Chapter 250 Whispers and Reckoning
Kieran's arms wrapped around Genesis waist as her legs instinctively hooked around his hips. Their mouths crashed together in a kiss that was all heat and desperation, the two weeks apart had starved them both, deprivation of each other was horrible and sickening.
She tasted salt and the faint antiseptic trace of hospital on his tongue, felt the subtle tremor in his hold from the wound he refused to acknowledge still hurt. He pulled back just enough to scatter frantic kisses across her cheeks, her jaw, her forehead, murmuring praises against her skin.
“Missed you… fuck, baby, I missed you so much…”
Daisy’s voice shattered the moment.
“Uncle Kier!”
The little girl barreled across the room like a tiny missile. Kieran set Genesis down gently, always careful now and dropped to one knee just in time for Daisy to launch herself into his arms. She buried her face in his neck and started crying, big, hiccuping sobs that made Genesis’s throat tighten.
“Hey, little flower,” he rasped, voice thick with emotion. “I’m here. I’m right here.”
She clung harder, small fists bunching his shirt. “You were gone so long…”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, eyes squeezing shut. “I’m not going anywhere again.”
Minutes later the room had quieted. Daisy was still glued to his side, cheek against his shoulder. Genesis stood close enough that their arms brushed, her fingers laced through his free hand.
She looked up at him. The hospital bracelet was still on his wrist, white plastic creased and slightly dirty now. He looked tired, pale, but alive. Stubbornly, stupidly alive.
“Why are you home?” she asked softly. “They discharged you this early?”
He gave a half-smirk. “Umm… yeah.”
She narrowed her eyes, a knowing smirk tugging at her lips. “Let me guess. You either threatened the hospital staff or bribed them to release you early. It’s only been two weeks since…” A pause. “Since I shot you.”
He exhaled through his nose, thumb brushing her cheek.
“I’ll be fine. I’m still getting treatment, home nurse, antibiotics, physical therapy. And just so you know, I’m not that evil. It was the former.” He paused. “What kind of civilian would I be if I bribed them?”
She laughed, amused. “You’re insane. So threatening is better?”
He wrapped his good arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him.
“Way. Way better.”
Then he kissed her again, slower this time, hotter. His tongue slid against hers like he was memorizing the taste all over again. Genesis’s hands roamed his chest, careful of the bandages fingers tracing muscle she hadn’t touched in weeks. He groaned low in his throat, hand sliding down to grip her hip, pulling her tighter until she felt every hard inch of him against her stomach.
She whimpered into his mouth.
He smiled against her lips, dark, knowing.
“Missed this too, princess?”
“So much,” she breathed. “I need…”
Revelation’s voice cut through like a knife.
“Lovebirds. It’s time.”
They broke apart, breathing hard, foreheads pressed together.
Kieran’s eyes were dark with want, but he forced a nod.
Genesis stepped back reluctantly, smoothing her sweater over her bump.
“Stay by my side?” she asked quietly.
He cupped her face. “Always. I’ll watch you kick ass from right here.”
He guided her to the sofa. She sat down and Kieran moved just out of camera frame, close enough to touch her hand under the table but invisible to the court.
The screen flickered on.
The courtroom appeared.
The judge spoke first.
“Mr. Grant, your cross-examination.”
Then Elias Grant rose up.
He smiled, small, polite but it looked predatory.
“Mrs. Blackwood,” he began, voice smooth as silk, “thank you for being here remotely. I know this must be difficult.”
Genesis nodded once.
He tilted his head.
“You claim you were forced to stay home without education, without social interaction, locked away like a prisoner. Yet according to the press conference your husband held a few months ago when you were still publicly… mute..” he let the word drip with sarcasm, like quotation marks in the air “—he stated you had been sent abroad for your education and had recently returned to marry him. That was the official story given to the press. Yes?”
Genesis’s heart slammed against her ribs.
No one had prepared her for this.
She glanced at Kieran, his face was thunder, fists clenched at his sides. Donald laid a hand on his arm for him to be calm.
She swallowed.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Grant’s brows lifted.
“So you’re admitting the statement your husband gave under oath, on national television was false?”
Her throat closed.
“It… it was to protect me,” she managed. “We weren’t ready to tell the world what happened. Not yet. We needed time to gather evidence against Monica. To make sure she couldn’t run or twist it.”
