Status: Completed, after eleven months and four days. XD

Baby Just Say Yes

Chapter Fifty-Six

"Mr. Coslov, you are Mr. Richard Coslov's son, correct?" Cabot asked Rayleigh’s brother the next morning shortly after court had resumed.Adam nodded, obviously uncomfortable in the stiff grey and black suit that he had to wear for trial today.

"Yeah. He's my father," Adam said.

"But he never treated you as a son, right?"

Adam laughed. "If anything, I was just another possession to him. Something others could look upon on."

"How so?" Cabot pushed. Adam sighed.

"Well, for starters, I was required to be on the football team at my school. He paid the school board to make me the quarterback all four years."

"But you didn't want to be in football? Isn't that every boy's dream, to be a quarterback?" Cabot asked him, turning to face Richard and then the jury before turning back to Adam, watching his facial expressions.

"I never liked football. It's too much of a pride sport. But I suppose that's why he liked it. It gave him something to gloat about at the country club every weekend." Adam shrugged.

"And, if my documents tell me correctly, you recieved several injuries as a result?"

Adam nodded again. "My first year in, I got a busted shoulder blade. My dad freaked out on me; told me I did it on purpose to piss him off. So he went and rebroke it."

"So he abused you? Is that what you're saying, Mr. Coslov?"

Adam nodded. "Yeah. I would take the brunt of most of it. If Ray did something and I knew Dad would hit her, I would take the blame so she wouldn't get hurt."

"So you protected her, too? Along with Mr. Sanders?"

"Yeah. I'd protect her when she was at home, and they'd protect her on the streets, which turned out to be safer than home for us."

"Did he ever seriously injure either of you?"

"He landed me in the ER so many times I can't remember. But Ray was never sent to the ER. I'd always patch her up."

"But that stopped when you were fifteen, correct?"

"Yeah. The asshole kicked me out."

"Objection, your Honor! That kind of language is foul and obscene." Pratcher said. The judge looked at Adam reprimandingly.

"I can understand your resentment, Mr. Coslov, but keep your opinions to yourself." She said. Adam nodded.

"So, what did you do when you were kicked out of your house?"

"I crashed at my buddy Tim's place until we graduated, and then I worked my way into college."

"But he didn't kick Rayleigh out?"

"No. He kept her there."

"Do you think the abuse ended when you left?"

"Absolutely not. I'm sure he kept hitting her. I tried to break her out once, but the security caught me and took me to the cop shop."

"Thank you for answering my questions. That is all." Cabot said, taking her seat. Pratcher stood up and walked over to Coslov.

"Did it ever occur to you, Mr. Coslov, that your father kicked you out as a result of inexcusable behaviour?"

"No, it did not. I was very well behaved. Unless he hit me or my sister."

"Hmm...He hit you, is that what you say?"

"Yes. That's what I'm saying," Adam said. "I have the marks to prove it. I have photographic evidence. I’ve got police reports and ER reports as well.”

"I'm sure you do. But you say Rayleigh never got put in the ER?"

"She would have if I hadn't taken the blows for her," Adam said. Pratcher smiled.

"And she never got seriously hurt?"

"I already answered that," Adam spat. As far as he was concerned, anyone who would defend his father was scum.

"So is it possible, Mr. Coslov, that you made this all up? That you blew something out of proportion?"

"I didn't blow anything out of proportion, Mr. Pratcher." Adam said in a dark tone of voice.

"Did you bring drugs into the house?" Pratcher asked. Adam sighed.

"Not as many as my father did." He told him. "But yeah. I had some drugs, like most teens. Pot, maybe some cocaine a time or two. Nothing in large amounts, though.”

"And is it you that got Mrs. Haner into drugs?"

That stopped Adam cold in his tracks. He knew that Rayleigh had never done drugs. He knew that she'd covered for Jimmy that night, but he also knew that they couldn’t tell everyone the truth about that night now.

"Yes." Adam said finally. "I gave her pot the first time."

"But you were such a protective older brother." Pratcher said. "Why'd you give it to her?"

"I thought it would give her an escape from the pain. I thought if I didn’t give her drugs as a gateway for what she was feeling, she’d commit suicide." Adam lied. Rayleigh's eyes brimmed with tears when her brother took the fall for her yet again.

"I see. No more questions, your Honor."
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Edited for Grammatical Errors.