Third Person
As Sadie’s trial was starting to recommence, Sadie was sitting at the defendant’s table looking ragged. She had absolutely no poker face, and everyone could tell that something about her demeanor had changed drastically from prior to the lunch recess. The bailiff introduced Judge Trainor again, who had everyone take a seat. As he was about to begin, he noticed that someone very important was missing.
“Ms. Galloway, where is your attorney?” Judge Trainor asked Sadie.
“I … I…” Sadie couldn’t respond. She knew the answer better than anyone. Janko had told her before she was summoned back to the courtroom. Bart resigned himself from her case. Once he was made aware that the Galloways were broke and could no longer pay him his astronomical fees of being their family attorney, he jumped ship. He also knew that he would soon be implicated and couldn’t risk being sent to prison himself. However, he would soon discover that his attempts to flee would be futile.
“Ms. Galloway, where is your representation!?” Judge Trainor asked again.
“I don’t know, your Honor. He just… vanished,” she replied.
“Are you telling me that you have no attorney?” Before Sadie could respond, Janko stood to his feet.
“Your Honor, given that Ms. Galloway no longer has representation, I think it would be in the court’s best interest to file a continuance with this case until Ms. Galloway can be found a suitable public defender to replace Counselor Bart Simmons.”
“A public defender!?” Sadie exclaimed. She knew she would have to retain another lawyer, but she didn’t expect the lowest of the low. “Are you kidding me!?”
“Ms. Galloway, unless your family has another attorney on-call, that’s all you’ll be given,” Judge Trainor reprimanded.
“Well, how long is that going to take!?” Sadie felt exasperated.
“However long it takes to find someone. Until then, you’ll be remanded into custody and spend your time awaiting the continuance of this case at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women.”
“WHAT!? You’re sending me to prison!? I haven’t even been judged yet!”
“Ms. Galloway, you don’t have to be judged to be put behind bars. The county lockup is full. This means you will remain in federal custody until your family can post your bail. If they can’t, then you will await trial while incarcerated.”
“BUT!”
Judge Trainor slammed his gavel while he announced, “Court is dismissed. Bailiff, take Ms. Galloway into custody and have Marshalls escort her to Bedford Hills.”
“NO! This is outrageous! You can’t do this! I’m pregnant! You can’t do this to me! I’m Sadie Galloway! Let go of me! I said let me go! Ahhhh! Leon! You son of a b***h! You did this to me! I’ll get you, you BASTARD! You and that doctor slut! This isn’t over! I will get my revenge! f**k you! f**k you, Leon Von Doren! I hope you die and go to hell!” Sadie’s voice faded as she was dragged back to her cell, where she would wait before being transferred to the women’s penitentiary.
“Well, that was anti-climactic,” Kenzie muttered as she watched Sadie disappear.
“Wait, is it over?” Annika asked.
“Not by a long shot. It will probably take a week, two at the most, to get a public defender for Sadie,” Hunter responded as he stood and buttoned his jacket.
“So, then, now what?”
“Now, we get back to your case against Jeffrey, Anni. Since you’re feeling better, I can ask the judge to recommence your trial,” Hunter answered.
“For when?”
“Well, today is Friday, so there are no court sessions on the weekend. I’ll have to do it for first thing Monday.”
“But we have to open the clinic Monday.”
“No, I have to open the clinic Monday. You have to be here to drag that good-for-nothing two-timing bastard down,” Kenzie replied.
“But Kenz…”
“No, buts. I got this. You have this to deal with. I can handle the clinic. The girls up front know we can’t take that many patients right now. So, don’t worry your pretty little head. I got this. You do what you need to do and listen to my man when he tells you what to say and do. You’ll win this case and get back at that bastard for ever turning his back on you.”
“Okay. If you say so.” Annika was reluctant to abandon the clinic again, but she knew she had to hurry and get through her divorce from Jeffrey to move in with Leon. Since she and her father already agreed to sell the penthouse after everything was finalized, she had no reason to put off anything further.
