Chapter 136 Proud - Miguel
My heart beats into overdrive at the sight of my little mouse on the screen. It's been months since I last saw her, and the longing I'm feeling is enough to leave me breathless.
She's even more beautiful.
Her dark hair hangs in soft waves around her face that is made up in natural makeup, but there's a sadness in her green eyes that I wished I could eradicate through the T.V.
Father looks accusingly at me, like I somehow made Madison appear from thin air. Ben has gone eerily still in his seat, and Caroline is pacing the side of the room.
My mouse clears her throat before looking bravely into the camera. "Good evening. I am Madison Smith, and I dated Benedict Cargill for seven years before we got engaged."
I wish I could rip those words from her mouth. The only ring she ever deserved to wear, is mine.
"On the night of the engagement, I believed I got very drunk at first, even though I didn't drink enough to forget everything the next day. It was as if my memory was erased from a certain time frame of the night. Mr. Cargill sent me a video of what happened after, of which I had no recollection of. I thought it was very weird that I couldn't remember anything, and I vowed to myself that I would never put myself in that position again. My suspicions didn't take root until I was approached by Katherine McDowell who warned me of my fiance, saying I should be careful of him. Again, I thought it was unusual as I have known Ben since my freshman year of high school. I believed he was kind and sincere, until he invited me to his apartment that I wasn't even aware that he had. I was under impression that he lived with his parents. I soon realised that Benedict Cargill was not kind at all, at the sexual scene that unfolded in that apartment with Katherine McDowell, as well as Jeffrey Bloomberg. Katherine McDowell then asked me for my help, and I took her to my apartment, where she claimed Mr. Cargill was blackmailing her and that he raped her in her senior year of high school. She stayed in my apartment for the night, after I said I would try and help her as best as I could. The next morning I went to work, but upon my return to my apartment, I found Katherine McDowell deceased in the guest bathroom in an apparent suicide. I then broke off the engagement to Mr. Cargill and subsequently broke off all communication with him. There has been another incident where we found out that someone was drugged, and then I realised that I was most likely drugged on the night of our engagement as well. I am not coming before you for sympathy, or asking anyone to believe me, but I am standing here in solidarity with all the other victims of Benedict Cargill. I urge anyone that has had any suspicious activity with Mr. Cargill to please step forward, so that justice can take its course, and so that he can never walk the streets of our beloved city a free man to harm even more people. I thank you for your time. Goodnight."
Reporters start shouting questions, but she turns around, and the commissioner takes the microphone again.
Emotions I'm struggling to contain burn behind my eyes.
I have already thought Madison Smith was the sun, but she's so much more than that.
She is the whole sky.
Her quiet strength carried through that screen, and I know she must have been so scared, but her voice was unwavering and strong. There is no way anyone wouldn't believe a word she just said, and she just buried Ben in the eyes of the public.
"Everyone out." Father's voice is calm as he switches off the T.V., but carries an underlying threat.
I, too, get up, wanting to call T.J. immediately to ask when I can see Madison. I just want to hold her, tell her I have never been so proud of anyone or anything before.
"Miguel, Ben, and Caroline stay." He orders, and I drop back down in my seat.
Everyone is quiet as they filter out, knowing that this has just become bigger than just a rape case.
The movement against Benedict Cargill now has a face, from an influential family, and a woman who has never done anything scandalous in the public eye.
Madison has just annihilated Ben's public image.
The door to the media room shuts closed after the last person leaves, then Father loses all his cool and yanks Ben up from his chair by his collar.
"You fucker!" His hands goes around Ben's neck, his face red with anger. "What the fuck did you do!"
"Benedict, stop!" Caroline shrieks, and rushes over to them to yank on Father's arms.
Ben is a crazy motherfucker, because the asshole isn't even trying to fight back. Instead, he's smiling like the lunatic he is while his airway is being constricted.
"Please, you're hurting him." Caroline sobs, her little boy is getting hurt after all.
I want to watch the carnage in front of me a little longer, but it seems like Father is actually going to kill Ben, and we can't let that happen. Ben is dying by my hands only.
I get up get behind my father, pressing my thumbs on the inside of his forearms until he loses his grip around Ben's neck.
"You don't want to kill him." I tell him calmly when he falls back into me, and I grip his torso, willing him to calm down. "Do you really want to have the blood of your son on your hands?"
Ben is coughing, trying to take in air, and Caroline launches herself at him, still crying. I shouldn't even be surprised that Ben turned out the way he did. He is the fruit of her loins after all. The apple surely didn't fall far from the tree.
"I'm done with you." Father says chillingly, pointing his finger at Ben. "From this point forward, I will pay your legal fees, but I will not be sitting behind you in court. You can live here before you go to jail, but I do not want to see you in front of my eyes. From here on out, I am disowning you. You are no longer my son!"
A crestfallen look comes over Ben's face at Father's words.
I save that look in my memory, the way tears appear in his eyes and the trembling of his lips before I lead Father out of the room.
Father almost crumbles as soon as we exit, but I grab him under his arms and hold me to him as he starts crying for a son lost.