Golden Hearts | Rafe Cameron [1]

38

July 10

The day has come when my dad is going to have his trial. Today, we'll find out what his punishment will be. If he gets a prison sentence, he'll be sent to the mainland since the island doesn't have a prison. My mom will be even more crushed. She refuses to leave the house except when she absolutely has to. Nathan has been the one doing the shopping, and we've been helping each other with cooking. It really hurts to see my mom like this when I know how happy and cheerful she usually is.

We're in the car. Two minutes left until we arrive outside the house where the trial is going to take place. The Cameron family and the Carrera family are also supposed to be there. Many people on the island are here today because this is very big news for most of them, as such major events never happen on such a small island like this.

My mom parks the car outside the courthouse, and we get out. There's a lot of people moving outside the house, and a man comes up to us and helps us slip past the others so we can get good seats.

Inside the room, the Cameron family is already sitting on one of the benches. Ward gives us a quick glance before quickly turning away. He's clearly disappointed in our family after what my dad did to him. Sarah, on the other hand, gives me a slight wave, and Rafe greets me with a smile. But still, I have to go with my family and sit behind them.

I meet Rafe's gaze again. He looks sadly at me as if he knows how hard this is for my whole family. It must be hard for the Cameron family too. We all thought we could trust my dad. But apparently, we were all wrong.

The lawyer starts speaking, and the trial begins. My dad enters the room, and I immediately meet his gaze. His look is sad, but there's still something in it that seems to enjoy it. My mom sniffles beside me as she takes out her handkerchief. I put my hand on hers to calm her down.

They start talking a lot, and I don't hear much of what they're saying. The words seem to blur and fade away. I have a hard time concentrating, and it almost feels like everything is spinning. My ears start ringing, and everything around me feels unreal. Almost blurry. My breathing just gets heavier and heavier with each passing minute, and I feel like I need to get out of here to get some air.

I stand up, which makes some people look at me in the silent room, only heard by the lawyer. My mom looks up at me. "What are you doing?" she whispers.

"I just need to get some air," I whisper back, but my mom grabs my hand and tries to get me to sit down.

"Let her get some air, mom. She might need it," Nathan whispers to my mom, which makes her hesitate a bit before nodding and letting go of my hand.

I hurry out of the room and out of the big house until I get out to the parking lot, which is now empty of people and only surrounded by cars. I sit down on one of the benches outside the house and try to breathe, but it still feels heavy and difficult, and I don't know where to go.

A door opens behind me, but I don't bother to care and try to focus on my breathing. An arm is placed on my shoulder, and suddenly Rafe is in front of me. He sits down on his knees in front of me and puts a hand on both of my shoulders. He looks straight into my eyes.

"Breathe with me," he whispers, his eyes focused on mine. "Calmly... breathe in on three, deeply..." I do as he says and breathe in on three and then breathe out when he breathes out. We do it a few times, which makes my breathing calm down a bit.

"Relax, it's okay. The most important thing is that you can breathe," Rafe says. He lets go of my shoulders and takes my right hand instead.

My breathing starts to return to normal again, and I don't hesitate until I throw my arms around Rafe. His arms hug me back, and I immediately feel safe again. It's in these arms I want to stay forever. The scent of his perfume makes me calm, and it almost feels like home.

"I understand that this must be hard for you, but it will work out. Trust me, I'm here for you," Rafe whispers.

"Thank you, Rafe," I whisper back as tears start to run down my cheeks.

Everything suddenly feels good again. I almost forget why I'm here. It's not until the door opens again and the voice of a very familiar person makes me look up.

"So this is where you two are," Ward crosses his arms and looks disappointedly at the two of us. He who just a week ago loved seeing us together now hates it.

Rafe doesn't let go of me despite Ward's disappointed look. "What do you want?" he asks instead with anger in his voice.

"I want you two to stay away from each other as I said, as you promised," Ward says.

"Don't you see that she's crying here? This is very difficult for Addie, and I'm trying to be here for her since no one else cares," Rafe says loudly.

Something in Ward's gaze softens for a moment before he looks determinedly at us. "If you two don't stay away from each other, we'll have to lock both of you up," he says. "By the way, Adeline, your dad has received his punishment now."

I nervously look up at him. "What punishment?" my voice trembles as I ask.

"$57,00 in fines and $70,000 in damages to me," Ward says.

So he didn't get a prison sentence. That relaxes me a bit except for the thought that it means he'll be coming home again. The fear of him being able to hit me at any time or scream at me will come back again.

"Come on, you need to go to your family, Adeline," Ward says, starting to walk towards us, which makes Rafe back us away from him.

"Rafe, you know very well that this will go much easier if you don't resist," Ward says as he approaches us.

"Why do you always meddle in other people's lives? Do you have such a boring life that you just want to ruin it for the rest of us?" Rafe is yelling while I stand behind him, his grip on my arm is tight and  he's sweating. Does he know what he's doing? The last thing I want is for us all to end up in a big fight.

"Rafe, calm down," Ward says as he approaches Rafe. The door opens a third time, and my dad comes out from the door. He looks up immediately to see what's happening. Ward gives him a disgusted look before continuing to focus on us.

"Can you get your daughter away from my son?" Ward says but it sounds more like a demand than a question.

My dad just nods before he comes up to me. He looks seriously at me and ignores Rafe who's trying to stop him. Ward takes hold of Rafe and my dad takes a firm grip on me, causing me to let out a sound. Rafe tries to reach me but Ward already has a tight grip on him.

"Ow, let go of me. It hurts!" I say loudly to my dad as Ward leads Rafe away towards their car.

My dad loosens his grip when Ward and Rafe are out of sight and approaches me to give me a hug which surprises me and I hug him back. I don't know why I do it. It just happened.

"I'm so sorry about everything that's happening right now," he says. "But it's important that you listen to Ward so there won't be any more problems."

"But why did you do it?" I whisper as I can't get anything more out of my mouth.

My dad sighs loudly. "It's a long story that you shouldn't get involved in. Come on so we can go home."

—
A/N:
I don't know why but I love this chapter:)