The gang returned to the penthouse, where Annika’s family awaited the news. They were displeased to hear that Leon’s case against Sadie was set back due to her lawyer quitting mid-trial, but they knew it was only a matter of time before things were back underway for Leon.
“Okay, so since Anni’s case will be back in session come Monday morning, I think we should finally share with Hunter the smoking gun that will win this case for Baby Bear,” McKenna said.
“What? Smoking Gun?” Annika questioned while furrowing her eyebrows. “What are you guys up to?”
“Well, nothing really. Just making sure we saved the best evidence for last,” she answered.
“Baby Bear?” Annika turned to face Royce. “Remember that thing I found about two weeks before all the hearings started, but we didn’t want to show you right away?” Annika thought for a moment. When she recollected what he was talking about, she nodded her head. “Well, this is what we found.” Royce placed a file on the coffee table and slid it over to her. Annika picked it up and opened it. There was a single sheet of paper in the file, but what caught her attention was that it was a marriage certificate. What made her eyes widen like saucers were the names on the certificate.
“What the f**k is this!?” she hollered in dismay.
“It’s exactly what it looks like, Baby Bear. Hollands married that bitch.”
“Wha … How … Whe … WHAT!?”
“ARE YOU f*****g SERIOUS!?” Kenzie and Hunter both bellowed when they heard what Royce said. Hunter snatched the certificate from Annika to verify its authenticity.
“Holy mother of pearls, this is an actual State of New Jersey certificate.”
“New Jersey!?” Kenzie questioned and grabbed it from her husband.
“The state shouldn’t make a difference. Once you’ve filed for a marriage certificate in the United States, every state can access those records. You can’t file for another marriage unless you’ve filed for divorce first,” Matthaeus stated.
“Then how did he file for this!?” Annika shouted while holding up the marriage certificate between Jeffrey and Sadie after having snagged it back from Kenzie.
“The only thing I can think of is bribery,” McKenna said.
“I think Sadie tricked him into signing something and filed it herself. It happens more often than not,” Hunter iterated.
“Again, how would she get away with that? Jeffrey was already married to me! We filed for our marriage over seven years ago!” Annika yelled. “Even if that conniving b***h did it herself, Jeffrey was already married!”
“What if she filed it illegally?” Huxley asked while sitting leisurely and spinning his brandy.
“That would make more sense,” Hunter expressed. “Though, it would still have to go through proper channels.”
“What if Sadie bribed someone to skip all of the formalities?” Leon questioned.
“That would make even more sense,” Hunter concluded.
“Give me a sec,” Leon spoke and stood up. He took out his phone and dialed a number while walking away to the balcony.
“I cannot believe this! This can’t be real! It just can’t be!” Annika cried out.
“Baby Bear, I’m sure that awful young woman is to blame,” Madalena said as she caressed Annika’s head to try and calm her down.
“Don’t get too worked up, babe. It’s not good for the baby,” Kenzie gently said while reminding Annika of her pregnancy.
“I mean, how stupid can he be!? He’s always so meticulous about his paperwork! There is no way in hell he didn’t know about this! I know him!”
“We’ll have to do some more research into the matter before we bring it up in court, Anni,” Hunter tells her. Everyone nods in agreement. Then their eyes all peered over to the balcony where Leon stood, his back facing them.
“Sir, what can I do for you?” Toby answered as his phone rang, seeing that Leon was calling him.
“Toby, I need you to do a deep dive of everyone that works in the relative departments that file marriage certificates in the courthouse in New Jersey.”
“May I ask why, sir?”
“I’m not sure what’s going on, but it appears that our good friend Hollands has committed bigamy.”
“Excuse me?! Sir, are you serious?”
“I am.”
“Willingly?”
“That I’m not sure of. That’s why I need you to see if anyone in the New Jersey courthouses has ties to either Hollands or Sadie. Or even any of their family members.”
“I’ll get right on that, Mr. Von Doren. When did you want the results by?”
“Yesterday.”
“Of course, Sir. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” Toby hung up without saying anything further. Leon put his phone away and returned to the others in the living room.
