Prince and the Pauper

Chapter Forty-Two

I  stared at my reflection in the bathroom of Adlington Court, my stomach bunched up into a ball of nerves. Three weeks had passed since Harry had confronted my father, and now the dreaded court case had arrived. We'd gone over and over our story, why we had gone to drastic and illegal measures with faking my death, why Trace and Dante were a danger to my safety and how it was important they were locked up for good. Harry had hired the best lawyer around, Jared Holland, and our case was solid. But I still felt like I was a mess. Last time I stood in court I had failed my brother, and now I had to do it all over again, with a court that already had their opinion made up on the mud-rud girl, who bad-mouthed the Style's family, what seemed like a lifetime ago.
"The first step to winning is believing you can win." I smiled back to Monica Styles reflection in the mirror as she stepped into the restroom. Monica looked stunning as ever, her black hair pinned up in an elegant bun, a white turtleneck sweater flattering her flawless skin, and black dress pants and heels. She looked regal, and I'm sure she felt it too. I, on the other hand, looked completely uncomfortable in a tighter black pencil skirt, with a lavender coloured blouse tucked into a thick high-waist belt, and I was pretty sure I was swaying in the dauntingly high stiletto's.
"I've never been good at winning. Those games I used to play with Geordie when we were younger, when you're supposed to let the little kid win? I tried my best every time and he still kicked my ass." I smiled, making Monica laugh sweetly. She came up behind me and brushed my hair to the side, offering a reassuring smile.
"You look lovely, but that trembling smile? It could worry the jury. You need to be confident in there, honey." She gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze.  
"You don't mind that I'm fighting to send your son and ex-lover to prison?"  I asked bluntly, and Monica smiled as she stood beside me in front of the vanity. She was looking into the mirror at my relfection.
"Parenthood is a funny thing. Yes, Dante will always be my son, and he'll always have a special place in my heart. But, what he has done...sometimes we have to let go of our loved ones who sinned too greatly against us, and hand them over to God. Let him forgive them for us."
"You think it works that way? God could be okay with us not forgiving somebody?"
"I think," Monica paused, correcting her already perfect lipstick, "there is a difference between forgiving somebody moving forwards, and accepting what they have done as okay and erasing it like it never happened. I dont believe in forgive and forget, because if we forget then there is nothing preventing us for messing up again and needing to be forgiven again. I can forgive Dante for all he has done, but does that mean that we wipe the plate clean and let them dish up the same mistake again, or we leave it there and carry on, accepting its there, but not let it became of centre what is in front of us." I smiled at her words, and she smiled warmly back. I found myself grateful for her motherly instincts towards me as I turned sideways to face her.
"Thank you so much for all you've done for me, Mrs S-"
"Mom. You call me mom." She corrected with a playful scolding, making me grin.
"Thank you for everything, mom. Accepting me, despite me practically tearing your family apart." I looked down.
"Tore it apart? Honey, you brought us together." Her manicured hands gripped mine, and I looked up in shock.
"Dante gave Harry such a hard time for being the golden boy. Made Harry feel guilty of the love I have for him, even though Harry works hard for everything he has.  He lost his brother after Geordie's attack, he was never close with his father, and although he had me, he felt like he was being replaced by Trace. 
"He was so miserable, Devonne. And then he met you." Her sparkling green eyes met mine, and I smiled at the memory of Harry and I's first encounter.
"He  got his spark back, he came to me everyday gushing about this girl with a big heart, and a big mouth to match it." I laughed along with Monica, and she placed her hands on both of my shoulders.
"Dev, you gave me my son back. You opened my eyes to the monster Trace was, and Drake? He's still got issues, but...I think he's changing."
"What do you mean?" I gasped.
"That's something you'll have to see for yourself, sweetie." Monica chimed, flashing a playful wink, and then sashaying out of the bathroom, leaving me staring back at my reflection, feeling more than a little confused.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Court, please stand." The rustling of people standing to their feet filled the room, and I listened on to the ramblings of why we were here, and who the accused were.
"Mr Holland, you may speak first." The judge addressed our lawyer politely. Jared smiled warmly at the judge, straightened his tie, and stood up.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the court, thank you for joining us today." Harry who was sat beside me, gave my hand a comforting squeeze under the table.
"As I look before you all, I notice a pattern. Unity. Families, lovers, friends, siblings. Not one person among you is here alone. And it is that unity, that critical family dynamic, that was snatched away so ruthlessly from my client, Devonne Abel. Abandoned by her alcoholic and abusive mother, and gambling father at a young age, all Devonne had left was her brother, Geordie."
