06-05-2020, 11:11 PM
Melissa didn’t want to be here.
If she had a choice in the matter, she’d be training with Cindy in preparation for her impending match with Annabelle Burchard.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have a choice if she wanted to avoid inviting a potential catastrophe back into her life.
That was the only reason why Melissa wasn’t in Paris right now with the rest of The Unforgiven or the Emerge roster as a whole, though she would be present in time for Invasion. All she wanted to do was focus on the Bullrope Match that sat before her as some vain hope from the new GM that it was going to be the end of the war between Melissa and Annabelle. And yet, even as she sat alone in this room, free to contemplate all the things she was going to do to make Annabelle pay for the defiance she had shown, the False Atoner was the last thing on her mind.
How could she focus on Emerge when the last man she ever wanted to see again was only separated from her by one measly wall?
Today was just another day in the ongoing trial of Sgt. Brett Killgraves over the blatant abuse of his police authority and the damage he’d caused because of it, and Melissa had been required to return home in order to testify against him as the central figure in the entire case. Because of the potential explosion that many feared would result if they saw each other again, it was decided to have her wait in a separate room from the trail in order for proceedings to run smoothly until she was needed. She couldn’t blame them for playing it safe… even if she wasn’t somewhat pacifying herself over the thought of what she did to YUYO that effectively forced Emerge to change plans regarding their Invasion main event as well as send a clear warning to Annabelle, she knew she and her father might get physical depending on how the chips fell, and the more damage they could contain the better. Today was the one day where she would, unfortunately, have to try and control some of her anger if she wanted to be done with the man who helped bring her into this world once and for all.
Her attention shifted to the lone door that led in and out of the room as it opened, a bailiff peeking in to motion that it was time for her to take the stand. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, Melissa slowly stood up and made the march out into the courtroom. As she was led to the stand, she glanced over to where the defense sat, and almost immediately she locked eyes with her father for the first time in roughly half a year. To say that he’d seen better days would be an understatement. Heavy dark circles were around his eyes, almost like he wanted her to know he hadn’t been sleeping well. He’d grown a bit of a beard, something that he would’ve never allowed himself to have even when he wasn’t adhering to strict military protocol. She could almost see a glimmer of guilt in the way he looked at her, but he was clearly trying hard to bury it beneath his firm belief of needing to be the one and only person with any control over her life because he was her father and had a reputation to maintain, even if said reputation was likely in shambles ten times over by now. As she took the stand, she decided to smooth out the wrinkles on the skirt she wore with this outfit Claire had gotten for her so she had something ‘proper’ to wear while having to put up with this, allowing it to distract her from the man she didn’t want to be in the same room as, even temporarily. When the bailiff walked back up to her with a bible and instructed her to place her hand on it, she simply glared at him, her frail emotional walls already beginning to show cracks.
“With all due respect, I refuse to swear on that book.”
“That book is one of the symbols of our faith and you know it, Melissa! You can’t just-”
“I don’t believe in a God who puts me in a situation where I don’t have the freedom to make my own decisions!”
Melissa’s small act of defiance over how her testimony was going to be considered true had already ignited a powder keg, as her father gave her no chance to continue and immediately jumped down her throat over her decision, causing her to lash out in response. The judge slammed his gavel and yelled for order as the elder Killghraves was restrained by both his attorney and another bailiff on hand in anticipation of this. It took several minutes for order to be restored, but once it was Melissa looked up at the judge and was allowed to finish this opening salvo her way.
“I refuse to swear an oath on a book that I no longer believe in. However, I solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
The judge accepted this before motioning for the prosecutor that they could begin questioning. Melissa glanced at her father, making sure he understood that she knew the law well enough to know how to make sure her voice still mattered today. She wanted it to feel like a small victory of using what he’d taught her against him, but seeing the bible presented at that moment just made her think of the woman who thought turning to God would suddenly fix all of her past actions. The reminder of what awaited on the horizon just made her angrier that she wasn’t dedicating her time towards that right now, but the sooner she got through this the more she could shift her focus back to a target that she didn’t have to force herself to be civil towards. She turned her attention to the man who approached her.
“Will you please state your name and occupation for the record?”
“I’m Melissa Killgraves, a wrestler for Emerge and daughter to the man on trial today.”
“Thank you. Miss Killgraves, how would you describe your relationship with your father?”
“If I could sum it up in one word? Hell.”
