CH.30

The heavy wooden door creaked open, sending a hush rippling through the tense courtroom. All eyes turned towards the entrance as Serena's breath caught in her throat.

A stooped, gray-haired man shuffled in slowly, his shoulders weighed down by age and sorrow. It was John Hawthorne, her family's loyal driver and trusted confidante for as long as she could remember.

Despite his wrinkled brow, thinning hair, and the stoop of his aging frame, those warm brown eyes still held the same gentle kindness that used to greet her after school on the hard days.

Serena felt a lump form in her throat as a flood of memories came rushing back. Flashes of birthday parties where John would slip her an extra present, family dinners filled with his boisterous laughter, and long car rides spent listening to his stories about growing up on a farm filtered through her mind.

Their gazes met briefly across the courtroom and Serena searched desperately for any sign of the tenderness they once shared. But then John's eyes slid past her, pointedly refusing to acknowledge her presence. It felt like a physical blow, knocking the wind out of her.

This man had been more than an employee - he was the closest thing to a father figure she'd ever known. Would he turn his back on her now when she needed him most?

Serena's perfectly manicured nails dug into her palms. The silky locks at the nape of her neck and stylish designer outfit couldn't hide the cracks in her icy facade. Her nerves were shredding beneath the surface with every passing second.

"Mr. Hawthorne, please raise your right hand," the judge instructed in an indifferent tone after reviewing some files on his desk.

John complied mechanically, his gnarled hand trembling slightly. “I, John Arnold Hawthorne, swears to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

Serena frantically examined his worn face once more, searching for some hint of the warmth and love they had previously experienced, but the man's jaw was set in a hard line.

The prosecutor, a slimy man in a tailored-fitting suit, stepped forward and fixed John with a predatory stare. "Mr. Hawthorne, please describe for the court the events of the night in question after you picked up Miss Bolting from the airport."

"I picked her up from the airport that night around 8 pm and brought her to the address she gave me over on Maple Street. She told me to go home and come back the next morning but I didn’t leave immediately due to a call I received from my family." He paused with his eyes downcast and his shoulders slumped further.

"Well, I must have lost track of time because the next thing I knew, it was past midnight and Miss Bolting was banging on the window to unlock the door and let her back in the car. Her clothes and hands were...covered in blood." John's gravelly voice seemed to echo endlessly in the hushed courtroom as he spoke.

Gasps and murmurs erupted from the spectators like ruptured beehive.

Serena's eyes went wide with disbelief at the horrible lies spilling from John's lips.

“That’s not true…” She opened her mouth to protest, to scream her innocence, but the judge silenced her with a raised hand.

"Go on," he said with a curt nod towards John.

The old man's shoulders sagged even more with some invisible burden. "When I asked her what happened, she just got this...this look in her eye. Plumb crazy, like she'd snap at any second. She told me that if I uttered one word about what I'd seen to anyone, she'd have me killed." A shudder visibly ran through him for an unknown reason. Perhaps for telling such lies and hurting the very person he considered a daughter. But he had no other choice. This was something he couldn’t avoid.

John inhaled a sharp breath and continued, "I was too scared to argue. She had me drive her to a bar downtown after that and said to pick her up in the morning, like nothing had happened. I didn't know what else to do, so I did what she said."

“Thank you, Mr. Hawthorne.” Alex’s attorney said calmly.

Tears blurred Serena's vision as the court officer placed a hand on John's shoulder and led him away from the stand.

Another one of her most trusted confidante had just signed her death warrant with his damning testimony. But why? What could possibly possess him to destroy her this way?

A strangled sound escaped her lips - part sob, part anguished cry of betrayal. She was past caring about propriety or keeping up appearances in front of the court. The one person she thought she could rely on no matter what had shredded her defenses and plunged the metaphorical knife into her back without a second thought.

"Order! Order in the court!" The judge's gavel pounded like thunder, but Serena barely heard him through the rushing in her ears.

Salty trails of tears stained her cheeks as the world spun around her in a kaleidoscope of brutal sensations.

She felt adrift without an anchor, tossed out to the vultures by the man who had watched over her through her childhood and knew her better than anyone. This was her worst nightmare given breath, and she had no idea how to wake up from this living hell.

Jenkins could practically feel the waves of tension radiating off Serena as she trembled beside him. Her slender frame was shaking like a leaf caught in a storm, a silent testament to the hurricane of emotions raging within her. Fear and anxiety rolled off her in tangible waves, threatening to pull her under their icy grip at any second.

The poor woman looked like she was barely keeping it together, teetering on the edge of shattering into a million pieces like delicate glass. It was as if she were standing on the precipice of a cliff, one wrong move away from spiraling down into an endless abyss of despair.

He reached out and placed a steady hand on her quivering shoulder. He could sense the hurricane of fear and anxiety swirling inside her, threatening to pull her under the icy waves at any moment.

"Easy there, Serena. Take a few deep breaths." he murmured, keeping his voice low and soothing.

"That's it, you've got this," he encouraged softly. "Now listen to me...your driver's testimony is riddled with inconsistencies. Holes big enough to drive a truck through, if you know what I mean." Jenkins paused, letting the words sink in as his earnest blue eyes bored into hers. "It's pretty damn obvious that either he's been bought by the wrong team or they've got him over a barrel somehow. They could be holding something serious against him to make him lie through his teeth like that."

A muscle ticked in Jenkins' strong jaw as his expression hardened. "But I promise you, Serena, we're not going to let those bastards bury you with their shady tricks and lies. Not on my watch." His calloused thumb grazed her soft skin in a gentle caress. "Whatever happens in here today, I need you to trust me, okay? Can you do that for me?"

Serena managed a small, shaky nod.

Jenkins gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "And heads up, the hearing's going to break for a recess soon. When it does, I need to discuss something important with you. Could be the key to blowing this whole case wide open." Jenkins held her gaze for a beat longer, "Just keep it together a little while longer. We’ve got a plan."

"Mr. Montgomery, you may take the stand," the judge's stern voice finally cut through her anguished haze like a blade.

Jenkins shot her one last meaningful look before turning his attention forward, his expression settling into a mask of grim determination.

Serena swiped at her damp cheeks with a trembling hand, struggling to pull herself together. She refused to let them see her break completely, not yet. If John had truly betrayed her in this unforgivable way, she would have to find strength from somewhere deep within to fight this alone.