"Geordie Abel. A  name I am sure you are all aware of, but if not, let me inform you. Four months ago, Geordie, whom was only ten-years old, and Devonne walk into a local convenience store. It is in this store that Dante Styles, Sebastian Giles, and Chandler Simmons, barged in, held the clerk at gunpoint and stole money. And then?" He paused and turned to a projector screen on the far left corner. A picture from that horrid day, the day that was seared into my mind, flashed on the screen. I winced at the rawness of it all, the blood on the store floor, police markers scattered amongst the scene. Bile threatened to rise in my throat, and Harry pulled me in closer to his side. Gasps filled the room, and when Jared pressed on his remote another picture came on. This time of Geordie being wheeled off in a gurney, and a whimper of pain left my throat.
"It's okay baby." Harry whispered soothingly, rubbing a hand up and down my back.
"Attacked with a baseball bat out of cold blood, by Dante Sty-"
"Objection, your honour. Speculation." Dante's defence lawyer cut in. "We have no proof it was Dante Styles and this false accusation could taint the jury's unbias stand point."
"I'll allow it." The judge dismissed with a wave of her hand, and Aaron reluctantly sat back down.
"It was unjustly ruled in court that Dante was innocent, because Devonne's testimony was dismissed as 'emotionally compromised' to testify accuracy, given her relation to the victim." Jared announced to the court, and whispers floated throughout the hall.
"A court which reached a decided verdict. Jared, save us our time and spare us recycling old news." Aaron scorned, and a few people in the crowd muffled a laugh, making anger spark inside me.
"Ah, but perhaps a critical item was left out of that load, Mr Field." Jared retaliated with a winning smile, making another picture appear on screen.
"Your hon-"
"I said I will allow it, Mr Fields. Take a seat or I will hold you in content!" The judge ordered.
"Thank you, your honour." Our lawyer nodded, before gesturing back to the projector screen.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, what you are looking at is a one-of-a-kind baseball bat given to the Styles family. Nobody else owns one, as it is not sold in stores. To confirm this, I would like to call Luke Hanson to the stand." Harry and I watched on as a middle aged man got up and got to the stand, and took his oath, before taking a seat. 
"Mr Hanson, could you please tell the court what your job is?" Jared asked politelty.
"I work as a sports equipment manufacturer, sir." Luke spoke clearly, seemingly unfazed by the court.
"So if a store were to ask for a particlular make of an item, say a one-off set of baseball bats, you would be the person to make that?"
"Yes sir." Luke replied with a nod.
"And it would be correct to assume that this bat, on screen, was designed and manufactured by you?"  Jared probed further.
"Yes I did. I was even given specific orders to make it myself and have no other workers help, to prevent knowledge of the item spreading and having knockoffs made." Luke added.  I noticed Dante's lawyer, Aaron, stiffen at this, and a small smile came to my lips. A smile that faded when my eyes locked with Dante himself, and nausea knocked through me.
"Fascinating." Jared mused with a melody. "So there is no way any replicas of this bat have been made?"
"It would be impossible. I am the only one who knew of it, and I only made the one set, for the Styles family sir."
"Thank you, Mr Hanson. You may leave the stand." Jared dismissed, turning and flashing Harry and I a dazzling smile. A smile that filled me with hope that we could win this case.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


 "How long till the jury makes a verdict?" I asked Jared as people dispersed the courtroom whilst the jury went off to deliberate.
"That depends really. If they can't come to a agreement it could go on for hours, days, weeks. But if I can say, I am quitely confident in this going towards our favour. The evidence we had was substantial, and all Dante could do was claim innocence, with no evidence to back that up. The facts were deffintely on our side." Jared assured me, and I felt Harry squeeze my sides happily.
"Okay." I breathed out slowly, trying to steady my heartbeat.
"Darling, this is going to be fine." Harry whispered in my ear, and I nodded as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
"Yeah. It's about time we had a normal life, right?" I joked, and Harry laughed, his charming smile stealing my breath like always.
"An apple pie life." He agreed sweetly, the personal joke between us making me giggle.
"Harry!" We both turned to see Monica waving him over to her. I gave him a light push on the shoulder towards her.
"Go, I'll be fine." I promised,  and Harry kissed me on the lips quickly.
"Don't wander off. I don't want you bumping into Dante or Chandler, or even the fuckwit Sebastian." Harry grumbled, and I nodded.
"Go." I whispered, and Harry reluctantly went over to his mother. I had been standing alone for no longer than a minute when I felt a presence behind me. I slowly turned around, and held back a flinch when I stood face to face with Drake.
"Quite the case there, young lady." Drake nodded, a strange half-smile on his lips. I put my hands on my hips to show he didn't intimidate me and scoffed.
"Sarcasm? Mocking me? Partanizing me?" I listed his possible motives,  and he shook his head as he laughed shortly.
"More like reluctant approval." Drake mused, and my eyes narrowed in confusion.
"What do you want?" I cut to the chase, and he laughed again, but it didn't seem like it was filled with malice. He appeared genuinely amused.