“Who did you reach out to, Son?” Beau asked. Leon was taken aback slightly when he heard how Beau addressed him, but he didn’t think too much into it. Annika and Madalena smiled when they heard it as well.
“I reached out to my assistant, Toby.”
“Oh, that handsome young man with the strawberry-blonde hair?” Madalena asked.
“Yeah, him. I’m having him investigate everyone that works in the New Jersey justice system to see if anyone has ties to Sadie or Hollands. I get the feeling that things aren’t up to par with this certificate.”
“Well, even if it’s not, and Jeffrey was tricked into marrying that b***h, it doesn’t matter. Willingly or unwillingly, Jeffrey has committed bigamy. Which means we can use this against him in court. Right, Hunter?” McKenna addressed him directly.
“Well, yes and no, Micky. We have to be careful with this. The judge is going to want to know how Royce got ahold of this information.”
“Public records, duh,” Royce retorted.
“Still, I’ll need to know step by step what you did to get these. You guys have to remember that Jeff is also a skilled and intelligent lawyer. Albeit he’s a dumbass when it comes to everything else, he still knows the law like the back of his hand. We cannot give him any firepower against Anni.”
“He’s right, Royce. Don’t do anything reckless for the time being. We need to protect Baby Bear at all costs,” Beau says to his youngest son.
“Oh, all right, fine,” Royce grumbled. One thing Royce disliked the most was being careful. He loved the adrenaline and had zero qualms about breaking the law to get what he wanted, especially when it meant taking care of his family.
“Is there anything not wrong with the Hollands or Galloways? I mean, seriously?” Kenzie questioned while rubbing her hair ferociously.
“I guess those two really do deserve each other. First, Jeffrey doesn’t even belong to his mother. Sadie doesn’t belong to her father. Jeff’s father is still having an affair with his biological mother, pretending to be his cousin, and Mrs. Galloway is also getting divorced because she committed bigamy,” Annika mumbled.
“Well, that old hag’s bigamy was done willingly. Plus, she’s a notorious grifter,” Kenzie added.
“Sadie’s mother is a grifter?” Madalena gasped in shock.
“She also committed bigamy!?” McKenna, too, gasped.
“Oh yeah, we haven’t told them yet!” Kenzie exclaimed.
“SPILL!!!” The entire Silverton family demanded as they jumped forward to hear the gossip. Even Huxley was intrigued by it all. Annika and the others explained everything that was found out about Sadie’s mother and father. They spared no details when they told their tale. McKenna and Madalena were hollering like high-school girls, while the men of the family were disgusted that such a shameless woman as Agatha Galloway even existed.
“Okay, so hold on; Mr. Galloway is demanding a divorce. But their marriage is a sham if he was her second husband, or even third or fourth in her string of grifting. He doesn’t have to file for a divorce. Just an annulment,” Matthaeus stated.
“Even though they’ve been married for so long?” Annika asked.
“Yeah. He just needs an annulment.”
“Well, that kind of ruins the drama behind it all,” Kenzie mumbled disappointedly.
“This s**t is so juicy! Oh my gosh! I’m so glad I had Delia watch our kids so I could enjoy all of this magnificent drama. “Ah, being a lawyer has so many perks,” McKenna spilled without any shame making her husband shake his head and the rest of the family roll their eyes.
“This is going to be interesting, to say the least. We have to make sure there isn’t any blowback,” Huxley said seriously, which made all of the laughter die down. “Royce, make sure you do things legitimately. None of back-channel s**t you’re always doing. McKenna, Matt, Hunter, you guys, and the other family attorneys ensure you’re doing everything up to par. Can’t have that a*****e using anything against us. Mr. … I mean, Leon, you make sure your man also follows all protocol as well.
“Don’t worry, Huxley; Toby knows what he’s doing. We don’t take shortcuts.”
“What about me?” Annika asked.
“You. You make sure you grow a healthy niece or nephew for me.” Annika couldn’t stop the smile that overtook her face. The love she felt from her family and Leon gave her the strength she needed to get through everything coming toward her.
