Page 3

Violet

I knew the second two police officers escorted Doug into the courtroom things were going to go bad for me.

The only question was how hard it would be on Caleb.

Doug hadn’t physically hurt Caleb, but I knew he was capable of it.

For some reason, though, he’d held himself back until now.

I wasn’t sure what had changed, but there had been a definite shift in power dynamics.

Doug was having to be more aggressive with Caleb to keep his dominance, so when Caleb laid down his ultimatum -- leave Doug or Caleb was going to kill him -- I had to leave.

I absolutely believed Caleb would kill Doug if he had half a chance.

A firm grip on my shoulder had me turning to look over it. Caleb gave me a steady look. I swear to God, the kid was too grown up for my peace of mind. I should be the one giving him support, not the other way around. I smiled, reaching up to squeeze his hand.

“It’s gonna be all right, Mom.” He must have seen my unease as I’d watched Doug walk in. I knew better than Caleb what the look on his dad’s face meant, but Caleb knew his dad was absolutely furious.

“I got your back, too.” Riot’s deep voice sent a shiver through me.

A quick glance his way and I met his gaze for a brief moment.

His eyes were piercing, like he could see all my fears and pain and thought he was ready to help me fight them.

He’d soon find out he was wrong. No one took on Douglas Harrington and won.

“Thank you.” I tried to smile, but wasn’t sure I actually managed it.

Then I met my son’s gaze and I really did smile.

Not so much to reassure him as because I couldn’t help it.

Caleb would always make me smile as long as he was in the world.

I’d fight for him with everything in me, but if either me or Caleb ended up killing Doug, it wasn’t going to be Caleb.

“I’ve got you both.” Riot put his hand on top of Caleb’s, as if he were shielding us by putting himself between us and everything else.

I knew it was fanciful thinking, but just once in my life, I wanted someone to fight for me.

For Caleb. I’d die for my son, but I knew his father wouldn’t.

In fact, I was fairly certain Doug would sacrifice Caleb if it was in his own best interest.

The judge had been giving Doug and his attorney a piece of her mind, but everything seemed to have calmed down now.

Lana leaned into me. “Don’t say or do anything.

Don’t move a muscle unless Judge Whitmore gives you explicit instructions.

Understand?” I nodded. Lana seemed like she was looking forward to whatever was about to happen.

I turned my attention back to the proceedings.

“Now that we understand proper courtroom etiquette, perhaps we can move on?” She raised her eyebrows as her gaze landed on Doug and his lawyer, obviously waiting for one of them to say something.

“Yes, Your Honor. We sincerely apologize for any offense caused the court.” Doug’s lawyer was always good at making any wrong he did or harm he caused seem like nothing. Like any offense was subjective and open to interpretation, and his interpretation was really the only one that mattered.

Judge Whitmore merely nodded, a small grin on her face. “I see.” And I was certain the woman really did see. I might have lucked into the one judge in the whole district who wouldn’t cave to Doug’s demands. “Ms. Thompson. Tell me why we’re here.”

Lana stood and immediately got to the point. “Your Honor, my client is requesting emergency custody of her son, Mr. Caleb Harrington, for alleged mental and physical abuse. I’d like to add that I’ve brought this matter before the court at the request of Mr. Caleb himself. Not his mother.”

Judge Whitmore smiled kindly as she looked over my shoulder to Caleb. “Young man, is this true?”

Caleb looked over at Riot who nodded. Caleb stood and cleared his throat. “Yes, ma’am. I-I mean, Your Honor --”

“Your Honor,” Mr. Todd interrupted, “Mr. Caleb’s a child. A very impressionable one who loves his mother. Violet has manipulated her son just as she tried to manipulate Mr. Doug. Poor Mr. Caleb can’t see his mother’s duplicity.”

“That’s not true.” Caleb clenched his fists at his side. He hadn’t yelled, but he hadn’t been quiet with his remark.

Judge Whitmore raised a hand to silence Caleb. My son murmured a soft, “Sorry, Your Honor,” and lowered his head.

“It’s my understanding, young man, that you want to tell me everything you saw. Is that correct?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I gasped. “Saw?” My voice wasn’t much more than a whisper. Lana gripped my knee hard, a warning to shut up. I hadn’t realized Caleb had actually witnessed anything other than the end of the incident. He hadn’t said anything to me to indicate he’d been there any longer than a few seconds.