"You know, I must say, I don't understand your attatchment to the piece of land on Greyson Street." He dodged my question.
"Oh you mean the hosiptal you destroyed for your business, just to spite me and my brother?" I snarled.
"The land was uneven, the structure had poor workmenship, and the most terrible view. Hardly Styles Hotel worthy, wouldn't you think?" He asked sweetly, too sweetly. My eyes narrowed futher.
"So this is a ha-ha, I took your brother's hospital room from under your feet just for fun, speech?" I asked angrily.
"No actually. It's a you should have warned me the land was usless and saved me a lot of time and money speech." He shrugged, and my eyes widened with anger.
"Are you-"
"Easy tiger." He mocked me, halting my onslaught of fury. "I'm not building my Hotel there. Styles Hotel needs to be placed in a more deserving spot, and so I am having Greyson Hospital rebuilt where it was. I would say it wil be as good as before, only it was a shambles, so it will be as good as what it should have been." He rolled his eyes. I let his words sink in, and Drake watched me with a highly entertained expression as I let the gears tick.
"You're...rebuilding the hosiptal where it was?" I asked in shock.
"Well it was that or leave the land empty and have my town look even worse." He shrugged nonchalantly.
"Did you seriously just call it your town?" I scoffed, and Drake rolled his eyes again.
"Well I mean, I did practically build Adlington."
"Modest." I sneered.
"Honest. Rich, and honest." He retaliated, and I, despite all odds, laughed.
"You do know I dont even live downtwon anymore? I can see Geordie regardless of where he is, thanks to your son."
"I'm aware. But despite our history, and how I have been rather...callous with you previously, we share something in common." This made me laugh, and Drake gave me a steady look.
"Harry. I'm talking about Harry. You love him, and although my actions haven't shown it, I love him too. I'm a lousy father, hell, rather a lousy man. But I am great at business. And my hope is using that skill to remake Greyson hospital will help remake my image in Harry's mind. I want my son back. Lord knows I've already lost Dante." I didnt say anything for a moment, and we just stared at one another, assessing the situation.
"Well I'm not going to hug you or anything if that's what you want." I tried playing it cool, and this made Drake laugh. Truly laugh, to the point eyes turned and looked at us. Including Monica and Harry, who looked beyond shocked at what they were seeing.
"I don't think we'll ever be at the hugging stage, Devonne. You hate me, with probable cause. And I...worry about your troubled side."
"Troubled-"
"Second time we've been in court, Miss Abel."  Drake reasoned, and I huffed in response.
"Not my fault." I quipped, and Drake smirked.
"You should also know I never knew of Dante's plans to kill you." He added. "I knew he wanted you gone, but I didn't think he meant gone so literally." He defended, and I slid my tongue along my teeth.
"So this is you waving the white flag?" I asked.
"I dont surrender, Devonne. Ever. Let's call it a business agreement."
"Over?" I snorted.
"Must you make this so difficult?"
"It's my second nature." I shrugged, and Drake ran his hand down his mouth to mask a smile. A action I noticed Harry did a lot too. Seeing them share something so basic in common made something spark inside me, and I straightened my posure and held my hand out towards Drake.
"Okay?" He asked
"Okay." I agreed as he took my hand shook it twice.
"To being buisness like in-laws."
"In-laws?" I choked, and Drake scoffed.
"Spare the dramatics, we all know it's a matter of time." He said matter-of-factly.
"You're quite the character, you know that?" I challenged, and Drake flashed a pirate smile.
"Your mother once said the same thing to me."
"My-you-Mia-what the eff?" I spat.
"I'm a cold business man, I take things seriously, and don't easily like people. But I don't hate people for no apparent reason, Devonne. Your mother went to highschool with me, and we were good friends. She, however, didn't like Monica. I never knew why, the two just never clicked. Sometimes the girlfriend and the bestfriend are like that. Much like Harry and Sebastian." Drake surprised me with how much he knew about Harry and I's relationship.
"When we met again, I was the towns elite, and she was a drunk. Words were shared, the past was destroyed, and then all of a sudden her daughter was dating my son. I may have been a little harsh." He explains, and my eyes widened.
"So you hated me because of Mia?" I asked slowly.
"Partially. That and my son, although not my biological one, had attacked your brother, if we are being honest, we were never destined to get along." He said. I nodded slowly, and laughed ironically as I looked up at him.
"You can dissaprove of my background, Drake. You can resent me for having Dante locked up, and hate my tattered clothes, but you will not ever keep me from loving Harry."
"I've noticed." He returned with a troubling smirk. "But it shall make interesting holidays I should think." He added in aftertought, and then, just like that, turned to walk away.
"I'm not labelling your chirstmas present to 'dad'!" I called after him, and his deep laughter was all that sounded as he walked off, leaving me standing there stunned, disorientated, but silently hopeful.