Stranded with My Stepbrother Chapter 85: Disgusting Deposition

-Caleb-

It might have just been my imagination, but I thought Masterson’s attorneys looked oily. All seven of them. Not just in appearance, but in the way they smiled and shook hands and locked eyes on me as though they were big fish in a little pond, looking at me, the worm.

They ignored the presence of the Attorney General the moment they’d finished shaking hands with her.

“Caleb Killeen,” the man I’d identified as the lead snake said to me, “we meet at last. You’ve been so difficult to get a hold of.”

“That’s the idea,” I quipped back, meeting his eyes steadily. I wasn’t going to let this jumped up old bastard intimidate me.

His lips twitched. He seemed to think my attitude was funny. “Well, at least we get to ask our questions now.”

“Lucky me,” I replied.

The lead snake chuckled, and his cronies added their own snickers from his lead. “Oh, I can already tell I’m going to enjoy this.”

“If we could begin, gentlemen?” the Attorney General said in a clipped tone.

“Absolutely,” the lead snake responded. “Go ahead, Ms. Jepsen.” He looked at the Attorney General.

The court reporter sat off to one side behind a computer screen, fingers poised over a keyboard.

“We are here today…” the Attorney General gave the date. “... with Mr. Caleb Killeen. Mr. Rob Chalmers for the defense…” She rattled off the other names, but I was only concerned with Lead Snake Rob Chalmers. The rest were just window dressing. They weren’t going to shake me. “... Mr. Killeen, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

“I do,” I replied.

“Please state your full name and address for the record,” the Attorney General continued.

“Caleb Michael Killeen. Address… FBI custody?” I tried.

The Attorney General simply nodded.

“Excuse me,” Chalmers said, his voice as slippery as an eel. “But if we don’t have a permanent address for him…”

“Mr. Killeen is in special witness protection custody. As I’m sure you know, we’ve had some trouble keeping him safe. Therefore, if you need a permanent address for him, by all means, list it as this building because this is the only place you’re ever going to see him outside of court,” the Attorney General snapped.

I liked her a lot.

Chalmers held up his hands. “All right. I just wanted to be thorough. We wouldn’t want there to be any reason to throw his testimony out in court…”

The Attorney General reeled back and struck like a mongoose. “As you well know, according to statute…”

The legalese she recited started to go over my head, but by the way the six lawyers next to Chalmers started sinking in their chairs, I got the impression my side was winning the sparring match.

It was annoying that Chalmers remained calm, but I suppose one can’t have everything they want.

When the Attorney General was finished, he calmly folded his hands in front of him. “I see. Well, far be it for me to waste any more of your precious time, Ms. Jennings. In fact, why don’t you go first?”

“Thank you, Mr. Chalmers. I will.” The Attorney General turned to me. “Mr. Killeen, I’m sure you understand the seriousness of this deposition. I need you to tell the truth—to both of us. Do you think you can do that?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. I looked only at her, ignoring Chalmers’ presence completely.

“Good. Now, you stumbled upon Mr. William Masterson Sr.’s logging operation last summer, did you not?” she asked.

God, had it already been over a year? “Yes, ma’am. By accident.”

“And what did you learn about this operation?” she continued calmly.

“I was told within the first five minutes of meeting the workers that it was an illegal logging operation, ma’am,” I responded.

“And how did you learn it was Mr. Masterson’s illegal operation?” She looked at me expectantly.

I took a deep breath. “I found out when I was staying with him, ma’am. Mr. Hank Collins had just entrapped my girlfriend, Jocelyn Ann Collins, within his house, and my friend Will—William Masterson Jr.—helped me get her out and let us stay with him. We later learned we were being watched and recorded on camera, even during intimate moments…”

“You’re getting a bit off topic, Mr. Killeen,” Chalmers said.

I glared at him, but the Attorney General nodded. “Yes, Mr. Killeen. We will discuss all that later. For now, please tell me how you found out Mr. Masterson was the owner of the illegal logging operation.”

