Page 17 of This Is Law 3

Chapter Six

VIVIAN STERLING

It was after ten at night, and I was in my bedroom, sitting at my desk that was off in the corner.

There were flashcards spread all over, my laptop was opened, and even my notes in my journal were on display, as I was studying for the world history exam that I had tomorrow morning at school.

I’ve been studying for this test all week because when it came to my education, I just happened to be one of those kids that put a lot of pressure on myself, and the need, and desire that I had to be perfect in school was through the roof.

I was a product of smart parents. Both my parents did well in school all their lives.

They went on to big, ivy league universities, where they both studied law.

The hard work that they put in is the reason why our lifestyles were so grand.

My parents wanted the best for my brother and I, and they wanted us to follow in their footsteps when it came to being successful, and that’s the reason why I pushed myself the way that I did.

All I ever wanted to do was make them proud.

I had about an hour left of studying, but this past hour was hard to push through.

My dad had just got home about five minutes ago, and my mom had been downstairs, looking over a case that she had in the morning.

Literally, the second that he stepped foot in the door, the arguing began.

I was in a space where I was used to my parents arguing, but these days, it has truly been spiraling, getting out of control to the point that a couple of times, my brother and I had to step in.

My dad has been so angry for a couple of weeks now.

He was acting like he hated everyone in the house.

He half spoke to all of us, and any time that my brother and I asked him something, he responded in a way like we were bothering him; sort of like he’s been doing my mom for years.

Whatever answers that he would give me, his responses wouldn’t hold any kind of love, or softness to it because he was still angry with me for what I did on social media, when I went online, and I defended Creed.

Our relationship has been choppy ever since, and I hated to say it, but I believed that he hated me in the same manner that he did my mom, which hurt me because although I could very well see that my dad wasn’t the best husband to my mom, he had still been good to my brother and I along the years, and I’ve always been a daddy’s girl.

“If this is the way that you are going to act every day when you come home, then Edward, you need to leave! You are changing the whole dynamic of this entire family. You are ruining your entire family with your shitty ass attitude! Have you not noticed the disconnection that we have with our children? I asked Allen this morning why he’s staying in his room so much these days, and he says it’s because it’s depressing when he steps out of it!

You will not damage my children, so if this isn’t where you want to be, then you need to get the hell out!

” I could hear my mom yelling at my father from downstairs.

I quickly rose up from the chair that I was sitting down on, and I rushed over to my bedroom door, so that I could crack it open. I wanted to hear what my dad’s response was going to be.

I could hear their footsteps. They were walking up the stairs now, so whatever was getting ready to be said, I would be able to hear it clearer.

“If anyone is going to leave this home, it’ll be you.

Not me! Let’s get that clear right now! My hard money went into this home!

Not yours! Twenty years ago, when I purchased this land, it was me that sat down with the architect, and I laid out to them how I wanted every room in this house, down to the damn laundry room!

I looked at every blueprint that was shown to me, picked out the perfect final finishes, making sure that this home was going to be something that was perfect for my family to live in, and something that we grew old in together.

You didn’t play a part in any of those things.

Work took up all your time. Let’s also talk about bills!

I pay every single bill in this house, so given all of that, what would make you believe that it would be me to back my bags, and leave, and not you? ” he barked at my mom.

“You like to tell Vivian that when she gets married, she needs to make sure she marries a man that’s going to provide for her, and someone that she doesn’t have to split the bills with, and I always remove that nonsense from her ears because it’s a power move.

You just stood here and boasted about everything that you’ve done in this home, and the bills that you pay!

Edward, you chose to do that. When we met many years ago, one of the first things that you told me was that you would always handle the bills.

Is that not what you told me? So, don’t try to stand here, and throw that up in my face now!

You say that as if I don’t have money of my own to contribute to this home.

I see the money that comes in, and out of this home.

I make twice of what you make!” my mom yelled at him.

For her to go that far, I know that he had to have gotten up under her skin because my mom was truly quiet, and soft, and she knew how to tune my dad out, and try not to argue with him, especially in front of us, but tonight, he’d pushed her.

“Oh wow. That’s how you want to do this?

You want to go below the belt? Let’s do it then!

These days, I feel like I don’t have shit else to live for anyways.

You want to bring up the fact that you make more money than me, like that’s not supposed to hurt my feelings, well lets hurt yours then.

Truth is, your my wife, but I haven’t been in love with you in years.

I love you enough for the sake of our children.

The only reason why I haven’t left your ass yet is because I wanted to wait until the kids were eighteen, out of the house, and in college.

That, and because yes, I was concerned about how bad it would make our image look, especially since people have glorified our marriage for years.

I couldn’t be happier when you decided to stop sleeping in the bedroom with me, and you finally decided to sleep in one of the guest bedrooms. You suck as a mother, too.

You’re too busy worried about that damn job, and trying to be friends with your children, that you don’t know how to properly parent them.

If you were a better parent, there’s no way in hell our daughter would have been comfortable enough with sneaking that thug in our home while we were away.

What kind of punishment did she get from you after all that?

Nothing. All you did was help her with that bullshit speech that she put on social media.

You’re a terrible mother, and wife!” his words cut deep.

