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“With Morales recanting his statement, the defense team for the once revered senator is left scrambling to do damage control. Only time will tell if they’ll be able to recover from this and get Gates acquitted. Right now, it doesn’t look so great for Morales, either. He will face perjury charges, which is something he’s already familiar with since he’s been convicted of it before. Gates’ trial is now on hold after his legal team requested a continuance. The length of postponement is not known yet.”
My heart races as my mind spins in a million different directions. Colton came through for us. I look over at Jack and find a huge fucking smile on my face.
Charlie screams, “FUCK YES!” as Andrea laughs then cries.
Jack is already next to her, wrapping her in his arms and bringing her in close to whisper something in her ear.
I can only imagine her tears are from relief. This is a major victory in our fight against Christopher.
My phone rings, and I slide it out of my pocket. My entire body goes rigid in an instant when I see the name on the caller ID. I can’t just ignore him like I want, so I make my way to somewhere private. I look up and find everyone preoccupied before I quietly walk off toward the hallway, hoping to go unnoticed.
I step into the last room in the hall, pushing the door closed behind me with a soft click. The call already went to voicemail once, but it almost immediately rings again, so I know this won’t stop until I talk to him. Here we go… I steel myself, knowing he’s probably enraged and looking for revenge.
“Malcom.” My voice is hard and closed off as I answer.
“What the fuck have you done?”
Ah, hello to you, too, “Dad.” I can’t even think about calling him that without my thoughts sounding sarcastic.
I knew this is what the phone call would be like, especially when he immediately called back when I didn’t answer right away. However, I’m not about to make this easy on him or give anything away.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play fucking stupid with me, Andrew!” he booms.
I almost laugh at Malcom’s audacity as I pace in front of the bed.
“Are you upset the man who lied so harshly about your daughter—putting her at risk of serious danger again—recanted all his bullshit? Are you upset your precious Christopher lost his one chance at swaying the jury?” My blood boils. I ball my hand into a fist, release it, and repeat the process. I’m ready to punch the shit out of something.
He scoffs. Scoffs! “We both know they don’t have anything on your sister. They can’t touch her. She was safe the whole time!”
I show him the same respect and chortle at his stupidity before telling him the truth. “No, they can’t. I wouldn’t let them. However, I can’t say as much about you.”
“Don’t you dare go there! Everything I do, I do for this family!”
My laugh is genuine now because that is the funniest shit I’ve heard in a long time. “You keep fucking telling yourself that, Dad.” I spit out the word with pure untethered hatred and resentment. It comes out just as sarcastic as it sounded in my head earlier.
And the girls wonder why I call him Malcom.
“You don’t know shit, boy. You better stay in your lane. I need Christopher out of jail.” His voice rises with each strained breath he takes.
“I’m going to keep doing what’s best for Andrea and Addy. I’m going to keep protecting them since their fucking father is far more concerned protecting the man who damn near killed one of them with his own fucking hands and damn near killed both of them using someone else’s. Protecting them is something you stopped doing a long, long fucking time ago.”
I hang up the phone and throw it against the wall. It hits with a lackluster thump before falling to the carpeted floor with a thud. Its case manages to protect it from shattering into a million pieces.
I knew Morales recanting would cause problems with Malcom. I know he had a hand in paying Morales for the testimony, but it still cuts me to my core to know that our own flesh and blood is working against us. That he would be willing to put Andrea through all of this to get his “golden boy” back.
My stomach rolls, the food from lunch threatening to make an appearance.
I look up to find Charlie standing in the open doorway, her jaw slightly open. Confusion and anger mar her pretty features. She takes a step into the room, clearly having heard some, if not all, the conversation.
“What the hell is going on, Andrew?”
I open my mouth to spout off a lie, then slam it shut. I don’t want to lie to her, but I can’t tell her the truth, either. I chew on my words for a moment before responding.
“I’m handling it,” is all I say.
She moves to stand directly in front of me. “What is there to handle? Morales is taken care of. Who were your talking to?”
