WILD BUT NEVER FREE

Caught

This chapter's a bit longer than the others, sorry! Happy reading, Please remember to vote and comment! Elz <3

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Growing up in the foster care system gave me much experience in being messed around, played by people in every direction of my life.

I thought I had learnt that life was a scam. I thought I had learnt how untrustworthy, how skiving people could be. But nothing would've prepared me for what was in front of me in that court room. A web of tangled lies confused every cell of my brain that was fighting to tell the truth.

The truth could obviously be easily enough covered up if you chucked enough money at its burial.

I knew I was flailing, my composure dropped from me uncontrollably like a leaky tap. All of this was bullshit, but who would listen to me?

Mrs Wild was still in the witness chair, the prosecution lawyer was still stalking the courtroom like it was his natural habitat and everyone was still glaring at me like a tiger to their prey.

I didn't know how much longer I could sit here and take the bullshit that was slowly destroying any prospect of my freedom.

"Mrs Wild, I understand your family had multiple ties to the defendant?" Mr Oaks question sounded like more of a statement, he was determined to suck out as much shit from his witness as possible.

She nodded confidently, finally appreciating a question she could answer easily without any hesitation. "He had known my son for around ten years and later on I found out that he had been seeing my daughter behind everyone's backs."

"Do you know why the pair decided to keep their relationship a secret?" My rival asked inquisitively despite already knowing the answer.

"Cassi was worried about what Atlas would think." She answered, obviously not caring about my side of the events.

"When did you find out about their secret, Mrs Wild?"

Now, this was a question that caught my attention. I looked over to Atlas, wondering whether he was prepared for what he was about to hear; finally something that I knew and he didn't.

By the way Mrs Wild looked at her only son, I quickly gathered that what she was about to say was something Atlas wasn't aware of. I wasn't sure why but a smug smirk tugged at my lips, that I quickly controlled in fear that it would be caught by the judge or the jury. I didn't want to look like the guy who was sitting here proud of being convicted for the murder of the girl he loved.

"The weekend she came home from her photography school for her eighteenth birthday." Atlas' mum said shyly, avoiding all eye contact with her family. I looked at them though, and I stared at the way Atlas' jaw dropped to the ground in an instant and how his eyes widened in shock at the comprehension that his mother, a woman who barely cared about her children, found out about the illicit relationship going on between his best friend and his sister before he had.

The memory of that day was one that was still as vivid to me as what was going on in front of me. By the time we were discovered, P and I had probably gotten away with only a few weeks of our secret relationship. It was fair to say that despite our desperation for no one to find out, we grew complacent very quickly. The weekend P came home for her birthday, I knew that it was going to be a hard couple of days. The last time she was home, we hadn't been together, so it was easy to cover up the pure longing for her that plagued my face but now, I was terrified that Atlas would discover my feelings straight away. So Instead of driving straight to the Wild house as soon as she arrived, like I was so desperate to do; I stayed away. I had told P my reasoning, and she said she understood but still wanted me to come and see her the next day for her birthday; I told her that I'd be there without a doubt.