Page 41 of Katie 3

Then the questions get harder.

Henry steps closer and makes his voice gentle. “Is there anything else relating to this case that you’d like to share before it can come up?”

I nibble my bottom lip. This is it. There’s no hiding, no escape. “I’m also seeing Carter and um… I’m really… happy with both of them. My mom found out and divorced… y-you. We’ve been living together and Brad’s been working so hard on managing his temper. I know it can flare up, but only when he…lovessomeone.” There’s weight and truth. With all I heard, he never did something like this for her, for Brandy. I peek over Henry’s shoulder and my realization is noticed by Brad as he winks at me. I clear my throat and finish. “When he cares and wants to protect someone. I know that doesn’t always make it okay, but he’s been working so hard to control it. He wouldn’t do this.”

“Objection!”

Any time I try to speak to Brad’s innocence, it’s an objection, that I’m biased, slander, speculation. By the time we finish withthe questions, I’m exhausted. I look at the judge. “Can I have a break please? This is… a lot.”

The judge notices me touch my belly and nods once. “Ten-minute recess.”

“Katie!” Brad calls.

I look at him. I hate seeing him so beaten up, but it proves what I know. He’s trying to be better. The past isn’t something I can change, but Brad is proving the future will be different.

Brad

The prosecution is ruthless. They try to get her to say that she wanted Dan hurt, that she saw him in the woods, try to trip her up with questions that sound the same, but are different. I see her nervousness getting to her. And Brandy’s words haven’t helped one bit for her.

“So you would say your boyfriend is violent, that’s what you’re saying?”

Her brow furrows. “I didn’t say that, and you have to be more specific. I mean, I’m dating Carter too and he’s—”

“Only Carter? We’ve heard Brandy’s story; are you fucking their dad too—”

“Objection, relevance,” Carter speaks up.

“It gives us the whole story, the power dynamics in their relationship,” the prosecutor says and the judge nods to continue.

“Is it true you’re also in a romantic relationship with your stepfather?”

Fuck.

“He’s not my stepfather,” she answers, but it says enough.

“So you weren’t intimate with him while he was married to your mother?”

“Objection, relevance, Your Honor,” Carter calls out again.

“I only want to get the full picture, Your Honor,” the prosecutor says.

“Your Honor, this has nothing to do with this case,” Carter says.

“Focus back on the case, prosecutor,” the judge says.

The prosecutor smiles and tosses me the next question. “You said that Brad can lose his temper, that he can get violent. That he’s having to work to control it, right?”

My fists curl under the table. I hate seeing her like this. I hate how he drives her into a corner.

“I didn’t say that he’s violent. Boys fight all the time. A punch is the beginning and end of a fight for them.”

“That’s violent, isn’t it? If someone had a reputation for punching people over problems, you’d call them violent,” the prosecutor pushes.

“You’re simplifying and it’s—”

They go back and forth, wanting her to give one-word answers and she won’t. She’s strong even though she’s shaking and terrified. She takes every opportunity to gush over me. She asks questions right back to the prosecutor, asking if a violent man would hold her while she cries. She asks if a violent man would regularly make date nights and get worried if he’s too rough even when that’s what she wants. The more she talks me up, the more my heart leaps into my throat and reminds me I’m not worthy of her.

My dad traces his hand over the table, his shoulders low. “She’s doing well, right?” I whisper to him.

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