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Author's Chapter Notes:

I have got my computer up and going again -- I have dusted off the files... after going throuhg 9038402934 files trying to find the most recently updated one. I have written a new chapter and I hope to finally finish this. 

Soooooo.... enjoy, leave a comment or something. Hope you like this chapter. 

Chapter 73

“I just don’t feel like it today…” Michael murmured in an almost-whisper.

I didn’t feel like dealing with any of it either.

My chest felt heavy and I’d been up earlier to use the bathroom and my legs had been jelly-like. Sometimes I was prone to believing the media’s hype about the evidence that the prosecution alleged to have. I didn’t believe it was anything untoward, but Michael hadn’t had a fair appraisal by the media since the allegations had broken. It’s not that I didn’t believe in Michael, its that I didn’t believe in the justice system. I edged closer to him, nestling my body against the warmth of his. I could have done without the anxiety, but I was just being selfish.

Michael had to have been feeling a thousand times worse than I did.

“I know…” I murmured, “but we have to be strong.”

I felt his grip around me tighten as I pressed my forehead against his shoulder, fitting against his body perfectly. I planted a kiss upon his collar-bone.

“Thanks for seeing this through with me. I know you probably don’t want to spend your day in court.”

I shrugged, “I just want to be there to hold your hand if you need me.” I felt him turn his head to return the kiss upon my upper arm. “Thank you.” I had to really be patient with him.

After the revelations the night before I had to take a step back and stop myself from being so cut and dry when it came to Casey and her stupid mother. I could tell Michael not to worry about Casey all I wanted, but it wasn’t going to magically stop his pain. I thought about all the times when my sister asked me to just stop being so sad all the time.

Feelings didn’t turn up on tap, they weren’t like a faucet that you had the ability to turn on and off at one’s leisure.

I realized I hated him talking about Diane and Casey because it made me feel insecure about my space in his life. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I couldn’t punish Michael for my own issues.

“Are you worried about today?” I asked him.

“Maybe a little. I always panic when I think about how they might turn things around to make me look bad. Or, the private things that might come out that I’m not expecting—“ he shrugged, “Like with Diane and my baby.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “Do you think…” I paused, trying to be tactful, he looked at me expectantly, realizing that I had began to hesitate.

“Yes?” he urged me on.

“Do you think that there’s anything I should know? Something that might come out that I don’t know about and might need some time to digest?” Michael stared up at the ceiling and thought for a moment. Finally he shrugged.

“I mean, nothing that comes to mind and to be honest, and I don’t mean this rudely, but you might be more sensitive about what I find to be nothing or a non-issue.”

I knew he wasn’t trying to hurt me. “I guess we’ll just take every day as it comes.” I replied.

“If there is something, please just bring it up, don’t let it consume you.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

 

**

 

There was the usual fanfare as we arrived to court. One thing I could never get used to was the flashes from the paparazzi and news media photographers. It was absolutely blinding. I tried to shield my own eyes as we got out of the car.

Michael got out first and ignored the pull of his legal team to ignore me and get inside fast. He waited patiently, taking my hand and smoothing the back of my dress for me.

“You okay?” I nodded, regarding him with a little smile. He slipped off his shades and handed them to me. “Put these on, save your eyes. We’ll get you another pair of sunglasses later.”

I hadn’t been able to find my own and suspected they were at home or I had left them someplace. I thanked him and put them on, feeling a bit silly with his aviator glasses on.

He was able to smile at me, holding back a little chuckle.

“I look ridiculous, don’t I?” I whispered.

He looked straight ahead, taking my hand and threading his fingers through mine.

“Uhuh,” he replied honestly, “but I’ll try not to hold it against you.” I managed to laugh too, drawing my eyes away from the media and the paparazzis.

I was happy to be inside the court house. Michael dropped my hand so that a sheriff was able to use the metal detector, letting him through. I was next.

I held my arms out while I was checked for anything that shouldn’t have been on my person. I thought about how mad Raia was going to be that I blew off my therapy to be here.

She was going to find out that I wasn’t actually going to see a medical specialist about a rash that I’d not truly developed. She would know I was going to be at court, but I thought worry about that later.

I needed to be there for Michael. He needed me. Once I was given a nod to walk through, I felt his hand take mine again.

“Malania!” I heard my name. Michael and I ignored it, thinking it was press, but I heard it again.

“Miss,” a voice warned the source of the sound.

“I’m with her!” the petulant tone spoke to the security with contempt. I stopped in my tracks. Michael stopped too, I knew he was too preoccupied to have heard my name being called. He looked at me expectantly. I knew who it was and I could feel my feet frozen to the ground.