Members of the jury could be heard buzzing about this, but Melissa paid them no mind. Her focus went right back to her father, the two exchanging glares once again.
“Could you please elaborate?”
“Gladly. My father took a lot of pride in his military status… too much, if you ask me. It was to the point where he basically decided my future before I was old enough to even understand the world around me. He was insistent on having me follow in his footsteps and serving in the military just like he did, to the extent where, when I was physically able to do so, he began putting me through a boot camp he set up in our backyard every single day for as long as I can remember. He forced me to live my life by his code of honor… hell, the only reason I was allowed to go to a public school and even have any semblance of a normal social life was that I was too young for any military academy to legally enroll me.”
“Did you ever voice your concerns to him about any of this?”
“I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve told him I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do with my life for myself. It always fell on deaf ears with him.”
There was more murmuring from the jury as they took stock of this. Melissa noticed her father’s attorney looking through some of his notes, only to need to divert his attention to making sure his client stayed in his seat when he began to show signs of acting out of order again.
“Miss Killgraves, while I know you are not aware of this as your touring schedule and… obvious concerns that have been noted over the two of you being in the same room have limited your time with us, it was confirmed earlier in this trial that you are no longer living with your father, is that correct?”
“It is, and this was the case even before Emerge moved their operations out to Europe at the start of this year. And since I know you’re going to ask for the record, after I graduated from high school my dad tried to sign me up for the military on my behalf, which he cannot do without them having actual consent from me that I wish to serve. After I gave them my refusal, I literally packed up all my stuff and walked out, settling in an apartment a friend of mine helped me to get.”
“And how did your father respond to this?”
“It started with calls to my cell phone demanding that I return home until I blocked his number. Then, I’d get stopped at random by officers out on patrol or notice they were purposely parking near where I’d be like they were specifically keeping an eye on what I was doing for him. We had one face-to-face conversation where my trainer, and someone who served by my father’s side, managed to diffuse things before anything came of it. After that, he kind of left me alone… until…”
Melissa slowly trailed off there, her fists balling up tightly against the stand. While the incident she knew would have to come up in this conversation sooner or later was hardly anything she looked back on in regret, even she wasn’t so blinded by her emotions towards her old man to realize how this incident was perceived by the jury could make or break this entire ordeal. This was the origin point of her father’s charges, after all, and while she was let go on that day she wouldn’t doubt if some believed she deserved to be on trial just as much as he did for the fight she showed.
“Until the incident that brings us to why we are truly here today, correct?” Melissa silently nods in response. “Can you please share with the court what happened on that day?”
“I… I was working out in preparation for a big match I had coming up and talking with people I confided in about some things I’d been given to think about wrestling-wise. My father suddenly waltzed into the gym with a whole squad of officers to back him up, like they were ready to raid a warehouse for a drug sting or something. He tried to talk me into coming home one last time, and when I refused, he attempted to arrest me.”
A few people in the jury audibly gasped at this while the prosecutor simply nodded, looking over a few of his notes to make sure it lined up with other testimonies given thus far in the trial. Brett looked like he was on the verge of leaping from his seat and lunging at his daughter like some kind of feral animal, but Melissa had to give his attorney a lot of credit for doing his damndest to keep the veteran from doing anything that would ruin their chances.
“On what ground did he attempt to arrest you for, Miss Killgraves?”
“The only charge he gave initially was assault, using what I legally do inside a wrestling ring as my profession to justify it. I refused, knowing it was B.S. and would never hold up in court. It was just his way of trying to abuse his authority to force me to miss that upcoming show, and I think even the officers he brought with him knew that.”
“OBJECTION!”
Everyone’s attention turned to the table of the defense as not the attorney but the man on trial himself flew out of his seat and angrily made the statement, to which a bailiff immediately placed himself between Sgt. Killgraves and the stand to prevent any physical altercations. He certainly tried to make his way to being literally face-to-face with his daughter again, but his attorney desperately pleaded with him to sit back down as the judge violently slammed his gavel.
“Order! Order! Objection overruled, and one more outburst like that and I will have you removed from this courtroom, Mr. Killgraves!”
