Stranded with My Stepbrother Chapter 96

\-Jacey-

I sat in a little side room with Caleb and Officer Alexander, the stuffy FBI agent and a few others stationed outside the door. Caleb winced at some bad coffee—I hadn’t even bothered to try it—but Officer Alexander seemed to be enjoying it. Hours ticked by on an overhead round-faced clock. I wondered what was going on in the courtroom.

Then there was a knock on the door. “Jocelyn Collins, you’re up,” the stuffy FBI agent said.

“Me? First?” I gaped, surprised.

“You, yeah. Let’s go,” he replied with a huff.

Caleb squeezed my hand. “You’re going to do great.”

I gave him a weak smile. “Thanks. I hope so.”

“Give the bastard what for,” Officer Alexander said. “And by that, of course, I mean just tell the truth. And don’t let that Chalmers asshole rile you up.”

“I’ll do my best,” I responded. My feet felt heavy as I walked with the FBI agent through the double doors of the courtroom then into court itself.

Facing Judge Powell, who looked very intimidating in his robe, I could see the Attorney General and a handful of her staff to his left, with Chalmers, Masterson, and their army to his right. The row behind Chalmers and Masterson was filled with corporate-looking types, and I decided they must be his lawyers as well. They’d come out in force.

They all looked at me like wolves standing over a steak.

I gulped.

“Ms. Collins. Please take the stand,” Judge Powell said, gesturing to the somewhat lower spot next to him.

Taking a deep breath, I forced my feet forward and went up to the witness box. A bailiff came over and held out a Bible.

“Place your left hand on the Bible,” he instructed.

I did.

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” he intoned.

I plucked up all my courage and nodded. “I do swear.”

“Good,” Judge Powell said. “Go ahead and take a seat, Ms. Collins.”

Tucking my skirt behind my knees, I sat.

“You may begin, Ms. Jepsen,” the judge encouraged.

The Attorney General stood and walked up to stand between me and her table of staff. “Ms. Collins,” she began, giving me a steadying look that took away some of my nerves, “will you please detail, for the court, the circumstances that led you to come into contact with Mr. William Masterson Sr. and his business dealings?”

There was no jury, so I figured Masterson must have wanted a verdict straight from the bench. Maybe he’d be afraid they’d all hate him after Caleb’s and my testimony. He wasn’t wriggling his way out because of me, though.

I looked up at the judge. “Uh, sir? This could take a while. Is that okay? There’s a lot to cover.”

“You go right ahead. I may ask clarifying questions, and so may Ms. Jepsen. If you hear Mr. Chalmers object, or if I stop you, you need to stop right away, though.”

“Okay.” I nervously gripped the arms of the chair then began at the beginning. “We were going camping for my birthday in Uppsala—that’s a part of Ontario, Canada—at this lake we go to all the time…”

“Shimmer Lake?” the Attorney General asked.

“Yes, ma’am. We go every year. Well, my dad and I went every year. That year, about a year ago now, my dad wanted Jeanie, his new wife, and her son, Caleb, to come, too. Caleb and I weren’t on good terms then exactly. I sort of blurted out that I liked him at my fifteenth birthday….” I blushed. “And he basically stayed away after that at college. But somehow we all ended up going. A couple of days in, at camp, my dad said something—I don’t even remember what anymore—and it really pissed Caleb off, and me, too, so we took off in a boat together….”

The judge nodded along as I told our story, from getting marooned to running into the murderous owner of the cabin we’d taken refuge in, to running into Masterson’s loggers.

“Only, we didn’t know they were his loggers yet. The man in charge just told us it was an illegal logging operation. They were going to kill us, but then, they didn’t,” I said.

“There’s gratitude for you,” Chalmers muttered.

“Mr. Chalmers, must I remind you every time I see you that I don’t mind holding you in contempt of court?” Judge Powell sighed.

“I’ll pay the fine,” Chalmers snorted.

Judge Powell’s eyes narrowed on him. “You don’t even know what it’ll be yet. This time.”

Chalmers waved a hand. “Fine. Please continue, Ms. Collins. Your story is riveting.”

“Well, now that we have your permission,” the Attorney General said with false sweetness. She shook her head and turned back to me. “When did you learn the logging operation belonged to Mr. Masterson?”

“When Will brought us to his house,” I replied, sadness washing over me as I remembered Masterson’s son. “He died.”

“That’s a bit of an understatement, isn’t it, Ms. Collins?” the Attorney General said sympathetically. “He was a friend?”

I nodded. “A friend of Caleb’s, but later also a friend of mine.”

“What happened to William Masterson Jr.?” the Attorney General asked.

“He committed suicide,” I whispered. “His father… the whole situation…”

“Objection. She can’t know what poor Will Jr. was thinking when he killed himself,” Chalmers said.