The tall blond stared back at me with a big smile as a guard stood with his hand out, stopping her from coming forward, as if to confirm with us that she was telling the truth.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Beth was less than a meter away, she was obviously going to be sitting in the public seating. We had heard the seats had been raffled off to fans and curious people wanting to know what was going on.

I stared at her.

She smiled at me; sheepishly, hopefully as if nothing had happened – as if she hadn’t told the media where they could find me after she’d felt that I somewhat betrayed her by going in to Hayvenhurst after she’d left me behind.

She was the reason my brother had come for me, she was the reason for my hospital stay, for my dirty laundry being aired to the world.

“Malania, tell him,” she prompted the guard.

Michael registered what was going on. He leaned forward and kissed my temple and whispered, “forgive but never forget…” he murmured close to my ear.

“I don’t know her…” I replied to the guard and turned my back.

I heard her gasp and swear before the guard told her that she needed to leave.

We continued to walk to the front of the room. I saw Katherine and I wasn’t sure what had changed, but she seemed to have a lot of warmth for me. She waited a moment for Michael to give me a hug.

“You did the right thing, are you okay?” he asked me.

I was shaking a little bit. I nodded. “Yeah, I think so…we’ll talk about it later, you be strong, okay?”

He gazed in to my eyes for a moment and finally smiled. “I promise.”

I kissed his cheek and as I had the day before, felt his body tighten the way mine had when I saw Beth. I knew Diane had walked in.

“Love you,” I whispered.

“Me too,” he replied. I took a seat beside Katherine.

“How are you today, Malania?” she asked.

“I’m okay…” I replied with a smile. “And you?”

“Fine thanks, a little nervous for what the witnesses will try to say, but… I have faith in Greg.”

“Me too…” I nodded. S

he lowered her voice even more as she watched Michael sit in front of us. “How did things go last night after I left? Was he alright?”

“Yeah,” I answered her honestly, “we had a talk and it helped to understand where he was coming from… maybe you should come back again tonight and try to talk.” I suggested.

“Yes… I’ll see how he feels after today.”

We waited for everyone to be seated and I watched Greg and Michael chat quietly. It was nice to see Michael laugh at a certain point at something Greg had said.

I looked to Diane who sat on the opposite side of the room. She spoke to no one, her prosecutor was chatting to others around him. She was stone-faced, staring ahead.

In the moment I pitied her; she looked alone, but … she caused it. I batted away my empathy and turned to Michael’s mother.

“I hope today goes smoothly…” I murmured.

“Me too honey,” she said.

I felt someone sliding in beside me. I didn’t dare look, I was worried it would be Jermaine who immediately gave me the willies.

“Hey Mal! Sorry I didn’t mean to be this late…” I breathed a sigh of relief. It was Kaito.

“Oh hey…” I smiled at him. He gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He leaned over me and nodded a bow at Michael’s mother.

“Hello Mrs’ Jackson.”

“Hello Kaito,” she nodded back at him and smiled.

Michael whirled around and smiled at my brother. Kaito stood up and leaned over the barrier and he and Michael gave each other a handshake. Michael took a step closer and put an arm around him in a brotherly hug. It made me happy to see that Michael was welcoming of the support.

Kaito put an arm around me.

“Is that her?” he whispered, looking at Diane.

“Yep…” my voice trailed off.

There was some tension about the rest of Michael’s family having issue with Kaito sitting with me, but surprisingly Katherine told Jermaine to settle and to leave it alone. He wanted to be prime and centre, peacocking as usual. Kaito was happy to move, but Katherine stopped him.

“You stay where you are, Michael wants you here,” she said firmly.

He gave me a look that almost made me laugh. Poor Kaito had no idea what Michael’s brothers were really about.

Finally the judge called the court to order. We knew that the prosecution would be first to call all of their witnesses.

Dom Sheldon, the prosecutor was an oaf of a man. He was big and burley and all time time, smug. I wasn’t sure if he wanted Michael to be guilty or if he truly believed it.

He didn’t waste any time. “Your honor, the prosecution will call our first witness, Former bodyguard of the defendant, Seth Whitmore.”

I remembered Seth. He was a tall, lanky man who looked like he was somewhere Nordic. He was always in a bad mood and I wasn’t sure he would have been much of a guard if anything ever went down.

Seth came to the stand and sat down at the right of the judge and was sworn in.

“Mr. Whitmore, how are you doing today?” Sheldon began with pleasantaries as if he really gave a shit.

“Fine thanks,” Seth replied, looking a little uncomfortable.

