Kidnapped with Cameron Dallas

Chapter 58

Our lawyer parted the sea of reporters as we walked into that courthouse in the city. Lightbulbs flashed in front of my face as I walked up those hot stone steps. My heels clicked as I walked solemnly towards the front doors. There were so many people talking at once I couldn't even discern what any one of them was saying. It didn't matter to them that I was a person who had been traumatized, to them I was just a story to sell.

Cameron held my hand tight as he led me to the front door.

I hadn't even realized I had been holding my breath until I had gotten in the door and felt the first rush of cool air. My heart was still pounding and I felt my palms begin to sweat. This was it. Today was day one. Who knew how many days would follow today where I had to come to this place and relive all of those days in captivity to provide evidence to lock Hannah up until the end of her days.

Our lawyer motioned for us to follow her down a hall. "Courtroom eight." She muttered.

I looked up at the high ceilings, they had to be at least fifteen feet. There were glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, casting a warm yellow light down on us.

We finally made it to a large room. A large golden eight hung on the wall next to the door. Our lawyer held the door open as Cameron and I walked in. He still held my hand tight.

I took a deep breath and prepared for more reporters. Surprisingly the courtroom was almost entirely empty except for my mother, Cameron's parents and sister and Hannah's aunt.

"Where is everyone?" I asked our lawyer cautiously.

"They wanted to let you guys get settled before they brought all of the reporters and the lottery winners in.

Cameron cleared his throat. "Lottery winners?"

"Yeah, the courthouse decided to auction off fifteen tickets to get a seat in the courthouse to view the trial." "Believe it or not people were willing to pay a lot of money to see this trial go down."

"Great we're like zoo animals put on display." I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Don't feel so hurt by it, pretty much everybody is rooting for you guys." "People really want to see Hannah get death."

"That's a little harsh."

"It is a little, but it's not outside the realm of possibility." "I'm surprised you're so forgiving of her."

"I am a forgiving person by nature but this isn't about forgiveness." "She held me prisoner for eight months away from my family, friends and eventually Cameron." "She doesn't deserve to go that easily."

"You want her to get life."

"Yes, I don't want there to ever be a night where I can't sleep because she is free and can come find me." "I want to live as normal of a life as I can."

"And I want us to be free to be happy and together, so I want the court to force an annulment of our marriage even without her consent."

"Hopefully, they'll grant you that Cameron." "It's a little stupid that they're still fighting you over this." "The fact that she kidnapped you and held you captive should be enough reason to prove it wasn't a consensual marriage."

The lawyer motioned to two seats behind a table in the front of the courtroom. Cameron and I sat down. I let go of his hand to turn around to look at my mother. I waved gently. She blew me a kiss. She kept wiping her eyes to keep the tears from streaking her makeup.

I turned to look over at Hannah's aunt. I had never had a close relative do any of the things Hannah had done, so it was impossible for me to understand how she could still support Hannah. Maybe it was love, maybe she really believed Hannah's story that Cameron loved her and they were married. She had believed the fake pregnancy after all.

I turned back around and sat patiently. Fifteen minutes passed and my heart had calmed. Then I heard the doors swing in and I heard people walk in. Cameron grabbed my hand and leaned in to whisper in my ear. "Don't look back, they're reporters."

I nodded slowly and maintained focus on the judge's stand.

A few moments later I heard some chatter in the back of the courtroom. I assumed those were the lottery winners coming in.

Finally the curiosity got to me and I turned around to see the courtroom behind me. Light bulbs instantly started flashing and all of the cameras pointed at me. I looked around, at least a dozen reporters were there. Some had video cameras and some had digital cameras, they all wanted the same thing. Shots of the inside of this courtroom were going to be plastered on every news station in the country, these photos were going to be on the front page of every magazine and newspaper around.

I took a deep breath and looked at the fifteen people huddled together without cameras. A few of them had t-shirts. "Justice for Cameron and Kate." "Send Hannah to Death Row." They said. There was a girl who looked to be a few years younger than me. She held a poster with a picture of Cameron from the original MagCon tour on it. I chuckled. So ironic, how different things were then. I was just a small town thirteen year old, he was the hot commodity of teenage girls everywhere. How we ended up in this situation together still boggles my mind.

It all started in that LA club over two Shirley Temples.

I heard a door in the front of the courthouse open. I whipped back around to see what was going on.

Then I saw her. Surprisingly, she was dressed in a nice pantsuit, and not hand cuffed. She was up for a murder and two kidnappings but she looked like she had just left a professional office. I glanced down at her finger. Her engagement ring gleamed back at me.

My stomach sunk to the floor as I pawed at Cameron's lap trying to find his hand. He took my hand and massaged it with both of his. He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. "Stay strong." He whispered.

I blinked and the judge was seated at his stand. He looked out at the courtroom and cleared his throat. "If everyone's ready I'd like to begin the case against Hannah McHale." He looked around. "Then let's begin."