“Sustained. Ms. Jepsen, let’s contain the line of questioning to Mr. Masterson’s crimes, if we can,” Judge Powell reprimanded her lightly.

I couldn’t think of a worse crime than causing your son to kill himself and then turning his funeral into some sort of farce by acting sad at it when you’d called your own son weak for refusing to be a part of your bad deeds anymore, but I supposed it wasn’t possible for me to tell that all secondhand. Masterson had enough other reprehensible crimes to hold him forever, anyway. At least, I hoped they’d hold him forever.

“Ms. Collins, did you have a child with Will Jr.?” the Attorney General asked.

I chewed my lip. “Yes, but he was born through invitro.”

“Objection. Facts not in evidence,” Chalmers said.

The Attorney General rolled her eyes. “Your Honor, I have the Mastersons’ private doctor willing to swear, under oath, that he delivered Will III and that Ms. Collins had him, so I don’t see where—”

“The fertility doctor will have a different story, Your Honor,” Chalmers interrupted.

Judge Powell all but growled. “Approach.”

The Attorney General and Chalmers both went to the judge. “Are you suggesting the witness is committing perjury, Mr. Chalmers?” the judge asked.

“Not at all, Your Honor,” Chalmers said. “She couldn’t possibly know. I mean, she was the child’s surrogate. But she’s not his mother.”

“Come again?” the Attorney General asked before I almost did.

“The fertility doctor used donor eggs. A simple DNA test will prove it,” Chalmers replied smugly. “And Ms. Collins was paid for her services…”

“I don’t understand,” I blurted, my heart seizing. “Masterson told me Will was mine.”

“I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding between Masterson and a hormonal young woman,” Chalmers simpered.

I was going to kill him. I looked at Masterson, who also looked smug. I was going to kill them both. “You’re telling me I’m not Will’s biological mother?!”

“No, dearie. You’re not,” Chalmers said.

Tears stung my eyes. I wiped them away with my sleeve. Judge Powell handed me a box of tissues, and I had to keep dabbing because the tears wouldn’t stop. “I don’t care,” I croaked. “He’s my son, and I want him.”

“You see how delusional she is, Your Honor?” Chalmers observed sadly. “Paid to be a surrogate and now under some misapprehension that  his grandfather is some kind of evil international villain…”

“His grandfather is an evil, international villain! He drugged me! He kidnapped me! He watched me have sex with my boyfriend! Oh God…” I moaned, dropping my head into my hands.

“I think Ms. Collins needs a minute, Margerie,” the judge said softly. “Why don’t you bring her out into the hall. You can’t put her back in with Mr. Killeen, though, until he’s given his testimony. I’m sure you realize that.”

She glared at Chalmers, a glare so dark it sucked light from the room. “You have absolutely no soul, Rob.”

“None whatsoever,” he replied cheerfully.

“I’m going to have you disbarred someday,” she continued.

“I’d like to see you try,” he said.

“Children,” Judge Powell sighed. “That’s enough. Ms. Collins, I’m very sorry, but you’re going to be taken to another room for a little while. Since we don’t have a lot of time with them today, Ms. Jepsen, I suggest, in the meantime, we hear from Mr. Killeen.”

“Yes, Your Honor,” she said and offered me her hand to help me out of the witness box.

I raised the Kleenex box back up to the judge, but he shook his head. “You take that with you.”

“Thank you, sir,” I whispered, then followed the Attorney General out.

The bailiff followed us and then turned in the direction of the room I’d come from, no doubt going to get Caleb. The FBI agents outside that room saw the Attorney General leading me to another and a few peeled off to guard that door.

I sat down, shaking, inside a cold, empty room. I wanted Caleb so badly. I wanted him to hug me and tell me everything was going to be okay.

“We can try to get custody of Will,” the Attorney General said kindly as I sat there, feeling my world crumble.

When I looked up, I could tell she was just being kind. “There’s really no hope, is there?”

She winced. “I… well… with you not being his biological mother, and you basically being in Witness Protection… it will be a very hard sell. But that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve the best lawyer and the best possible shot at it.”

“Against Masterson’s army,” I replied hopelessly. “Giving him another opportunity to take a shot at us when we come out of hiding for the trial.”

“There is that,” she said. “I… I really am sorry. I didn’t have any contact with this fertility doctor, or I wouldn’t have let them blindside you like that. You can be sure I’ll be lodging a complaint as well as objecting in court.”

“I should have known Masterson would have a trick up his sleeve to rattle me,” I murmured. The tears coursed down my cheeks again. “Please, can you go question Caleb? I want him here as soon as possible.”

She nodded. “I can do that.”

“Thank you.” I covered my face with my hands as she left.

What were we going to do?