“Mr. Whitmore, would you please tell us how long you worked for the defendant for?” he asked him, standing up before a lectern, shuffling his papers in the correct order. “

For around 16 to 18months, I believe…” he replied, staring directly at Sheldon and obviously not at Michael.

“Right, and what was Mr. Jackson like as an employer?” he wondered.

Seth shrugged.“He was fine. There were sometimes some odd requests, but I’ve worked for other celebrities who also have odd requests, so I wasn’t too concerned by it.”

“For the court, would you please characterize or pinpoint specifically some of those odd requests.”

Seth thought for a moment and gave a little sigh, “on one occasion, he asked myself and another bodyguard to go downstairs outside of a hotel where there were hundreds of fans waiting and hand pick the sweetest fans to come up and spend some time with him.”

“Was there an age restriction set on those fans?” Sheldon wondered.

“No, but he did like the young fans best.”

“Objection, opinions not facts…” Greg called out.

“Sustained,” the judge replied, “please state facts only, if your testimony is that the defendant explicitly told you he preferred younger fans, state it so, do not cast opinions.”

“Thank you, your honor,” Sheldon replied as if his witness hadn’t just been admonished, as if the judge was doing him a kind favor. “Did Mr. Jackson ever tell you that he preferred younger fans.”

“No, but there were a few fans that traveled around to see him, one in particular was about 16, he liked her a lot which he explicitly told me.”

“When you procured these young fans for the defendant, were there any others in the room with him? Or were you ordered to leave?”

“Sometimes I was told to go and sometimes I stayed, it depended on how safe Mr. Jackson felt with the fan. Some fans became overwhelmed and excited and he did not like that.”

“Did any of the fans that you procured for Mr. Jackson seem upset or complain to you that he had acted inappropriately?”

“No, but I did walk in on him kissing a young fan. I don’t know if she was underage or not.”

“Please describe that occasion for me.”

I felt sick in my stomach.

The idea of Michael having an affair while he swore to me that he was dedicated to Diane and Casey made me feel awful. I wondered if it had been an occasion where I had been downstairs. I felt disgusted with him. I hoped that there was a lot more to the story.

“I was asked to go on an errand to get some things because Mrs. Hargrove and her daughter were to arrive the next day. I knew that there was a fan inside and I was allowed to go in. When there were fans or guests, we did random spot checks to make ensure that Mr. Jackson was safe unless he gave us strict orders to stay out,” he explained, “in this case, I saw Mr. Jackson sitting on the couch next to a girl who did appear to be quite young. She had her hand over his crotch and was leaning against him, kissing him quite eagerly and he had his hand over hers, as if he had put it there. As soon as they saw me Mr. Jackson pushed her away and stood up. He was embarrassed and he gave me a signal that we had which allowed me to know I was to make her to leave.”

“And what was that signal?”

“He would say, ‘what’s up, Seth?’ Mr. Jackson never called me Seth, he called me by a nickname that our coworkers used which was Stretch. If he referred to me as Seth it meant it was time to step in so I did. I told the girl that he was needed and that she would have to leave. She cried and apologized and he said it was fine… she was visibly upset and I had to console her all the way back downstairs that Michael wasn’t angry or upset with her.”

“Thank you for that, Seth, and can you remember any other instances of where you may have seen Mr. Jackson acting inappropriately with anyone including Casey Hargrove?” Seth rolled his shoulders and focused on Dom Sheldon.

“Honestly, I liked Mr. Jackson and I thought he was being a good father to that little girl, but right before I stopped working for him, I did encounter an odd situation which made me feel a bit funny. I saw Mr. Jackson kissing the child.”

“Please specify for the court where you saw Mr. Jackson kiss her.”

“On the mouth and then covered her in kisses all over her cheeks and neck and tickling her but it didn’t seem like it was in a way that was, you know, cute…”

“Thank you, Seth and lastly, why did you stop working for Mr. Jackson?”

“I started to feel uncomfortable with the work, with the things I was witnessing. I thought it was in my head. I talked to a coworker, Michael about it, and he said I was being stupid, but I’m a father myself and I didn’t like it so I got a new job.”

“Thank you, no further questions—“ Sheldon added.

The judge looked to Greg.

“Do you care to cross-examine this witness, Mr. Philburn?”

“Thank you, your honor.” Greg got up and buttoned his suit jacket. He stood at the lectern and gave a smile to Seth.

“In your testimony you mentioned you stopped working for Mr. Jackson because you weren’t comfortable with what you saw. Would you also explain to the court the conversation that you had with Mr. Jackson around the time you stopped working for him and let me remind you that you are under oath.” Seth looked down at his hands.