It took a few moments for things to settle back down that Melissa could continue, but the more she glared at her father the more she couldn’t ignore a troubling thought that was running through her head now: Brett Killgraves was a proud man, physically and emotionally stronger than most could ever hope to be. Even during times when he’d been captured and tortured while serving the country, he never cracked, preferring to take whatever information he was being tortured over to the grave. And yet, here he was, slowly growing more and more unhinged before her very eyes all because she rightfully opposed the idea of him having the final say on how her life should be. She was witnessing her father in a more vulnerable state than anyone had ever known, and in a twisted sort of the way, this image both amused and bothered her. Still, she was here to speak the truth, and once things had calmed down enough that she was given the OK to continue, she did just that.
“As I was saying, I shrugged off his admittedly weak justification for arresting me and tried to get back to my workout, but then he forcibly grabbed my arms and tried to cuff me. I resisted, as I felt I had the right to do knowing full well he was abusing his power, and he pulled me into an inadvertent shoulder check that allowed him to add ‘assaulting an officer’ to my charges, which he also used as an excuse to slam my face into the wall. It was at that point, in the face of what some would consider a show of unnecessary police brutality over nonexistent charges, I fought back to defend myself. After I… subdued my father, the other officers there allowed me to go while they dealt with him. That’s the last time I saw him, until today.”
“Thank you, Miss Killgraves. No further questions, your honor.”
The prosecutor proceeded back to his seat as Melissa took a deep breath, trying to stay focused on getting through the defense’s questions she knew were coming so she could be done with this and free to return her focus back to the woman who she owed an ass-kicking to. The attorney was clearly taking his time, partly because he kept glancing back at her father to make sure he’d stay put before he stared her down with a look that made it clear he was getting down to business.
“Miss Killgraves, in your profession you are currently associated with a rather violent group-”
“Objection, this has no relevance to the case, your honor.”
“It’s relevant to establish the character of the witness.”
“I’ll allow it, for the moment.”
“Thank you-”
“Yes, in Emerge I’m part of a group known as The Unforgiven. But even if you disagree with our actions, they pertain only to the wrestling business and have nothing to do with how my father treated me growing up.”
Melissa could hear the judge issue her a warning, but she barely registers it as she stares down the attorney, almost daring him to try and make the same hollow claims her father did back on that fateful day.
“Are you certain, Miss Killgraves? Prior testimonies indicate that there have been no physical altercations between you and your father prior to the date in question. I am aware this precedes your official joining of the group, but you did have contact with its leader.”
“If you’re implying that the only reason I fought back is because of someone whispering in my ear, then you might as well stop talking. If my father hadn’t kept pushing me, thinking he could just get away with anything because everyone practically worshipped the ground he walked on, then maybe we wouldn’t be here. I was within my rights to defend myself from his excessive and unnecessary force, and if he hadn’t resorted to it then I wouldn’t have touched him.”
“THAT’S BULLSHIT! YOU LET YOURSELF BE BRAINWASHED BY A MONSTER AND TURNED AGAINST ME!”
Sgt. Killgraves exploded out of his seat and charged the stand with this outburst, dodging the bailiff’s attempt to block his path and almost barreling over his own attorney before he got within arm’s reach of his daughter. Melissa steeled herself, but just when he started trying to wrap his arms around her, several officers were forcing him back and hauling him out of the courtroom at the insistence of the judge. As the attorney was helped to his feet, he could only sigh and shake his head before throwing in the towel on asking any further questions, and Melissa was given the OK to go.
It took a few minutes for this to register for her, though, and even as she finally left, she couldn’t help but stop once she was out of the room to ponder what just happened. No matter how heated things got between then, her father’s behavior today was no indication of how he would normally act in this setting. He had too much respect for the law to ever have such violent outbursts in the middle of court proceedings, even if they were his own. That last one in particular, though, is what shook her the most. When he’d tried to wrap his arms around her, it wasn’t to harm her or attempt to strangle her or anything truly malicious like that. It almost felt like he was trying to hug her… an act of affection he hadn’t shown her since she was still too young to start being molded into “daddy’s little soldier.”
While it certainly gave her a lot to ponder, she knew his actions today had all but destroyed any hope he had of not being sentenced in some capacity. Thankfully, she was able to latch onto a familiar emotion as her father’s confusing actions simply caused her blood to boil, both for her having to come out here to testify against him in the first place and for trying to throw her off before she had work to do. She’d figure out what he was actually getting at later… her focus right now was on one thing, and one thing only:
Going to Paris to show Annabelle why the God she entrusted her life to had never been there for her in the first place, just like he’d never been there for Melissa Killgraves when she needed Him most.
