Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 85342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“How much do you charge?” I ask him and he just smirks at me.
“Let’s just say that it’s taken care of,” he assures me, getting up and I follow his move.
We walk out of the room and back to the chair where I was placed. This time Colin is the one sitting there. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Stuart says. I just nod at him, watching him walk out and inwardly begging him to take me with him.
“How are you doing?” Colin asks. “I’m so fucking sorry, Julia.”
“It is what it is,” I reply, my body going numb.
“Let’s get all the paperwork out of the way,” he suggests as he gets up. “Follow me.” For the next three hours I am patted down, fingerprinted, and they take my mug shot. When he walks down the stairs, I can see the bars of the cell getting bigger and bigger with each step I take.
In each corner of the room are cells with a desk in the middle of them. “Hey,” Colin says to the guy sitting behind it. “Do we have an open cell?” he asks the man, and he points at the right. “She’s to stay solo.” The man just looks at me and then back at Colin. “This is Jeff,” he says of the man. “If you need anything, just ask him.”
“This isn’t the Ritz,” he mumbles, and Colin ignores him as he walks to the cell that Jeff pointed at.
“I’m going to go get you something to eat,” he says, and I don’t even bother answering him. I walk into the cell and look around; a metal bench is pushed against the wall. A sink is stuck randomly on the wall with the toilet stuck to it. The sound of the cell door clicking into place has me jumping. “I’ll be back soon,” he reassures me, and all I can do is walk over to the bench and sit down before my legs give out on me.
I put my head against the concrete wall, pulling my legs up to my chest. Closing my eyes, I let the tears come because at this point, who the fuck cares. I can’t even imagine what people are going to think of me, let alone how my life is going to change now.
All I can see in my head is my mother crying. She probably has to put her house up for my bail and just the thought of it makes my eyes fly open. I look around, seeing no one here but me and the guy behind the desk.
Colin comes back to bring me food, but I don’t touch it. He tries to sit with me to pass the time, but he’s called out as soon as he sits down. I don’t even know what time it is or even how fast time is going. All I know is I sit here in this cold holding cell, my eyes never closing. My body goes numb. I force myself not to have to pee, but finally I give up and walk to the toilet. There is nothing that shields what I’m doing, there is no privacy, it’s for everyone to see.
I sit in the same position all night until someone comes into the room. He stops at the desk officer, who has been replaced by someone else, but I have no idea who the guy is because no one has come to talk to me. The guy points behind his neck and the man walks to my cell. “Julia Williams,” he says when he stops in front of the cell door. “Time to go.”
I stand, my legs shaking from sitting down all night long. “Turn and face the wall with your hands out in front of you,” he demands, and I follow his order and feel the metal cuffs wrap around my wrists. “Okay,” he says and I take a step forward as he opens the cell door. “Ready?” he asks, and I don’t say a word because I’m not ready. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can make me ready for this.
CHAPTER 24
Chase
“It’s almost time,” my father says from beside me on the bench. I open my eyes and look over at him. He hasn’t left my side for one minute this whole night. When I decided I wasn’t leaving and went to sit on the metal bench, he looked at Max and then at me. It took him one second to come over and sit down next to me. Max and Michael had to go home and make sure Jillian was okay, but my father made sure that if I needed him at all during the night, he was here. I spent the whole night with my head resting against the concrete wall watching the door. Hoping that by some miracle they would have let her go. They didn’t.