Grant nodded, understanding, reasonable.
“Of course. Time to gather evidence. Which brings us to the tapes, over two hundred VHS recordings delivered anonymously to the FBI. Showing Dr. Reeves assaulting young girls… including you.”
He paused.
“Which also claimed that my client signed every consent form. Paid extra for sedation. Knew what was happening.”
“Yes.”
Grant’s voice stayed gentle, almost kind.
“And these tapes, delivered anonymously just happened to appear right after your husband gained control of Caldwell Tech. Right after Monica was removed. Right after you became an extremely wealthy woman.”
Genesis’s stomach twisted.
“No…”
Grant pressed on, soft, relentless.
“Your husband is a very powerful man. Immense resources. Access to technology. To experts. To… creative solutions. And now Dr. Reeves is nowhere to be found. Isn’t it convenient that the one person who could have testified to the true nature of those appointments is just gone?”
Kieran made a low, dangerous sound. Donald’s grip tightened.
Grant continued.
“You also claim you were mute for fifteen years because Monica told you never to speak, that your voice killed people. Yet…” he nodded toward Melissa, out of frame “you were communicating. Writing. Signing. You weren’t clinically mute. You simply… chose silence.”
Tears burned Genesis’s eyes.
“That’s not…”
Grant’s voice dropped almost sympathetically.
“I’m not saying you’re lying, Mrs. Blackwood. I’m saying trauma does terrible things to memory. To truth. Sometimes people rewrite history to make sense of pain. To justify revenge.”
He paused.
“Isn’t it possible the abuse you claim was exaggerated? That Monica held your trust fund in trust until you were twenty-three as your father’s will required and you were angry? Resentful? Motivated to destroy her reputation, take her company, take her sons’ inheritance?”
Genesis shook her head violently.
“That’s not true.”
Grant’s tone stayed gentle.
“Monica Caldwell was grieving her husband. In a moment of anger she may have said cruel things.. ‘Don’t speak,’ ‘Your voice kills.’ But to believe that turned you mute for fifteen years? That requires extraordinary suggestibility. Or perhaps… motivation.”
Genesis’s tears fell faster.
Melissa whispered to Rosie barely audible.
“He’s trying to gaslight her. Make her doubt her own reality.”
Grant pressed on.
“You could always talk, couldn’t you? Who would believe that my client, grieving her late husband could scare you into silence for fifteen years with one angry outburst?”
Genesis was crying openly now.
“That’s not what happened.”
Grant tilted his head.
“Isn’t it?”
The room was suffocating.
Kieran was shaking with fury, Donald’s hand the only thing keeping him in place.
Genesis looked straight into the camera straight at Monica.
“I was a child,” she said, voice breaking but clear. “I trusted her. And she gave me to a monster. Over and over. I may not remember every detail… but I remember the fear. The shame. The way I stopped speaking because I believed my voice could kill. That’s real. That’s not a story I made up. That’s what she did to me.”
Grant paused just long enough for the words to land.
Then he said, quietly:
“No further questions, Your Honor.”
The judge’s voice came through.
“Thank you, Ms. Caldwell-Blackwood. You are excused.”
The feed cut.
Genesis dropped her face into her hands.
And broke.
Kieran was there in an instant, dropping to his knees in front of her, pulling her into his chest.
“Hey, hey, look at me,” he whispered fiercely. “Everything is gonna be fine.”
She sobbed harder, ugly, heart wrenching cries.
“I didn’t remember,” she choked. “I still don’t remember the worst parts. And he made me feel like… like I was lying. Like I made it all up for money. For revenge.”
“You weren’t lying,” Kieran said, voice raw. “You spoke your truth. The tapes speak the rest. Monica’s done.”
Revelation knelt beside them, hand on her back.
“You were incredible,” she whispered.
Genesis shook her head.
“I feel awful.”
Kieran cupped her face, thumbs wiping tears.
“No, no, baby. You’re healing. And you just buried that woman without ever raising your voice above a whisper.”
Genesis looked at him, her eyes red, raw, and exhausted.
“I want to go to bed,” she whispered.
Kieran kissed her forehead.
“Then we go to bed.”
He lifted her off the sofa and carried her toward the stairs.