Page 75 of Healed Heart
“Dr.Lansing has been charged with felony assault and battery,” the judge says.“How does your client plead, Mr.Haywood?”
“Not guilty, Your Honor.As Dr.Lansing is a respected member of the community with no prior record, we ask that he be released on his own recognizance.”
“Ms.Vandernash?”
“The complaint against Dr.Lansing is severe,” she says, “but given that this is his first offense, the people won’t object to bail set at one hundred thousand dollars.”
I gulp.I have the money, but damn.
The judge nods.“I agree with the people, though a hundred thousand is high.Bail is set at fifty thousand dollars.”
The judge’s gavel cracks like a gunshot, and as they move on to the next case, I stand there frozen, my fate now tangled in a system that doesn’t know me, doesn’t care, and might just swallow me whole.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
Angie
“You going to answer me?”Tabitha says.“Ralph must have wanted to see you for some reason.”
Yeah.He wanted me to fuck him in his hospital bed in order to drop the charges against Jason.
“School stuff,” I lie.
Tabitha shakes her head.“We haven’t known each other long, but you’re a terrible liar, Ange.”
God, she’s so much like Sage.How many times have I heard my twin sister say those exact same words to me?
I close my eyes, take a deep breath in.“It’s a freaking long story, Tabitha.Let’s just say he’s a fucking dick.I was right the first time, and I hope you’re over your little crush on him.”
“I am.”She frowns.“But he looks so pathetic.”
“Exactly.Pathetic.He’s fucking pathetic.I mean, what kind of guy lets another guy do that to him?Didn’t his father ever teach him how to fight?”
I don’t particularly like the words coming out of my mouth.I’m usually a much more empathetic person.No one deserves to be beaten up like that.
Except Ralph does.
Ralph definitely does.
He’s falsely accusing Jason, and right now Jason is rotting in a jail cell at the police station.I hope the attorney has gotten to him.
I should be there at the station, demanding answers.But what would I even say?That they have the wrong guy?That Jason wouldn’t hurt anyone?The system doesn’t care about gut feelings, about love, about the truth hidden beneath all the lies.It cares about evidence, and right now, it feels like the world is against the man I love.
I take a deep breath.Jason needs me to be strong.He needs me to fight.I don’t know how—not yet—but I will.Because if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that I’m not letting him go down for something he didn’t do.
“I don’t know,” Tabitha is saying.“Ralph was roughed up pretty badly.Maybe it was more than one person.Or maybe he didn’thavea dad growing up.Maybe no one taught him how to fight.Maybe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
I resist the eye roll.
Tabitha is a nice girl.She just doesn’t want to admit that Ralph got his ass kicked because she thought she liked him.
But part of her knows he’s an ass.We’ve had this conversation.
I sigh.“Okay, Tabitha, I lied.”
“Oh?”
“He didn’t want to see me about school stuff.”