If she had a choice in the matter, she’d be training with Cindy in preparation for her impending match with Annabelle Burchard.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have a choice if she wanted to avoid inviting a potential catastrophe back into her life.
That was the only reason why Melissa wasn’t in Paris right now with the rest of The Unforgiven or the Emerge roster as a whole, though she would be present in time for Invasion. All she wanted to do was focus on the Bullrope Match that sat before her as some vain hope from the new GM that it was going to be the end of the war between Melissa and Annabelle. And yet, even as she sat alone in this room, free to contemplate all the things she was going to do to make Annabelle pay for the defiance she had shown, the False Atoner was the last thing on her mind.
How could she focus on Emerge when the last man she ever wanted to see again was only separated from her by one measly wall?
Today was just another day in the ongoing trial of Sgt. Brett Killgraves over the blatant abuse of his police authority and the damage he’d caused because of it, and Melissa had been required to return home in order to testify against him as the central figure in the entire case. Because of the potential explosion that many feared would result if they saw each other again, it was decided to have her wait in a separate room from the trail in order for proceedings to run smoothly until she was needed. She couldn’t blame them for playing it safe… even if she wasn’t somewhat pacifying herself over the thought of what she did to YUYO that effectively forced Emerge to change plans regarding their Invasion main event as well as send a clear warning to Annabelle, she knew she and her father might get physical depending on how the chips fell, and the more damage they could contain the better. Today was the one day where she would, unfortunately, have to try and control some of her anger if she wanted to be done with the man who helped bring her into this world once and for all.
Her attention shifted to the lone door that led in and out of the room as it opened, a bailiff peeking in to motion that it was time for her to take the stand. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, Melissa slowly stood up and made the march out into the courtroom. As she was led to the stand, she glanced over to where the defense sat, and almost immediately she locked eyes with her father for the first time in roughly half a year. To say that he’d seen better days would be an understatement. Heavy dark circles were around his eyes, almost like he wanted her to know he hadn’t been sleeping well. He’d grown a bit of a beard, something that he would’ve never allowed himself to have even when he wasn’t adhering to strict military protocol. She could almost see a glimmer of guilt in the way he looked at her, but he was clearly trying hard to bury it beneath his firm belief of needing to be the one and only person with any control over her life because he was her father and had a reputation to maintain, even if said reputation was likely in shambles ten times over by now. As she took the stand, she decided to smooth out the wrinkles on the skirt she wore with this outfit Claire had gotten for her so she had something ‘proper’ to wear while having to put up with this, allowing it to distract her from the man she didn’t want to be in the same room as, even temporarily. When the bailiff walked back up to her with a bible and instructed her to place her hand on it, she simply glared at him, her frail emotional walls already beginning to show cracks.
“With all due respect, I refuse to swear on that book.”
“That book is one of the symbols of our faith and you know it, Melissa! You can’t just-”
“I don’t believe in a God who puts me in a situation where I don’t have the freedom to make my own decisions!”
Melissa’s small act of defiance over how her testimony was going to be considered true had already ignited a powder keg, as her father gave her no chance to continue and immediately jumped down her throat over her decision, causing her to lash out in response. The judge slammed his gavel and yelled for order as the elder Killghraves was restrained by both his attorney and another bailiff on hand in anticipation of this. It took several minutes for order to be restored, but once it was Melissa looked up at the judge and was allowed to finish this opening salvo her way.
“I refuse to swear an oath on a book that I no longer believe in. However, I solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
The judge accepted this before motioning for the prosecutor that they could begin questioning. Melissa glanced at her father, making sure he understood that she knew the law well enough to know how to make sure her voice still mattered today. She wanted it to feel like a small victory of using what he’d taught her against him, but seeing the bible presented at that moment just made her think of the woman who thought turning to God would suddenly fix all of her past actions. The reminder of what awaited on the horizon just made her angrier that she wasn’t dedicating her time towards that right now, but the sooner she got through this the more she could shift her focus back to a target that she didn’t have to force herself to be civil towards. She turned her attention to the man who approached her.
“Will you please state your name and occupation for the record?”
“I’m Melissa Killgraves, a wrestler for Emerge and daughter to the man on trial today.”
“Thank you. Miss Killgraves, how would you describe your relationship with your father?”
“If I could sum it up in one word? Hell.”
Members of the jury could be heard buzzing about this, but Melissa paid them no mind. Her focus went right back to her father, the two exchanging glares once again.