Hearing the way that he would speak to my mom, it caused tears to fall from my eyes. If his words had the power to cut me the way that they did, I could only imagine how my mom was feeling now.

It’s like all movement stopped from them after he said that. I wasn’t sure if they were still on the stairs, or what, but you didn’t hear anything else after that.

“Now that I know what you think of me, I will gladly pack up my things, and I’ll leave.

I have a daughter, and I never want her to believe that it’s okay for a man to talk to her in this manner.

I’m also raising a son, and he should know how low it is for a man to degrade his wife, and the mother of his children in such a way.

We’ll be on opposite sides of the courtroom soon because I’ll go ahead, and file for divorce, and I’ll come up with a plan on how we’ll split custody of the children.

For now, my children are coming with me, and I dare you try to fight me on this!

You should know how I am when it comes to my children!

” her voice rose, and you could hear the way it cracked too.

“Victoria, wait. I’m sorry. Babe, I didn’t mean to say that.

I’m sorry. I got myself into some deep shit, and I feel like I’m losing my mind.

I don’t hate you. I don’t think that you’re a bad mother.

I still love you. I’m in the middle of something big, and it’s causing me to spiral, and that’s why I haven’t been myself these past few days,” my dad’s voice sounded as if it was trembling.

He genuinely sounded scared, which was new for me because I’ve never in my life heard him be afraid of anything.

I inched closer to the door because I was interested in hearing what kind of deep mess he might have gotten himself in the middle of.

“What are you in the middle of?” my mom’s voice softened as well. As angry as I’m sure she was with him right now for disrespecting her, there was still that piece of her that I’m sure still loved him a great deal, which is why she was trying to figure out what was going on.

“Victoria, it’s bad,” his voice was lower, so I ended up having to be careful with the way that I opened the door, only needing it to be cracked a little bit, so that I could really hear what he was going to reveal to my mom.

“What is it?” she asked, her voice dropping as well. Time felt like it was moving super slow. I know at least three minutes had gone by already, and he still hadn’t opened his mouth to tell my mom what he’d done.

“Remember a couple of weeks ago when it made the news about Sevyn, and his wife almost getting ran off the road?” he asked her.

“Yes. I remember that. The driver that tried to run them off the road died, right?” she asked.

I knew exactly what they were talking about.

It made the news, and that Monday when we all came back to school, everybody was talking about it.

The cameras that were on the highway had captured the entire thing, so the video had gone viral of Creed’s dad swerving his car, and being able to get away from the car that had been trailing him, and you could see when the driver of the other car sped off the exit, leaving their car to flip, and turn in the air, and the nasty, brutal crash that it made when it landed.

Everyone at our school was amazed with Creed’s dad’s driving skills, and they were posting it all on our schools messy social media page that was ran by the students.

When I saw that incident, it sucked that I couldn’t even reach out to Creed and ask him how he was doing because he had me blocked on everything, and he made it clear that he didn’t want to speak to me.

“I paid that driver to kill Sevyn,” my father revealed to my mom, and when he said it, I gasped out loud, and I put my hand over my mouth, not being able to believe his words.

“Wow. All I have to say in response to that is wow! Also, let me guess, you did this because you wanted to hurt his son, right? Ever since that night you came home, and caught his son in the room with Vivian, you’ve been hell bent on destroying that boys life.

You are stupid, Edward! Do you hear me? Stupid!

What about your children? Were you thinking about them while you were out, paying a hitman to commit a murder for you?

” she screamed at him, and through the cracks in her voice, and the pitch of it going in, and out, I just knew that she was crying.

“I realize now that what I did was stupid, but at the time, I was just trying to protect?—”

“Protect who? Protect what? Creed didn’t do anything to Vivian.

She made that clear to both of us hundreds of times before.

You know the kind of daughter that we raised.

You know that we raised her to be honest. Do you really think that if Creed had done something to Vivian, she would have gone this far in protecting him by lying about what happened?

Whatever is getting ready to come your way, I want you to know that you deserve it,” she spat.

“That morning when I came home from the gym after my cycling class, and I was on edge, it’s because when I got to my car, Sevyn was in the back waiting for me.

He had proof that I was the one that paid that man to kill him.

He lured me in to confessing, and he recorded the entire conversation.

He told me that he’s going to hand it over.

I just don’t know when he’s going to do it.

That’s why I’ve been spiraling the way that I have because I have fears of officers kicking down our front door to get to me, or coming by the office to get me, and putting me in handcuffs.

Victoria, I don’t know what to do. I get that your angry at me, but I’m already down.

Right now, is not the time to kick me while I’m going through this,” he sounded pathetic.

I lowered myself to the floor, pulled my knees up, and I rested my head on my knees.

I had to muffle my cries, so that they wouldn’t be able to hear me.

I loved my father, despite the person that he’s been these past few months, and I didn’t want to see him go to prison.

That would break my heart like no other.

If Creed’s dad had a recording of my father confessing to hiring someone to kill him, there is no doubt in my mind that he was going to turn it over.

My dad had been working overtime for months to try and destroy Creed, so it was a given that Mr. Crawford would go out of his way to destroy my father.

Whatever words that were exchanged between my parents, I no longer heard it because I’d tuned them out. What I was feeling right now hurt more than enough, and I didn’t need to add anything else to my plate, so I forced myself to stop listening.