“He told us, ma’am.” I shrugged. “He told us, and then he trapped us into serving him, so I learned a lot more—”

“Mr. Killeen,” Chalmers said again.

Now even the Attorney General was glaring at Chalmers. She gathered herself with a sigh. “Mr. Killeen, did Mr. Masterson kidnap you?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. “Several times.”

“And he forced you to serve as an assistant to him in his criminal dealings?” the Attorney General asked.

“I was his personal assistant, yes.”

The Attorney General nodded. “And in that capacity, what did you find out?”

I detailed everything in as organized a manner as I could, from Masterson’s different areas of business down to the specifics and even the fact I was certain he’d had a whole container of people who’d been trafficked killed.

After a few follow-up questions, the Attorney General said, “Thank you, Mr. Killeen. Those were all my questions. Mr. Chalmers?”

I wasn’t sure exactly how a man could appear to swagger while seated, but Chalmers somehow pulled it off. “Mr. Killeen,” he oozed, “how old are you?”

Uncertain of where he was going with this, I glanced at the Attorney General. She nodded at me.

“I’m twenty-four, sir,” I replied cautiously.

“And your girlfriend? Ms. Jocelyn Collins?” Chalmers pressed.

I frowned in confusion. “Jacey is almost nineteen.”

Chalmers gave me a smile like the cat who got the canary. I was the canary. “So, you’ve been physically intimate with her?”

“Excuse me?” I blinked. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

“Mr. Chalmers?” the Attorney General asked.

“I have a point. I just need to get the facts in order first.” Chalmers smiled at me and it made me feel like I needed a shower. “You’re five, almost six, years older than ‘Jacey,’ aren’t you?”

It wasn’t a question. “I’m about five-and-a-half years older than her, yes.”

“When did you first have sex?” he continued innocently.

I suddenly saw where this was going. “I didn’t touch Jacey until she was eighteen.”

“That’s not what her father says,” he revealed, his eyes twinkling with victory.

That sonofabitch. If Hank weren’t already in a wheelchair, I’d be tempted to put him in one. Then again, he probably wasn’t testifying of his own free will… “I’ve got a question for you, Rob. Are Mr. Collins and the rest of my family still in the custody of Mr. Masterson?”

Chalmers raised his eyebrows. “Mr. Killeen, I’ll ask the questions here.”

The Attorney General murmured, “Just answer his questions truthfully, Caleb. Let me do my job in the follow-up.”

I took a few deep breaths, then said, “Hank is mistaken. I did not commit statutory rape, if that’s what you’re implying. I had sex with Jacey for the first time on the night of her eighteenth birthday.”

“I suppose you can prove that somehow?” Chalmers laughed.

“There was a meteor shower that night,” I grunted. This was so violating. That night was special—between Jacey and me.

Jesus, was he going to ask her the same disgusting things?!

“Oh, that’s hard and fast evidence.” He gave the Attorney General a sardonic smile.

“It’s the truth. And you leave Jacey out of it. It’s none of your damn business,” I snapped.

Chalmers leaned forward, crowding me with his dark presence. I knew I should have been scared of whatever was going to come out of his mouth next, but right then, I was just pissed. “What would you say if I told you Mr. Collins has compelling evidence that suggests you were coercing Ms. Collins into a physical relationship with you before her birthday?”

“I’d say he’s pulling a whole lot of nothing out of his ass because that didn’t happen,” I all but snarled.

“Caleb, you need to answer the questions as calmly and reasonably as possible. Just give the facts,” the Attorney General advised me.

“In fact, there is photographic evidence of you being inappropriate with Ms. Collins a few birthdays ago,” Chalmers crowed.

I couldn’t even begin to fathom what that evidence could be, unless someone was getting creative with AI or Photoshop. “I don’t understand.”

Chalmers pulled out his phone and quickly pulled up a picture. “Explain this, please, Mr. Killeen.”

