Caught In The Trap-HTGAWM

SIX

Annalise stood at the front center of the classroom writing on the chalkboard. The sound it made caused her daughter to scrunch her face. Annora had always had sensitive ears and the chalk wasn't doing it for her.

"Can you trust you're character witness on the stand?" She finished off her writing turning around to face the class while pointing the chalk at them. "That is one of the biggest dilemmas as a defense attorney. Your character witness is too positive, the jury feels manipulated. Too honest, and you shot your case in the foot."

Annora was jotting down notes on everything she was saying. Even after the talk they had last night there was a small part in her that still wanted to impress her. Though she only thought of it as a parent-child thing. "Which is why it all comes down to pretrial prep. The challenge is in establishing your witness's credibility. You have to show them being real, even critical of your client."

Annalise walked around the room making multiple hand gestures. Making eye contact with multiple students and not bothering the ones who weren't paying attention. "Be as punishing as possible. No topic is off-limits." She stopped in her steps staring at the class.

"Team. I'd like you to meet my daughter, Eloise." The students plus Bonnie looked up at the voice seeing Max standing there with a blonde girl in a coral dress. "She's fresh off the plane from Standford." Eloise turned at smirked at her father before letting her eyes wander the students.

Annora felt off with her as if she gave off bad energy. "She dropped everything the minute we said we needed her." Max crossed his arms letting his daughter speak after him. He had an almost proud look upon his features. "I'm getting a master's in poetry. There's nothing much to drop." Her voice sounded bored and out of place.

Connor gave a short smile holding the file on his forearm. As his daughter stared at Connor, Max leaned over to her ear nodding to Wes. "Ellie, he's the one I mentioned in the car." She scowled at her father feeling embarrassed. "Dad." Max shrugged his shoulders glancing between the two of them. "Think of the beautiful babies you two would make." Wes' eyes widened as he brought his gaze to Annora who only smirked at him.

They sat Eloise down in a chair within the middle of the room. The others and Max sat at the desk by the window in front of her. Bonnie walked around the desk as she questioned the young girl for a prep trial. "He's your father. Are we really supposed to believe that you wouldn't lie for him on the stand?"

The young girl took a sharp breath fiddling with her fingers. "I love my father, obviously, but I also love Marjorie. If my father hurt her, I'd insist you give him the death penalty." Max smiled turning his head to Bonnie who stood next to Annora who was also jotting down more notes. "See? Pretty and smart."

Bonnie raised her voice walking closer to his daughter. "What about when he sent you to the mental institution? He told you-you were crazy, right?" Eloise gritted her teeth almost biting back at Bonnie. "I was fifteen and anorexic, just like every other girl at my private school. And I got better." Bonnie gave no room for her to say anything else walking closer to the younger girl. "Because you were able to get away from his bad parenting?"

The girl raised her voice staring into Bonnie's wide eyes. "He wasn't a bad parent. He's odd, yes, eccentric, but it's just a defense mechanism." The girl's eyes flicked before they suddenly turned dark as well as her tone.

"His parents died when he was a child. His first wife, my birth mother, died in a car accident when I was three. That changes you. Makes you scared of losing people. That's why he clung to Majorie and me. We were his entire world."

In the courtroom, Eloise was in the stand benign questioned by Annalise. "Which is how I know there's no way he could have hurt her. I get that's hard to believe coming from me, but it's the truth." Annalise who had her arms crossed turned about to the two men and woman who sat behind her. "Your witness."