AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I heard him sit up. “You serious? How the hell are you gonna help me if you got your own shit to fix?”
“Do we have a deal?” I rolled my eyes not quite sure why I was helping this brat.
“Yea. Yes. Imma try my best.”
He was going to need to do better than his best.
“Callahan.” The officer knocked on the door.
Finally.
Turning my back to him, he placed the cuffs on through the door.
“Open Cell D2344,” the guard called.
“Wait, what about your books?” Avery asked.
My mother had brought them for me to stay sane. Sadly, I had finished them all in the first week.
“Take them. Start fixing yourself,” I told him as I stepped out into the hall.
All around me people began to pound on their doors, yelling my name with pride. With each step I took, it became louder and louder.
They knew I wasn’t coming back…not ever. All I had to do was make it through this trial.
THREE
“Our trials, our sorrows, and our grieves develop us.”
—Orison Swett Marden
LIAM
“Do you understand, Mr. Callahan?” my lawyer, Dillon DiMarco, asked me.
I pulled my gaze from my son for a moment. He was chewing on his own fist with not a care in the world as he sat in Coraline’s lap. However, Olivia held onto one his hands. I tried not to make my blatant disapproval of that known. The family knew how I felt about her, but now was not the time to harp on my preferences. I had him in my sights and that was all that mattered. He was like a magnet to my eyes, I couldn’t keep them from him for more than a few seconds. He looked like a mini Mr. Clean in a suit; his bald head even had a glint.
“Mr. Callahan?” DiMarco asked again, and the army of lawyers all paused their shuffling to stare at me. “I know this can be quite daunting. But I will do everything in my power to get you out of here.”
Everything in his power. If only he knew how worthless his power was to me.
“Don’t smile or laugh because the jury will think I’m not taking the situation seriously. Don’t be too serious or cold, because then they will think I’m heartless. Find a balance and set my face to it. Yes, I understand.” I didn’t know how that was humanly possible, but I understood.
Turning back to Ethan, Coraline took one of his chubby arms and made him wave at me. His green eyes stared directly at me and he smiled so wide I couldn’t help but smile back. I’m not sure if he knew who I was or if he was just a happy baby, either way, seeing him made life worth living again. Coraline grinned as well, then turned to face me and I shook my head at the black T-shirt she wore with my face on it. Declan must have loved that one. She looked healthier than the last time I saw her, but she still had a scarf on her head.
Declan rolled his eyes at me before he unzipped his jacket to show me that he was wearing one as well. Oh God. Thankfully my father and Neal had enough sense to wear suits.
But when I took better look at them I noticed the buttons pinned to the lapels of their jacket suits. It seemed as if the only person not wearing ‘Free Liam’ paraphernalia was Olivia. In fact, she didn’t even look as if she wanted to be here. Her blonde hair was pulled back making her face look icier than normal. She shook her head at me before returning her attention to my son. I wanted to snap her ugly neck, but again, it was not the time, nor the place.
My mother pointed to my neck signaling me to fix my tie. She and Coraline had dropped off a brand new suit for me, along with a deep green tie that supposedly highlighted my eyes. It was odd how even with all the clothing I had on, I still felt naked without my ring on. It had been taken when I was arrested, and I wouldn’t be able to get my personal effects back until after this sham of a trial was over. I fixed the tie as she directed, and she smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Sometimes we were so Brady Bunch it made me sick.
The entire family was here…all but one. Looking towards the door, I noticed for the first time all the cameras directed at me. There had to be at least twelve leading news stations here, covering ‘Liam Callahan; The Billionaire Murderer.’
“Show time,” DiMarco said, as he buttoned up his suit jacket.
I looked at him with a raised brow.
This was a show to you?
“Please rise, the Honorable Judge Kelly Weston presiding,” the bailiff called out, and we all stood.
Fuck.
She was a short woman with simple features and stringy dark hair. People who were short always overcompensated in other ways. Most likely she was a hardass.
“Good morning, please be seated,” she said, sounding almost bored. “Okay we’re on the record, case number 67F82C5 State of Illinois vs. Liam Callahan. All parties are here and present, is there anything else we need to take up before we call the jury in?”
DiMarco, who was still standing, shook his head. “Not at this time, Your Honor.”
“We’re ready to begin as well,” the prosecutor said.
He looked like a grease ball, with his slicked back hair and alligator shoes. I knew Coraline and my mother were making some sort of face at him, and I wished I could look back at them to see it.
“Okay, bring them in,” Judge Weston said.
I wasn’t sure who thought these people were a jury of my peers. It looked as if someone had picked them up at last call in some bar…or at a Wal-Mart at three in the morning.
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I hope you all have no problems being here. I just need to ask you one question. Did any of you read, listen or hear about anything regarding this case?”
“No.” All of them shook their heads and they were all lying…maybe they were my peers after all.
“Okay then.” She nodded over to the prosecutor, and DiMarco, along with his lawyers, all sat down.
“Once again, good morning ladies and gentlemen.” He pressed a button on his laptop and a photo of Mel in her wedding dress, smiling brightly and looking happy, appeared on the projector screen. It made me want to laugh because at that time in our relationship she’d wanted to kill me. But the photo captured her beautifully beyond the lie.
“I want you to take a good look at Mr. Callahan, that man sitting there, one of the sons to the infamous billionaire Callahan family, and remember that he is not one of you. You see, Mr. Callahan hasn’t worked a day in his life. He’s never had to worry about bills or food or even safety. Everything has always just been handed…no, thrown at him. Women especially.
“Go back only two and half years ago to his life without his wife, Melody Giovanni. Party after party, girl after girl, almighty freedom. Liam Callahan did whatever he wanted, whomever he wanted. No woman lasted on his arm for more than a month before he threw her away. Then poof, he’s married to the beautiful Ms. Melody Giovanni, and you’d think that would be enough. You’d think he would be happy. But a man like him can never be tied down without repercussions. Past girlfriends of his are either dead or their lives have been so altered that they cannot function as they once normally did; he breaks them and then throws them away.”
For the love of Christ, someone needed to put one between his eyes.
“Does this sound like a man ready to be married? A man ready to start a family? No. Liam Callahan did what all the Callahan men do; they get married while young, a tradition.