I glanced at the picture but was still confused. “I’m hugging her.”

“Mr. Collins believes you were touching her inappropriately in this picture,” Chalmers said.

“By hugging her?” I still couldn’t figure out what his problem was.

“He believes, what can’t be seen in the picture, is you fondling her breast,” he grinned.

I stared at him. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’m not.” Chalmers kept grinning at me.

“She’s like fifteen in that picture. Of course I wasn’t touching her that way,” I protested.

“Mr. Collins says he can think back and see the signs all along. Were you not grooming Ms. Collins? Coercing her all this time?” he asked.

“No.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Jacey had a crush on me, but I left and stayed away because she was far too young for any of that.”

Chalmers chuckled. “But you wanted her, didn’t you?”

In all honesty, I couldn’t remember when I started wanting her. But it wasn’t when she was fifteen, I was sure of that. Her clumsy confession had me spooked. I lit out of that situation like my tail was on fire. “I didn’t want her then.”

“When did you start wanting her?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly.

“Before her eighteenth birthday,” he suggested.

That much… was… unfortunately true. I glanced at the Attorney General again, and she gestured for me to speak. “Yes.”

“And when you say you ‘didn’t touch her,’ did you do anything other than penetrative sex before her eighteenth birthday?” he smirked.

“I’m not answering that,” I growled. “That’s none of your damn business. I didn’t coerce her. I never forced her to do anything or think anything or feel anything. Her thoughts and feelings are all her own.”

“Do you really think that, Mr. Killeen?” Chalmers asked.

I nodded. “I do.”

“And what would she do to keep you out of prison, do you suppose?” He was so smug, it radiated off him.

“Anything. And I’d do the same for her,” I revealed without hesitation.

“How very sweet.” The snake seemed to think he’d coiled himself around me, and all he needed to do was squeeze.

Better me than Jacey. “Are you done? Are you going to leave Jacey alone?”

“Oh, heavens no, Mr. Killeen. To both of your questions.” He put the squeeze on, then. “Though, if you come clean about, say, your misdeeds that you tried to pass off on Mr. Masterson, I might not need to depose Jacey tomorrow.”

“That’s enough, Mr. Chalmers. Mr. Killeen was sworn in under oath. You have no reason to believe he has been anything other than truthful,” the Attorney General barked.

He ignored her. “Mr. Killeen?”

It was tempting to take the fall for Masterson, especially since he was implying Jacey would be seen as the victim of my coercion and be allowed to walk free of all this. But there was still the sheik, and, well, it might have been selfish, but I didn’t want to be apart from her for one day, much less the rest of my natural life. In prison. “Everything I’ve said here today is true. And you can tell Masterson to shove it.”

Chalmers’s expression darkened. “I see. I suppose you know, then, I will not be merciful tomorrow or in court.”

“I suppose you know that could be construed as a threat,” the Attorney General snapped.

“Could be. But it wasn’t.” He speared me with his evil eyes. “It was a promise.”

“We’re done here. Stop recording,” the Attorney General said to the stenographer.

Chalmers and his team of cronies rose. “Tell Jacey I say hello. Oh, wait, you can’t. You’ll be separated until after her deposition.”

I blinked, then turned to the Attorney General. “What?”

“It’s common practice. We can’t have you contaminating each other’s testimonies,” the Attorney General explained regretfully.

Chalmers giggled. The bastard actually giggled! “I guess you won’t be able to warn her at all about tomorrow. Shame.”

Rage turned my vision to red, then black. By the time I woke up, I was kneeling on top of the table and Chalmers had a split lip.

“I’m pressing charges!” he yelled, holding a handkerchief to his lip while the Attorney General dragged me back off the table. “I want his ass in jail!”

The Attorney General let out a long sigh. “All right. Caleb, you’re going to have to spend at least one night in jail. I’ll see what I can do for you from there on out.”

I saw the smirk on Chalmers’s face. He considered this a victory.

And I’d handed it right to him.