“Could you please elaborate?”
“Gladly. My father took a lot of pride in his military status… too much, if you ask me. It was to the point where he basically decided my future before I was old enough to even understand the world around me. He was insistent on having me follow in his footsteps and serving in the military just like he did, to the extent where, when I was physically able to do so, he began putting me through a boot camp he set up in our backyard every single day for as long as I can remember. He forced me to live my life by his code of honor… hell, the only reason I was allowed to go to a public school and even have any semblance of a normal social life was that I was too young for any military academy to legally enroll me.”
“Did you ever voice your concerns to him about any of this?”
“I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve told him I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do with my life for myself. It always fell on deaf ears with him.”
There was more murmuring from the jury as they took stock of this. Melissa noticed her father’s attorney looking through some of his notes, only to need to divert his attention to making sure his client stayed in his seat when he began to show signs of acting out of order again.
“Miss Killgraves, while I know you are not aware of this as your touring schedule and… obvious concerns that have been noted over the two of you being in the same room have limited your time with us, it was confirmed earlier in this trial that you are no longer living with your father, is that correct?”
“It is, and this was the case even before Emerge moved their operations out to Europe at the start of this year. And since I know you’re going to ask for the record, after I graduated from high school my dad tried to sign me up for the military on my behalf, which he cannot do without them having actual consent from me that I wish to serve. After I gave them my refusal, I literally packed up all my stuff and walked out, settling in an apartment a friend of mine helped me to get.”
“And how did your father respond to this?”
“It started with calls to my cell phone demanding that I return home until I blocked his number. Then, I’d get stopped at random by officers out on patrol or notice they were purposely parking near where I’d be like they were specifically keeping an eye on what I was doing for him. We had one face-to-face conversation where my trainer, and someone who served by my father’s side, managed to diffuse things before anything came of it. After that, he kind of left me alone… until…”
Melissa slowly trailed off there, her fists balling up tightly against the stand. While the incident she knew would have to come up in this conversation sooner or later was hardly anything she looked back on in regret, even she wasn’t so blinded by her emotions towards her old man to realize how this incident was perceived by the jury could make or break this entire ordeal. This was the origin point of her father’s charges, after all, and while she was let go on that day she wouldn’t doubt if some believed she deserved to be on trial just as much as he did for the fight she showed.
“Until the incident that brings us to why we are truly here today, correct?” Melissa silently nods in response. “Can you please share with the court what happened on that day?”
“I… I was working out in preparation for a big match I had coming up and talking with people I confided in about some things I’d been given to think about wrestling-wise. My father suddenly waltzed into the gym with a whole squad of officers to back him up, like they were ready to raid a warehouse for a drug sting or something. He tried to talk me into coming home one last time, and when I refused, he attempted to arrest me.”
A few people in the jury audibly gasped at this while the prosecutor simply nodded, looking over a few of his notes to make sure it lined up with other testimonies given thus far in the trial. Brett looked like he was on the verge of leaping from his seat and lunging at his daughter like some kind of feral animal, but Melissa had to give his attorney a lot of credit for doing his damndest to keep the veteran from doing anything that would ruin their chances.
“On what ground did he attempt to arrest you for, Miss Killgraves?”
“The only charge he gave initially was assault, using what I legally do inside a wrestling ring as my profession to justify it. I refused, knowing it was B.S. and would never hold up in court. It was just his way of trying to abuse his authority to force me to miss that upcoming show, and I think even the officers he brought with him knew that.”
“OBJECTION!”
Everyone’s attention turned to the table of the defense as not the attorney but the man on trial himself flew out of his seat and angrily made the statement, to which a bailiff immediately placed himself between Sgt. Killgraves and the stand to prevent any physical altercations. He certainly tried to make his way to being literally face-to-face with his daughter again, but his attorney desperately pleaded with him to sit back down as the judge violently slammed his gavel.
“Order! Order! Objection overruled, and one more outburst like that and I will have you removed from this courtroom, Mr. Killgraves!”
It took a few moments for things to settle back down that Melissa could continue, but the more she glared at her father the more she couldn’t ignore a troubling thought that was running through her head now: Brett Killgraves was a proud man, physically and emotionally stronger than most could ever hope to be. Even during times when he’d been captured and tortured while serving the country, he never cracked, preferring to take whatever information he was being tortured over to the grave. And yet, here he was, slowly growing more and more unhinged before her very eyes all because she rightfully opposed the idea of him having the final say on how her life should be. She was witnessing her father in a more vulnerable state than anyone had ever known, and in a twisted sort of the way, this image both amused and bothered her. Still, she was here to speak the truth, and once things had calmed down enough that she was given the OK to continue, she did just that.
