Fireproof // Liam Payne fanfic (sequel to Through the Dark)

Chapter 68

Ariella ^

Over the last few weeks, Charlotte, our lawyer, has been practically living at my house. She was over at least once or twice a day, interviewing people for the trial.

My house just became the basic meeting place for everyone, so everyone came and went at all hours of the day- it was almost like a motel. Charlotte interviewed people such is Louis and the lads, Johanna, Lottie, Fizzy, and of course Liam and I. She even interviewed Paul and Preston since they were the two that wrestles Courtney down. They also overheard her admitting to everything that she had done. Therefore, All of the boys could be used as possible witnesses since they were all there to visibly watch the downfall on our wedding day.

Charlotte was convinced we would not need many witnesses to prove our case was valid. "We really only need Liam," she teased with a smile. "After all, he is the victim and it is fortunate enough that he regained his memory and has firsthand knowledge of the shooting" she said. "But of course," she stressed, "we won't have just Liam" she smiled at me reassuringly.

"How many will you need?" Harry asked her curiously.

"Well our lineup will include Liam, Ariella, Louis and I'll take one more, but I need to decide who" she said, trailing off and scanning her eyes down the list of witnesses. Her assistant Sarah spoke up from beside me.

"I would take Harry" she suggested, flipping through her papers. "He was there for the shooting and witnessed the confessions afterwards" she added. Charlotte nodded and picked up her yellow pad.

"Would you be alright with that?" Charlotte asked him. Harry nodded silently and continued his slumped position in the wooden chair.

"Okay so first up we'll have Harry," she wrote down. "Then Louis" she scribbled, "Ariella, and then to finish out strong, we'll have Liam" she concluded. We all silently nodded and flashed each other looks of unconfident hesitation.

It would be one hell of a trial

*

My heels clicked against the hard wood floors, in sync with Charlotte's footsteps in front of me. Liam, who was barely walking without his crutches, held his hand casually in mine as we entered the courtroom. Louis walked behind us and Johanna accompanied him with Bryce.

Lottie was there along with all eleven boys, but Fiz stayed home to watch the younger ones- including Lacey. The only reason we had taken Bryce was because he was technically a valuable part of this trial. Considering the abuse Courtney put him through, my son could be used to help put her behind bars because the scar on his arm was evidence.

"But it's been there since birth" I had once reminded Charlotte. "Can't they use that against us?"

"They could argue it," she began, "but we have the doctor's note that explains how he was rushed in that night and informs of the deep gash on his left arm'" she quoted from the document in front of her.

Aside from this one incident, we had many other sources of evidence that we planned in using against Courtney. Before diagnosing our victims with charges, Charlotte of course had to explain how the law works and what we could charge them with.

"First degree murder is planned in advance and meant with malice intentions" she explained. "Second degree murder is also done with malace intention, but is not planned in advance" she said, deciphering the differences. "Voluntary manslaughter, also known as third degree" she began, "is any intentional killing that is not with no prior intent" she added.