“It was a misunderstanding,”

“Your honor, I would like to call exhibit 1.a of an employment separation contract signed by both Mr. Jackson and Seth Whitmore at the time of his mutual termination of employment.”

On a projector, the bailiff produced a slide for the court. It took me a moment to figure out what it said.

“Seth Whitmore was caught buying personal items on Mr. Jackson’s credit card. These things were small in value in the beginning and increased in value as he grew more confident in ripping off his boss. The last purchase which was what was brought to Mr. Jackson’s attention was a charge for a large television for his daughter. This contract stipulates that Mr. Jackson was allowing Mr. Whitmore to walk away from his job without any criminal charges or any debit relating to the purchases so that his future jobs would be unaffected. This was an incredibly kind gesture from an apparently evil man.”

I couldn’t help but to smile. I loved Greg so much in the moment.

“Now, Mr. Whitmore again, would you like to explain the finer details of the conversation with Mr. Jackson. This separation contract has been signed by you and is an acknowledgement and admission of your criminal activity.”

“I used Mr. Jackson’s card by accident,” he said. “Mr. Jackson came to me after being questioned by his accountant and he gave me the chance to explain myself. I admitted it had been an accident and that I had used his card thinking it was mine. Mr. Jackson was understanding and said that it was fine. When I tried to tell him I would pay it back as it was my daughter’s birthday gift, he said don’t worry about it and he hoped she had a good birthday. The next day I was forced to sign the contract.”

“And that is your testimony?” Greg confirmed.

“Yes, why would I lie about that? I’m not a criminal. I admitted the mistake.”

“I don’t know why would lie, Mr. Whitmore, but it doesn’t seem out of character, you just lied in your testimony that you left because you were uncomfortable when in fact you were forced to sign a contract admitting to your criminal activity.” Seth went to say something but Greg cut him off.

“Would it seem plausible that Mr. Jackson gave you a free pass because he is a kind and generous person but later went over the rest of his accounts to find the other purchases that were made that he did not approve or ask for?”

“They were misunderstandings,” Seth said again.

“Oh, really? Misunderstandings… all of the 53 purchases over a span of 8 months? Each time you made a spend of escalating costs, you accidentally used Mr. Jackson’s card? Did you know the full total of money you defrauded Mr. Jackson was $32,000?”

He said nothing.

“I’d say you had an incredibly kind boss. So kind that when he was being attacked sexually by a fan, he did not want her to feel bad about it and did not cause a scene but casually asked you with your secret signal, to remove her without a ruckus.”

“She wasn’t attacking him, that was clear.”

“Your testimony states that she was pushing herself against him, kissing him eagerly while touching his crotch, do you agree?”

“Yes,” Seth replied.

“Would it be possible that when you walked in he was protesting and trying to put a stop to it?”

“Well-“

“Is it possible that Michael jumped out of his seat and saw you as the welcome end to an uncomfortable situation.”

“I suppose its possible but-“ Greg cut him off.

“Great, so its possible. And you state that Mr. Jackson was kissing Casey Hargrove on the mouth – let’s give that some context. Was he using his tongue?”

“No.”

“Was he giving her an intimate kiss or was he giving her a peck on the lips the same way I kiss my daughter?”

“He was kissing her in a frenzy while tickling her.”

“Right,” Greg started to laugh which caused some of the jurors to laugh and I felt so much tension release from my shoulders and neck. Greg was fast-paced and so quick to smash apart the bodyguard’s story.

“Sorry, I apologise to the court for my laughter, its just that… Mr. Whitmore, you’re describing a game we all play as father’s with our children, especially our little girls. Tickle monster… covering our kids with kisses.” He shook his head as if he was suddenly vexed.

“Mr. Whitmore, did Casey cry or laugh when Mr. Jackson was kissing her and tickling her?”

“She was giggling,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry could you please speak loudly and clearly for the court.”

“She was giggling,” he repeated clearly.

“So based on a vibe and no actual evidence you feel as though Mr. Jackson is guilty. Is that correct?”

“I have so-“

“Yes or no is fine.”

“Yes,” Seth conceded.

“Well…” Greg grabbed his papers and made his way back to his desk with Michael. “why don’t we just go around and start picking people out of the public seating and bring them up here and ask all of their personal opinions, its about as useful as this witness…” he grumbled, taking another seat.

“Objection!” Sheldon boomed, angrily.

“Withdrawn, I rest the witness.” Greg replied loudly as if he were bored.

I felt Katherine grab my hand. I glanced at her and she gave me a smile. A knowing smile that Michael was in very good care with Greg. I smiled back at her, happy that she was finally warming to me.

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