Page 145 of Anything To Be With You

Luke stands and I hold my breath, reaching for Gabe’s hand, squeezing it tight.

"Ow, Dani girl. You wanna ease up there before you pop a few stitches."

I drop his hand. "Sorry."

"I only have one question Mason," Luke looks up. "What did Mr. and Mrs. Whitlock say to you when you were recovering in the hospital back in August?"

Mason looks to me and I nod. He never told me what was said, only that they offered him a thousand dollars a week if he cut all ties with me and came to live with them.

"They told me that Ma is a whore and a…" he looks at Judge Sandford, then over at me. I give him another small smile, trying to encourage him but the thumbing of his knee against the witness stand tells me what he's about to say is upsetting him. He only bounces his knee when he's nervous or upset.

"They said she’s a whore who got pregnant on purpose to try to steal money from them by using me to get child support and to destroy Josh’s hockey career." Mason looks down at his hands. "They also said that she earned every beating she got from Josh. That it was her own damn fault it happened because she knew he had a temper, and she pushed his buttons anyway."

Horror and rage causes my muscles to stiffen. They knew the whole time and did nothing about it.

"I see. Is there anything else?" Luke asks.

"No sir, Mr. Archer." Mason glances towards me. "I’m sorry, Ma."

"I have no further questions, Your Honor."

Luke

Mason walks back towards us and sits behind Gabe. Dani reaches over and squeezes his hand. "So proud of you, Bubba."

I’m proud of him, too. It took a lot of guts for him to get up there in front of his family and strangers and do what he did.

Judge Sandford bangs the gavel. "I don’t need to hear anymore. Whitlock verse Carter and Archer is dismissed."

"Your Honor," Mr. Sayer calls out, "I would like to know why you are dismissing this case. You can clearly see my client was attacked."

Judge Sandford leans on the Bench. "This might be true, however, as I was going over this case during recess, I noticed there’s video evidence that was rejected. Care to explain why?"

Josh jumps up. "Because she would edit it somehow to make me look like the bad guy! Dani always made me look like the bad guy!" he points over to me. "How do we know that Luke didn’t attack her, huh."

Judge Sandford turns to me. "I would like to see the video."

"Your Honor, I really don’t think—" Mr. Sayer starts.

"Mr. Archer, do you have a copy of the video?" Judge Sandford questions, cutting off Mr. Sayer.

I pull it up on my phone. "I do."

"Approach the Bench."

I stand and hand my phone over to the judge. "There are two in total." I inform her.

I sit back next to Dani and her hand finds mine. I study the judges face as she reviews the videos. So many emotions cross her face as the video plays. The room is silent, all of them listening to the screaming and what was said.

Judge Sandford places my phone on the Bench, clasping her hands together. "There is no evidence that Ms. Carter initiated the attack nor that she and Mr. Archer planned this attack together. I am dismissing this case. End of discussion." She bangs the gavel on the Bench again. "Now, in the case of Carter verses Whitlock, I’m charging you, Mr. Whitlock, with aggravated assault causing bodily harm."

Josh explodes off his chair. "On what grounds!"

Judge Sandford glares at Josh. "After hearing everything, watching the videos, and your outbursts in my courtroom, it’s obvious that you have anger issues, Mr. Whitlock. I firmly believe that Ms. Carter did nothing to initiate either attack, other than denying you what you believe you are intitled to."

She stands and motions to the two Officers in the room. "Take him to holding until bail is set."

Dani spins and grips my arm. "What the fuck just happened?"

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