“As I was saying, I shrugged off his admittedly weak justification for arresting me and tried to get back to my workout, but then he forcibly grabbed my arms and tried to cuff me. I resisted, as I felt I had the right to do knowing full well he was abusing his power, and he pulled me into an inadvertent shoulder check that allowed him to add ‘assaulting an officer’ to my charges, which he also used as an excuse to slam my face into the wall. It was at that point, in the face of what some would consider a show of unnecessary police brutality over nonexistent charges, I fought back to defend myself. After I… subdued my father, the other officers there allowed me to go while they dealt with him. That’s the last time I saw him, until today.”
“Thank you, Miss Killgraves. No further questions, your honor.”
The prosecutor proceeded back to his seat as Melissa took a deep breath, trying to stay focused on getting through the defense’s questions she knew were coming so she could be done with this and free to return her focus back to the woman who she owed an ass-kicking to. The attorney was clearly taking his time, partly because he kept glancing back at her father to make sure he’d stay put before he stared her down with a look that made it clear he was getting down to business.
“Miss Killgraves, in your profession you are currently associated with a rather violent group-”
“Objection, this has no relevance to the case, your honor.”
“It’s relevant to establish the character of the witness.”
“I’ll allow it, for the moment.”
“Thank you-”
“Yes, in Emerge I’m part of a group known as The Unforgiven. But even if you disagree with our actions, they pertain only to the wrestling business and have nothing to do with how my father treated me growing up.”
Melissa could hear the judge issue her a warning, but she barely registers it as she stares down the attorney, almost daring him to try and make the same hollow claims her father did back on that fateful day.
“Are you certain, Miss Killgraves? Prior testimonies indicate that there have been no physical altercations between you and your father prior to the date in question. I am aware this precedes your official joining of the group, but you did have contact with its leader.”
“If you’re implying that the only reason I fought back is because of someone whispering in my ear, then you might as well stop talking. If my father hadn’t kept pushing me, thinking he could just get away with anything because everyone practically worshipped the ground he walked on, then maybe we wouldn’t be here. I was within my rights to defend myself from his excessive and unnecessary force, and if he hadn’t resorted to it then I wouldn’t have touched him.”
“THAT’S BULLSHIT! YOU LET YOURSELF BE BRAINWASHED BY A MONSTER AND TURNED AGAINST ME!”
Sgt. Killgraves exploded out of his seat and charged the stand with this outburst, dodging the bailiff’s attempt to block his path and almost barreling over his own attorney before he got within arm’s reach of his daughter. Melissa steeled herself, but just when he started trying to wrap his arms around her, several officers were forcing him back and hauling him out of the courtroom at the insistence of the judge. As the attorney was helped to his feet, he could only sigh and shake his head before throwing in the towel on asking any further questions, and Melissa was given the OK to go.
It took a few minutes for this to register for her, though, and even as she finally left, she couldn’t help but stop once she was out of the room to ponder what just happened. No matter how heated things got between then, her father’s behavior today was no indication of how he would normally act in this setting. He had too much respect for the law to ever have such violent outbursts in the middle of court proceedings, even if they were his own. That last one in particular, though, is what shook her the most. When he’d tried to wrap his arms around her, it wasn’t to harm her or attempt to strangle her or anything truly malicious like that. It almost felt like he was trying to hug her… an act of affection he hadn’t shown her since she was still too young to start being molded into “daddy’s little soldier.”
While it certainly gave her a lot to ponder, she knew his actions today had all but destroyed any hope he had of not being sentenced in some capacity. Thankfully, she was able to latch onto a familiar emotion as her father’s confusing actions simply caused her blood to boil, both for her having to come out here to testify against him in the first place and for trying to throw her off before she had work to do. She’d figure out what he was actually getting at later… her focus right now was on one thing, and one thing only:
Going to Paris to show Annabelle why the God she entrusted her life to had never been there for her in the first place, just like he’d never been there for Melissa Killgraves when she needed Him most.
![[Image: yC0vuyj.png]](https://i.imgur.com/yC0vuyj.png)