Unbreak Me

Chapter 57

Avery Black

The time flew by in the blink of an eye. All the weeks just blurred into one leaving me an exhausted mess.

It was finally the trial that I was dreading. It was an agonizing process.

When Marie and Jeremiah walked out the hatred and pure venom in their eyes was enough to make me tremble in my seat. Luckily Oliver and Russell were on either side of me. Oliver held my hand the whole time.

I avoided looking at them, but I could see they both looked rough even in their nice designer clothes. They looked like they were out at a bar all night.
The once proud and confident couple, looked broken. I could feel the anger and tension. Not just towards us but towards each other.

I was so thankful neither of them got bail. The court decided they were too much of a risk and their crimes were too great.

They presented evidence in front of the court. The hardest part was the crime scene photos from the fire 16 years ago.
I turned my head away when they showed the partially burnt and crushed bodies of my beloved parents. Oliver held my head to his chest to make sure I couldn't see them.

Just the mere thought of them like that made my stomach churn. I held down anything trying to claw its way up my throat.

Next were pictures of my bruised and battered body accompanied by the doctors report. They were humiliating but much, much less heart breaking.
Apparently, Oliver and the doctor took them when I was unconscious. I only learned about them at one of the many meetings with the lawyers.

I took the stand and answered all the questions. The defence obviously tried to throw me off, but there was no way around the truth of what happened. There were even witness statements from Gerard and Alissa.

Although, they did accuse me of being in on embezzling, but my assets or lack thereof proved otherwise.

I finally learned what happened to my inheritance. It was something I never thought to ask about. It was never at the forefront of my mind, I was only 8 years old after all. I had other problems to worry about from then on.
What floored me was that it still wasn't enough for them. They took everything my parents ever had.

The jury went to the deliberation chambers. By the look in the judges old pale blue eyes he was disgusted by their crimes, greed and mercilessness. I was hoping for a long sentence, so they can suffer in prison.

It would all be over. Maman and Papa could rest in peace.

I stood from my seat and marched toward the ladies room. After flinging the cubicle door open I emptied all contents of my stomach into the awaiting toilet.

Leaning back I stared at the yellowing ceiling and closed my eyes.

After a good five minutes I stood and washed my hands and rinsed mouth out before leaving.

I sighed feeling weak and disgusting.

"Are you okay?" Oliver walked over to me with a frown etched onto his face. "You look pale."

I smiled weakly. "I'm fine. Just a bit sick from the nerves, I think."

He eyed me cautiously before nodding and kissing my forehead. I leaned on him and breathed in his soothing cologne. "Are you okay to go back in?"