Judge Whitmore’s gaze zeroed in on me. Yeah. She hadn’t missed my reaction. Then she sat back in her seat. “Very well, young man. Why don’t you come up here and sit beside me.” She indicated the seat next to her where witnesses would be called to give their account.

Riot was sitting on the outside of the aisle, so he had to stand in order for Caleb to get out of the row of seats.

I’m not sure what I thought Riot would do.

Maybe stand there? But he followed Caleb to the chair she’d indicated and kept going until he stood beside my son.

Judge Whitmore held up a hand for him to stop, and Riot did.

Instead of standing there with his arms crossed over his chest to intimidate, he adopted a relaxed pose with one hand over the other wrist in front of him.

He stood perfectly still, not shifting his weight or even moving his head.

“Your Honor, I object to this man being so close to my client’s son. It’s clear he’s here to intimidate the boy.”

Caleb opened his mouth, then closed it tightly. He kept looking at the judge, clearly itching for her to tell him he could talk.

“You seem like you want to say something, Mr. Caleb.” Judge Whitmore leaned forward slightly as she addressed him. “Is the man who followed you to the stand intimidating you? Say the word and I’ll have him escorted out straight to a holding cell. You won’t have to worry about him.”

“No, ma’am. Riot’s got my back. He’s here so I don’t have to be intimidated by him .

” Caleb pointed to Doug and my heart broke a little bit.

Not for Doug. The man was a serious ass from the day I met him.

But for Caleb. He’d known something was wrong, but the night he came home right after Doug had beaten me, something inside Caleb broke.

I saw it happening right before my eyes that night.

I thought he’d only seen the aftermath of that beating, but was it possible Caleb had actually witnessed more?

“I’m your father, Caleb,” Doug said, his voice soft and reasonable. “You know I’d never hurt you. Or your mother.” It sounded like he’d added that last almost as an afterthought.

“I saw you.” Caleb stared at his father calmly.

His voice shook slightly but that was the only obvious betrayal of his emotions.

At least to everyone else. I could tell by the set of his jaw he was holding himself together by a thread.

He was angry. So very angry. Every single ounce of it was directed at his father.

“I heard everything you said. And I saw what you did from the beginning until I stopped you.” Caleb didn’t back down.

He continued to stare his father down. Oh, this wasn’t good.

Caleb was done. If he had to go home with Doug, Caleb would kill him.

Doug narrowed his gaze but said nothing, letting his lawyer take over.

I had to wonder if he saw the same things in Caleb I did.

Somehow, I doubted it. Doug might now be picking up on the fact Caleb was losing his fear of Doug, but I doubted Doug knew the extent of his son’s anger.

“Your Honor.” Mr. Todd stood, sighing wearily, as if this was all so much a waste of time he didn’t understand why he was being subjected to the proceeding at all.

“I’d like to state again, for the record this time, you simply cannot put much stock what the boy might say.

He’s a parrot for his mother, who is doing everything she can to grab money.

She thinks she can get sole custody so she can demand a hefty divorce settlement. ”

Caleb looked as frustrated as I’d ever seen him, like he was warring with getting his say in and being respectful as Lana had warned him.

We absolutely could not get on this judge’s bad side.

Ms. Thompson had said the only real way to make an enemy of Judge Whitmore was to disrespect her or her courtroom.

I knew if anyone could manage to disrespect anything, it would be Douglas Harrington. Not his son.

Judge Whitmore let Mr. Todd go on for a couple minutes before he finally seemed to run out of steam, as well as running out of reasons Caleb and I couldn’t be trusted to tell the truth.

“Are you finished telling me who I can and cannot question in my own court, Mr. Todd?”

“I only want it on record for when we have to go above your jurisdiction on appeal.” Oh, Judge Whitmore didn’t like that at all.

It wasn’t unexpected. Mr. Todd always had a plan.

He was tough as nails and fucking smart.

Not to mention all kinds of intimidating.

Just like Doug. Between them, they had nearly everyone who mattered in the city under their thumbs… including a number of judges.

“Before we go any further, I want to make sure I understand something.” She raised her eyebrows and looked askance at Mr. Todd.