[ thirty nine ]
"I didn't do anything to her." I insisted, my eyes were pleading along with my words for him to believe me. "Giselle is a liar, you know her better than I do!" Since he had gotten drunk that night, he didn't remember anything, and didn't remember getting into her bed. As far as James knew, he had sex with her and they were going to have a baby. But that was all a lie Giselle had made up.
James sighed in frustration, letting go of my wrists and bringing his hands to his face once more. The doctor had walked off before I could say more to him, but I knew he was lying. I knew because I had seen it with my own eyes. "I do know Giselle is capable of doing something like this, but she wouldn't raise my hopes like this." He cried into his hands. "The two things I've wanted in life were to be with you, and to have a child I could hold in my arms. But...I also know you, and you wouldn't be capable of hurting anyone physically. You were scared of hurting Toni's feelings, how can I believe you killed a baby?"
"I know things look bad for me right now." I said to him in a voice barely above a whisper. "But I know I'm innocent. And the truth will soon be discovered."
The tears continued to pour down James' face, and it wasn't just because of this. It was because of everything we had gone through in the past three years. This incident was just the last straw. We both sat together in the waiting room, hoping to get more news about Giselle because even though she was lying, she had fallen down a flight of stairs.
About an hour later, two men dressed in police uniforms walked into the emergency room and from the moment I saw them, I knew they were here for me. The doctor which was aiding Giselle in her lies emerged from one of the hallways and pointed me out to them. "That's her." He said to the two men, "That's the woman that attempted to kill Giselle Vilanova."
They nodded and cut the distance in the room towards me. "Arista Paez?" One said my name.
James looked up at them, confused.
"Yes." I nodded.
"You need to come with us to the police station." The officer informed me.
He reached to grab my arm, but I pulled it out of his reach. "I can go myself." I said, getting up and following him out of the emergency waiting room.
James called after me, promising he would help get me out. But what mattered most was not getting out at that point, it was proving that I was innocent. And I knew just how I would do it.
-
I was interrogated at the police station.
They asked all the questions and wouldn't let me speak. They only wanted the answers they were hoping for, they were hoping for a confession. But they weren't going to get one from me because I knew I was innocent. Still, the questions they formulated were made to make me seem like the guilty party.
"I didn't push her." I stood my ground.
The officer banged his fist on the table, startling me, "Then tell us exactly what happened!"
"I could tell you..." I started casually. "But I think it would be more effective if I showed you what happened." I smiled, remembering that at the Real Madrid press building on the training ground, there were cameras in every hallway. I had seen them myself several times. And I was sure there was probably even one by the staircase where Giselle and I had our argument. It was just a matter of asking the security team in the building to get it for us.
"What are you talking about?" The officer asked me.
"Go to Real Madrid's press building." I replied to his question. "That's where it all happened. There are security cameras and you'll see I had nothing to do with her fall. She threw herself down those stairs. I tried to help her."
With the new information they had, they handcuffed me and took me to one of the cells in the police station. They still thought I was guilty until they could see with their own eyes that I was innocent. They left for the training ground, where they would talk to the security guards who were on their night shift.
I sat on the cold bench in my cell with nothing else to do but wait.
My cell faced out to a hallway that led out to the front counter. They had taken my purse from me, with my cellphone in it. I wanted to call James, not so that he could bail me out, but just because I wanted to see him. I wanted to hear his voice in case things didn't work out in my favor. If Giselle ended up having things her way, I would go to jail for something I didn't do.
-
What seemed like hours passed and I was dozing off on the cold bench when I heard a voice echoing down the hall. It was coming from the front counter where there was an officer on duty.
"Where's Arista?" The voice asked desperately.
The officer at the front counter, a female, said to James, "Calm down, sir."
I got up off the bench and went towards the front of my cell, grabbing onto the cold metal bars which enclosed the small space. There was an excitement in my voice as I called out to him because it meant he knew I was innocent. He knew I would never do something like that to anyone, no matter how much I disliked them. "James! I'm over here!"
His hurried footsteps followed the sound of my voice in the next minute. The female officer called after him, her voice full of authority. "Hey! You can't go back there."
James reached me in a matter of moments, his hands took mine in his. "Amor, forgive me. I don't know how I could have doubted you. I'm so sorry." He said, bringing my hands to his lips and placing soft kisses on them.
The woman officer walked down the hallway as well, and she grabbed James by the shoulders, pushing him up against the metal bars harshly. "I told you not to come back here, sir." She said to him in annoyance, pulling his hands from mine and pinning them behind his back with ease. "Since you seem to want to be with this young woman so much, I'll lock you in the cell with her." She said, and she unclipped a key from her belt, using it to open the door and she pushed him inside with me.
After she told him he was free to go in the morning, she went back to her desk.
I knew it wasn't the time or place to do so, but a laugh escaped my lips seeing him standing there sheepishly. He didn't seem to regret the consequences of his actions in the slightest. "You're crazy, James. It still amazes me the extent you will go to for me."
He only shrugged. "I always told you I love you just a little bit more than you love me. And that's okay. If you loved me the same way I loved you, we would probably never leave the house."
"And now you got yourself in jail." I reminded him.
"In jail with you." He argued, as though being with me made jail time better.
I went to sit on the bench in the jail cell. The only other thing there was a dirty toilet in one corner. Patting the spot next to me, I said to him, "Come over here and sit with me so we can try and sleep. The faster we fall asleep, the faster time will pass and we can get out of here quicker."
"You lay down on the bench, amor." James insisted. "I'll sleep on the ground."
I crinkled up my nose. "The floor is filthy, James."
"I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight." He said.
That was when a yawn escaped my lips, but I refused to lay down in case he might want to sit with me later on. I know he wanted me to be comfortable, but I preferred his company. "I'm going to try to sleep. Goodnight, Jamesito."
By tomorrow, things would either get better...or worse.
-
why can't i stop updating everyday? i try to contain myself, but i feel so very inspired. the next chapter will be the last, and then the epilogue will follow and that will be the end for this story. i cry. but i hope you continue to like the updates.
thank you for reading.
-clary xx
