.
"We didn't bring them. They rallied up themselves for your support, son. Brandon will go down," Dad stated with such certainty that it reinstated the lost confidence in all of us. The otherwise weary hope resuscitated under his wordy influence and with a new zest, my heart thumped.
Not that I was scared of the case, we had it airtight. It was Brandon's tactics that had me worried. Always having known to play dirty, he was bound to keep some cards close to his chest for today. With every passing moment, my breath paced up. I dragged in more air and exhaled nothing. In the cold of the morning, I resembled a person who stood under the shower with her clothes on. Roger lent his kerchief, dabbing my forehead and winking at me. Even amid everything and while eying the approaching tornado, he still had an eye on me.
The court was filled with almost everyone from both our companies. Brandon's staff filled the rest of the spaces.
Among them, I saw him - the vile man more lethal than any poison and more cunning than any animal known. Eying me, Brandon stood up and walked over. It took everything in me to control the urge to punch him as he leaned forward, blowing down his spicy sweat infused scent on me.
I knew Roger was eying me from the front, probably worried for me. I assumed that Brandon thought he had the win when he released my truth to the tabloids. What he didn't fathom was the fact that whoever worse he could do to me was already done. He stabbed me, twisted the truth knife into my gut and let me bleed dry. Now, against him, I wasn't scared. I was already dead to feel anything other than hatred for the man, who destroyed Roger's family and life.
"You look and dress well for a woman who was a hooker," with hooded eyes, Brandon spoke.
Although my skin clawed itself back at his words, I decided to stand my ground against his last attempt to sabotage my confidence. Over time, I came to realize, my strength came from my family and theirs, from me. If I crumbled, they did too. I scanned the monstrous man that stood in front and a smile emerged from the corners of my lips.
"And you'd know all about hookers. Isn't it Brandon?"
His hands curled up to his chest and he tilted his head. "Is this the way to talk to your fiancé's father?"
Like a thunderstorm, my answer rose from the depths of my heart. "My fiancé's father died the day he decided to kill his wife. This man," my finger danced at him, "who's standing in front of me is a ghost of a dead man. A walking dead, for he has no soul."
Brandon chuckled. His lips parted for words but the judge's presence in the room had him move back to his seat at the petitioner's place. Roger, who eyed me like a hawk, delivered a tight smile. My eyes blinked at him, slowly for assurance. Unlike last time, Roger wasn't seated next to me but in front, with a team of lawyer's, best known to win.
Money was spent like water to defend Roger, the same way Brandon did. It was the fight between two men, both wrestling to verify their words, reinstate their worlds. Only one would emerge victoriously. With the trial started, the formal statements from both parties were delivered.
For pieces of evidence on why Brandon needed to take back his place and business, our lawyers placed his disorderly conduct and drug use as an issue. Brandon's lawyers were good to counter it with his good behavior and clean record.
Xavier, who sat next to me, kept chewing his cuticles with every word Brandon's team put up. When they tried showing Roger's bad past including a rape charge, it was Stella who caught us all by surprise. She walked in and sat as a witness, conveying to the court, it was all a lie to make Roger look bad. She even confessed about Brandon making her say it.
The sudden turn of events was like a punch to my gut. Unable to breathe, I turned to Xavier. I knew all the witnesses that were accounted for the trial but Stella was not one among them. Xavier patted my hand and sighed, staring in front.
"How did she? I mean...how?" I wasn't able to understand who convinced her. How she managed to come or how she'd accepted all her faults along with Brandon's. When Roger turned to Xavier and in a slow-motion tipped his head, I knew the person who made it happen
"Xav, you did this?" I didn't know what else to ask and wasn't in a position to ask him the obvious question of them all. Was he still in love with me to do all this? Does he not know I won't be with him, ever?
Xavier intertwined his fingers into mine, staring ahead. "Sometimes, doing the right thing does not need a reason, love."
And there it was, amidst all the fight and misunderstandings, Xavier somehow still managed to help me out. Help us out.
~
Our matter ran for months on end. For every argument we placed, Brandon would counter with his. For every one of their questions, we would have an answer. It seemed like a see-saw match where one tipped up and the other came down, only to go around the other way next time.
When Brandon's lawyer called up Roger to the stands at one point, we all were taken aback. This was a card we'd never assumed to be played. But there he was, my fiancé, talking a stand to testify against his father. Brandon lawyer, the expensive suit guy with a sharp look and an intimidating voice walked near Roger.
"So Mr. Roger Murphy, all these claims that you said about your father killing your mother, did you see them?"
The instance the question was asked, the room fell silent. The people in the room wanted to know the truth, only I knew the bitterness that might be running inside Roger, even listening to the other party drudge out questions from his past.
Dad leaned over to my side from the back, whispering. "We've not been prepared for this. Was Roger aware?"
