Page 99 of Forever Found
“And you are?”
“Kane Chase. My head of security,” Asher answered, seeming frustrated with the time wasting. “So Kline instructed his son to get rid of Addy?”
“It seems that way. I have local PD at the jail now, investigating how Kline could have even gotten a message to his son, since his son hasn’t been to the jail to visit.”
“But why?” I demanded, annoyed more than upset. “You said they don’t even need my testimony in court to find Max guilty, right? So why go to so much trouble when he’ll probably be found guilty anyway?”
“We think his lawyer has something they’re holding back until the start of the trial next week, something that could get Kline off. They obviously want to make sure your testimony won’t change that.” Harbison explained, and I knew my face had paled. I could feel the blood drop from it as my heart raced.
“And could it? My testimony? Would it make a difference?” I asked as I finally made myself meet those dark eyes and stay strong.
“Your testimony allows evidence of the kidnapping to be brought into the trial, so yeah, I think it would make a big difference.”
“Why haven’t I been asked to testify? That fucker kidnapped me too. I can testify,” Eli demanded.
“You’re the brother who was taken too?” Harbison asked.
“Yeah. Eli Lyle,” Eli sighed.
“But you didn’t actually see Kline, did you? You were knocked out, I believe?” Harbison pushed, and Eli shook his head.
“No. I woke up when we were in that house. I didn’t actually get eyes on Kline, but we know he was behind it. He spoke to Addy, told her he had kidnapped us for money,” Eli explained.
“And that is why it needs to be Addy who testifies in court. No matter how good his lawyers are, there’s little they can do to discredit her sworn testimony.”
“And Jeff, the son. What happens with him? He hired men to kill Addy,” Jordan demanded, obviously angry, which was so unlike him.
“He’s been brought in for questioning and as soon as we have the evidence that he has had contact with his father, he will be charged, but that’s on local PD. We can only work what was linked to the sex trafficking case.”
“I want to testify,” I announced without much thought.
“No, Addy. You’re not up to that,” Eli argued, and Asher nodded his agreement.
“I can do it. There’s no way Max Kline get’s away with what he did. I can’t let that happen. I have to testify and make sure I, and all of the other innocent lives he ruined and likely ended, get some justice. Joseph got off too easy. I’m not letting Kline get off too,” I stated.
It was a terrifying prospect – standing up in court and facing Max again – but I had to do it. I had to make sure that monster was never allowed to hurt anyone else ever again. I had to make sure his disgusting people trafficking ring was shut down for good.
I couldn’t save everyone. I wasn’t naïve enough to think there weren’t dozens of other operations just like the one I got dragged into. But I could still do something. If I could stop this trafficking ring, I could save some other innocents, just like me, from ever facing what I had been forced to.
My guys told me continuously that I was stronger than I realized. Now I was going to have to damn well prove it, and I would. I was determined that my cowardice would stop right there. I wasdone hiding and I was definitely done letting the monsters win. They were never taking anything else from me again. Never.
***
I’d never been so sweaty in my whole life as I was when I stepped down from the witness box just ten days later. I couldn’t even keep my hand on the small rail as I shakily moved down the steps, but I refused to show any of that weakness, knowing Kline still sat in the court room, in his immaculate designer suit, a smug smile on his face and not a hair out of place.
He had tried to maintain his relaxed posture as I was questioned on the stand, but the more I told the jury, and the more their faces filled with shock, the stiffer that monster became. I had told them about his words on the plane - that he told me he had initially had me taken as payback against Joseph, and he was the reason I had found myself trapped in two years of abuse and fear.
I couldn’t tell them about the warehouse, when I thought he had me dragged from that cage so he could hurt me, but the more I stood opposite him, I wished I could, because I was becoming surer and surer that Max Kline had really been there that day – and that he had been the first one to violate me and begin two long years of abuse and torture, that broke me so badly, that I knew I could never ever be whole again.
Instead I detailed the way Eli and I were hurt, the threats Max made to hurt my brother, and rape me. I recalled every single detail. When Max’s attorney stood to question me I had been terrified, but there was little he could throw back. He tried to make me sound unstable mentally, but this had been preempted and the other side referred to the report an independent psychiatrist had done just days earlier, after doingan assessment session with me. The report stated that I was suffering from severe PTSD, but that I was stable and of sound mind – so they couldn’t discount my evidence that way. Once that failed, they announced they had no more questions and my part was over.
Now I just had to get down the steps and out of the court room with our tripping over, or falling apart, and I would have done all I hoped to achieve when I left the hotel that morning.
“Take my hand, shortcake.” I looked up and sighed in relief when I found Eli stood at the foot of the steps holding his hand out to me. He looked so smart and handsome in his charcoal suit. His white shirt was neatly pressed, not a speck of paint on it, and he suited the open collar look he sported.
“It’s the shoes,” I whispered as I took his hand and made it down the last step unscathed. “I told Jen that I couldn’t walk in heels.”
Eli just smiled as he linked our arms and placed my hand over his forearm, leading me right past the table Max Kline sat behind, and through the courtroom to where the rest of my family was waiting for us.