You Distract Me - S01 E65

Story 4 months ago

You Distract Me - S01 E65

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 65

Shayne

"Sixty years without possibility of parole, best I can do."

"Don't bullshit me. You don't have enough to get that kind of verdict from a jury. You were able to get Alexander Ryans behind bars, but you won't get shit from my client," Lucille shot back at the attorney general prosecuting me.

Just to put emphasis on how screwed I was, my prosecutor was my ex-girlfriend. Ruby Sambers.

"Are you kidding me? I have enough to take your client to the electric chair. I'm doing you a favor here." A smug look shot in my direction, her long red hair cascading off her shoulder.

All I could do was stare back blankly. A rise out of me was the last thing she'd be getting from me. My mind at the moment was much too chaotic to squeeze her in.

"Ms. Sambers, if I let the judge know you might be impartial in the court proceedings because of your association with Shayne, things won't go too well for you."

"Oh please give me a break, it's been almost four years since she ended things. My life didn't revolve around Shayne then and it doesn't now. Either way, that's why I'm offering you this deal incase the judge won't let me prosecute. Just to be clear, there's unyielding evidence that your client killed a man. You're even lucky you were able to make bail."

The coffee shop we'd decided to meet in was buzzing with life. The conversation in front of me was life altering. And the day was bright and cherry. Yet I couldn't bring myself to give a fuck about what was going on around me.

"We'll take your offer."

"What?" Lucille and Ruby said simultaneously, looking at me like I'd lost my mind.

I stood from my seat and tilted towards Ruby. "When I ended things, it wasn't personal. I had certain responsibilities I had to perform and you simply weren't among them."

The spite she'd been poorly hiding was on full display. "You mean you had to become a mobster instead of committing to our relationship. You seemed to have no problem doing both with Olivia Ryans. The little bitch back-stabbed you for crying out loud!"

"Like I said, it was not personal. Excuse me." I left her with a gaping mouth and frustrated teary eyes.

Lucille bustled after me as I strode away. "Shayne, sixty years is a whole fucking lot. Pleading guilty is the last thing you want. Do you not trust me to defend you? After what you did for me that day, there's nothing I won't do to get you out of this mess."

I stopped outside the coffee shop, turning to Lucille and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're a magnificent lawyer, Lucille, and an even better man. You're too good to represent someone like me in court. I relieve you of your debt to me."

The debt was a big one for sure but I felt zero loss. Besides, it was merely by chance that he was indebted to me.

It was only a couple years ago when I had found a twelve year old girl in an old unfinished church where a rival gang operated. We were only supposed to intimidate them into moving out of our territory. But then I'd seen red when I saw the girl's bloodied and sexually abused slight form chained to a loose pipe. I'd ordered the scam dead within seconds, but not before interrogating one of them.

Turned out, Lucille had put one of their leaders behind bars and they took his sister, his only family, to teach him a lesson. The first time I'd met Lucille was when we showed up at his doorstep with his sister, Freya and Laura having treated her a couple weeks before contacting the helpless lawyer.

"Shayne, let me do this for you, please," Lucille said thickly, seemingly recalling the same past.

"There is one thing you can do for me. But in the mean time, I have somewhere I need to be."

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Olivia

The last couple of months had been the hardest of my life, but also the most liberating.

I moved away from my mother and found a cozy little apartment that didn't cost an arm and a leg. Also, I was going to start at Yale in the fall, with Christina as my roommate.

It was confusing for everyone at first, but it got easier. I had to explain and omit major details, with good cause. There were things I wasn't allowed to say and things I wanted to keep to myself.

I wasn't supposed to tell anyone what I had seen on that tablet because it was sensitive evidence that was going to be used in court. I was only supposed to say that I'd been taken against my own will by the leader of an organized crime family because they were captivated by me. I'd only come out alive because the FBI had received an anonymous tip giving away my location, as well as my captor's.

Although it wasn't completely false, it wasn't as simple as it sounded.

"C'mon, Olly! You know how I hate the evening traffic."

I jolted out of my thoughts and hurriedly brushed back the last strands of hair into a ponytail.

"Alright, I'm coming!" I hopped out of my room as I squeezed on my converse shoe.

Christina was already opening the refrigerator when I found her in my kitchen. "You know what really warms a house? Some food."

I chuckled, envious of her colossal appetite despite her slender figure.

"I've been ordering takeout ever since I moved in last week, but I plan on going to the super market when I get back. I'm still new to this living-on-my-own thing, you know?"

"Which I commend you on of course," she said, curtsying with a flare of her flowy mini-dress.

"Thank you," I said with a giggle.

Her grin came down to a gentle smile. "No but seriously, I'm really proud of you. It comes to show that what you went through has really made you grow. You're one hell of a strong girl if you ask me."

A shock of tears burned the back of my eyes as I slipped my hands into the back pockets of my jeans. "That actually means a lot. But it's still hard. I don't think I'll have the strength to testify tomorrow, Christina. How are you not even mad at me right now?"

She immediately came to me. "Hey, you're doing the right thing, I promise you. Of course I'd prefer that my cousin didn't go to jail, but I also wish she wasn't a dangerous criminal. And I also wish she hadn't made us believe you'd died in that fire. Trust me, you're saving lives by testifying."

"Okay." I shook the tears away. "Okay. You're absolutely right."

"Don't you worry about a thing. Now come on. I might get a ticket, what with my shitty parking."

I laughed. "Some things never change I guess."

Half an hour later, we were a few minutes from the Men's Central Jail. I could see the cop car in the rear view mirror, following closely behind us.

"I don't know about you, but I could get used to these police escorts," Christina said as she veered downtown.

"Not too used hopefully, after tomorrow, it'll probably come to an end.'

She gave me a quick glance. "Do you really think you're in danger as a witness?"

The sudden image of Shayne blowing someone's head off assaulted my mind. "I-I don't know."

When the car finally came to a stop, I realized my mind had once again traveled far away from the present.

"You plan on seeing your dad all the way from here?" Christina said, her voice sounding amused but tinged with concern.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for the ride again. I'll head back home with Jared, so you don't have to come back." Jared was one of the police officers assigned to keeping me safe.

"I haven't minded being your chauffeur for these past two months, I won't start minding now."

"I have to go to the super market later, which will probably be around the time you have your piano practice. I don't want to bother you."

"You know it's not a bother at all, but I guess you're right."

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

When Christina left me in the parking lot, Jared immediately stepped out of his cruiser and walked in step with me.

"Good evening, Ms. Ryans."

"Good evening, Jared. I see you're still hell-bent on being so formal with me ah?" I smiled up at the gentle-eyed man.

"Yap, my instructions were to keep you safe and keep you safe only. I doubt becoming casual with you would run so smoothly for me."

As a severely principled man, Jared was hard to break through, so I simply smiled. "As you wish."

We went through the usual security precautions—a somewhat degrading process—before actually entering the visiting area. Jared waited right outside while I was being shown to a booth.

I watched the other visitors as I waited. Some were crying as they talked to the prisoners while others laughed openly, seemingly at ease with the setup of their current situation.

As for me, I wasn't. I wanted nothing to do with this prison and wanted my father miles away from breathing the stale air.

The subject of my thoughts as if conjured up by my mind appeared and sat in the chair opposite mine and picked up the telephone. The clear glass between us felt like a thick sheet of steel.

I immediately grabbed the telephone beside me. "Hi, daddy."

He smiled, emphasizing the paleness of his skin and the loss of fat under it. "Hello, sweetheart."

"You're not looking too good, dad. Is there something you need me to do?"

"Seeing you every week like this is enough to energize me for a while. How'd the moving go?"

Refusing to change the subject, I shook my head vigorously. "If you're not taking care of yourself in there, how are you going to be able to leave this place a free man?"

His posture became more refined, looking more of Alexander Ryans than before. "Olivia, you know I want nothing else than to see you outside these walls, but it's challenging fighting without armor."

"But tomorrow I'm testifying. That'll set things in motion at least."

His tone was disapproving. "You're testifying against the very person who wanted to help us."

I was too overwhelmed with defending myself to feel guilty. "And that's a person who can't be trusted," I said, my voice hard and cool. "You have no idea what she's capable of, dad. If I testify, everything about Oran Demir will be out in the open and they'll have to reopen your case."

"Sweetheart, you know your half-sister is back in the asylum. Ruby Sambers is a force to reckon with, trust me I know, she put me in here. And Oran Demir is a devil who can't be touched. Shayne was the only—"

"I'll see you next week, dad."

"Wait, Olivia."

I walked out of there like I didn't give a damn. But boy was I about to fall apart. Hearing her name after a long while turned my insides into churned butter.

Jared had been a ball of confusion and silence from the time we abruptly left the facility to me shoving groceries into my shopping cart, and finally to me pushing open the door to my apartment, mumbling a 'thank you' as I took the bags he helped me carry up.

"Are you okay?"

Although he sounded flat and low, a part of me was still surprised the usually passive man even voiced the question.

"Is this about you testifying against Shayne West tomorrow?"

A sudden wave of nausea hit me so hard, I didn't check my hard tone. "Please show yourself out."

I turned away from him and walked to my bedroom with less haste than I wished. I was going to hurl all over the floor.

"Olivia, are you okay?" I heard him say as I entered my moonlit room.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

I stopped short when a shadow in my peripheral vision charged behind me, quick and soundless. My mouth was instantly covered and my back was pinned into a hard unyielding body.

Lord help me, I knew that body so well I didn't doubt for a second who was holding me captive.

Jared spoke all the way from the kitchen. "If you're worried about your safety, you know I'll be watching you the whole night, you won't need to worry!"

There was a long pause from him, one which allowed me to recognize that fantastic scent that only made me sicker.

"Alright, just know I'm parked right outside if you need something. I'll see you tomorrow."

No! Don't leave, please! I'll be dead before tomorrow.

I tried to scream and squirm against the body glued to my back, but it did nothing but tighten the hold on me. Then I saw my life flash before my eyes when I heard the front door shut closed.

My immediate instinct was to go limp and weep, but my surging fight mode straightened my back and stilled my movements.

"I'm going to take my hand off your mouth, don't scream, okay?"

Fight mode faltered at the sound of that familiar voice, but again, it only faltered. I wasn't going to die today, I decided.

As a firm hand slowly fell from my mouth, the other loosened its hold around my torso.

That was the only chance I needed to swing my elbow forward and back into a ridged stomach, eliciting a deep groan of pain behind me. The action was powerful enough to completely free me and I flew out of my bedroom and into the hallway without a glance behind.

I could hear swift footsteps behind me even when I finally held the handle to my front door.

"Baby, please!"

The impassioned plea was so agonizing to hear that I paused right there, my back to the danger behind me.

Still maintaining my proximity to the front door, I turned. And as soon as I did, I watched Shayne fall to her knees, her palm going to rest on her chest.

"It's me." Those amazing hazel eyes were filled with moisture, brimmed with emotion I'd never seen before. They stared at me as if begging for dear life. "It's me," she said again before dropping her head in a silent cry.

Shayne.