My head shook sidewise, knowing the low blow Brandon was taking at Roger - his own son. A part of me by now had assumed that Brandon lacked a functioning heart to be this ruthless to his child.
The lawyer questioned again. "Tell me Mr. Roger, did you see your father kill your mother or was it your hypothesis?"
Roger looked at our lawyer's side before glancing a look over at me. My lips pressed together, giving him a tight smile. He needs to be calm. He needs to be patient. My thoughts mocked me. Expecting Roger to be calm in Brandon's presence was like expecting the river to flow upwards.
After a deep breath, Roger scanned the man in suit fully. If looks could kill, that lawyer would be dead by now. "No, I didn't see him kill my mother."
Brandon's lawyer had a smile so devious, it would put the smirks of hyenas to shame. Walking away from Roger, the lawyer took sheets of papers and placed them on the judge's desk. "My lord, there is evidence that shows Brandon wasn't in the vicinity when Mrs. Murphy was killed. And yet, Roger and his guardian grandfather, the late Mr. Vincent Murphy decided to blame my client."
Brandon turned towards us, winking. It boiled my blood, it choked my throat. I wouldn't mind going to prison after murdering him but the thought of my family, my hurting fiancé pulled me away from such dark thoughts.
Leaning forward, Roger narrowed his gaze at the person questioning him. "I didn't have to see to know who killed my mother. I was the victim too, just like her. She was beaten daily, tortured every day and I was the collateral too." The judge banged the gavel. The opposition lawyer raised his voice asking Roger to stop but with reddened eyes and words spewing like lava, Roger continued. "I saw this man beat my mother like she was a pillow. I'd seen him use on her objects which no one should ever use on anyone, human or animal. She was married for her money and killed for it too. And now, Brandon wants it all back because he thinks I am the incompetent son? I don't think so."
The judge banged the gavel the hardest. In the room filled with Roger's painful admission and the lawyer's objections, the judge's gavel banging went muffled. The audience inside the room whispered, talked. Only when the judge issued a threat of contempt, did Roger moved back.
Panting, he plopped on his seat, holding his head between his hands. My heart went out to him. In years of knowing about his mother's death and the killer, Roger still was helpless in doing something about it. I could sense the seven-year-old Roger standing next to the grown-up version of him, running a hand to pacify the tornado of emotions that arose inside.
My hand reached Xavier's, knowing well that we gave Brandon what he wanted. We served it on a silver platter for him. He wanted to show Roger as the incompetent son who doesn't know how to manage the business and with the trigger question, he managed for his admission. In front of the world. In front of the judge.
I moved out of the suffocating room even before the day's trial was over. Outside, in the deserted hallway, I could hear my heartbeats ringing in my ears. What would happen if Roger lost? What would he do if he was asked to give the reins back to Brandon?
I had seen Roger work day and night, put his blood and sweat into getting this company to its current glory. It would break his heart to transfer. It would kill him. With the crowd streaming out of the room, I saw Roger and Xavier talk, their brows bridged and their expression pale. Dad trotted in his steps, taking my hand and walking me away from the arena to a more secluded spot.
"Today was not good," his crumpled face indicated the loss we needed to be prepared for. How did it all happen? We were so strong? Then how did Brandon manage to get underneath our stronghold?
"I know. All the progress we made till today was all for nothing..." I had seen dad worried about a lot of things but this side of his, of anxiety mixed with anger and sadness was the first for me. Kissing my forehead, he gave me a nod. My mind screamed out instructions, I held his hand. He was up to something. "Where are you going?"
His voice was soft. In the chatters outside the courtroom, almost inaudible. "Something I have to take care of... I'll meet you back at the office..."
With that, he slid out of my hold.
A while after talking to his employees, Roger moved closer to my side, coiling his hand around my waist and pulling me towards him.
"Today was not good." I wanted to be upfront. There was no need to sugarcoat the truth from him. He too must have known to have nodded back. With a distant look, he moved a step backwards.
"I know, I might lose the company but at least I spoke the truth. He killed my mother, Arin and I wanted the world to know it. At least this way, she'd find her peace with the truth out there."
Respect. That was what I felt at that moment, gazing at the man who stood at the brink of losing everything yet, holding onto the speck of happiness. Of satisfaction.
Sometimes the truth was better than the winning. The truth about Brandon killing his mother would be spread across tabloids like water in rain. Brandon might win but he would not be able to get his reputation back.
We'll take what we can have. Little wins.
~
Hope you all liked this chapter.
With Roger on the verge of loosing everything, what do you think will happen next?
Let me know in the comments. I would love to hear from you all.
Also, do check out THE KING KILLER if you still haven't.
Mafia romance is my forte and I hope I lived upto it with this book series too ;)
Love
S
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro