Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 71226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
That was the problem. I had no clue.
Which I shared with him.
“Neo will be there, too,” he noted. “Maybe he can calm Dean and you down at the same time.”
That was true.
We’d gotten permission to bring Neo with us into the courtroom.
He’d have his muzzle on.
Everything would be okay.
Everything wasn’t okay.
Brooke was making Dean nervous, and every time Dean said something on the witness stand, Brooke would scoff or say something under her breath and Dean would clam up.
Eventually, Dean’s lawyer asked for a recess, and it was granted.
Van and I sat on the bench stiff as boards as Dean made his way to us.
Van reached for his son and pulled him in tight, whispering to him quietly.
In the six weeks that Van had become a dad officially, he’d changed a lot.
No longer stiff and unyielding, he had a lot of bend in him now. Until it came to Dean.
Then Van was ruthless and cunning, conniving and vindictive.
I loved it.
The recess finished, and we were forced back into our earlier positions, though this time Dean took Neo up to the stand with him.
The judge didn’t say anything, but I could tell he thought it was unusual.
Van, the club brothers behind me, and I didn’t.
The pair had done a lot of healing over the last six weeks, and you could tell that they were partners now.
You usually didn’t see one without the other.
Dean was even going to SAR meetings with Neo and me, learning right alongside us.
“Dean,” Dean’s lawyer said. “Can you tell us about the time that Brooke hurt your arm? Broke it?”
Dean nodded warily and started with his story.
But Brooke’s ugly snort and “what the fuck ever’” had the judge turning to her and saying, “One more outburst, and you’re out of my courtroom. We don’t need you here to sentence you.”
Oh, boy.
“Sorry, sir,” Brooke said, overly sweet.
Two-faced bitch.
“Continue, Dean,” his lawyer urged.
Dean continued, but this time, Brooke wasn’t the one to interrupt, but Nadine.
“Dean, honey. Let’s be honest here.”
This fucking bitch.
“Silence!” the judge barked. “Both of you, enough. Dean, kiddo. You’re good for today. You can leave the room.”
Dean’s lawyer and Van stood up.
Dean caught Neo’s leash and they headed down the length of the walkway toward the door.
Brooke, however, thought she was going to get a little hit in on the way and reached out for him.
But Neo was there, snapping and snarling, throwing himself at her before she could touch Dean.
Brooke screamed.
It was barely heard over Neo’s snarls.
“Shit,” I said as I stood.
“Neo,” I called out. “Come here, Neo.”
Neo stopped instantly and backed away.
Brooke was on the ground crying, her face flushed. “He’s a monster!”
“A dog like that shouldn’t be around my child!” Nadine cried out. “He could hurt him!”
Van snorted. “Neo was protecting Dean from a woman you brought into your own son’s life. You’re currently on trial for your stupidity when it comes to your own child. I think if anyone’s going to throw stones here, it shouldn’t be you.”
Van walked out with Dean. Dean’s lawyer followed.
Neo was still at my side.
“Have a seat, Mrs. Ryan.”
I did, bringing Neo to my side.
He laid down on my feet and went quiet.
The courtroom was silent for a long moment before the judge said, “From here on out, we’re going to let the jurors listen to the video that was recorded citing Dean’s abuse at the hands of Brooke and Nadine Wood.”
“But…” Brooke and Nadine’s lawyer stood up, about to object. But the judge pointed at her. “You can’t control your clients, you don’t get to decide how this is done. I will not have a child traumatized any more than he already was because you have abominations as clients.”
The video played, and you could hear the emotion in his voice as Dean spoke. You could also hear Dean’s heartbreak and confusion.
The reason the video wasn’t going to be used was due to Nadine’s lawyer thinking the raw emotion in the video would sway the jurors’ feelings toward their client.
We hadn’t put up a fight about it because Dean and Dean’s therapist said that he could testify.
Hours later, as the clock struck four, the judge took the papers from the jurors.
He read both, then leveled a look on Nadine and started to read. “Failure to report, child endangerment, child abuse, aiding and abetting…”
The judge read off what Nadine was charged with before saying, “The jury finds you guilty on all counts.”
Nadine let out a little hiss of sound.
“Brooke Woods,” the judge drawled, a small smile in his voice. “On the counts of…”
I closed my eyes and buried my face in my hands as I listened to all of her charges.
Then I smiled behind my hands as the judge said, “Finds you guilty on all charges.”
“This is fucking bullshit!” Brooke hollered.
“Brooke, you have forty-five years.” The judge leveled a look at her before turning to Nadine. “Nadine, you have twenty-nine.”