Until The Trial

Chapter 26

Lucas

"Julian, hold up," Lucas stops him. "Did you turn in Barrios?"

"Yes, he should be being processed for jail. I didn't give him to you guys because he won't talk any more than he already has."

"Is that the actual reason? How badly is he hurt?"

"Why do you have to ask? Can't you just let it go?" Julian asks, his hands on his hips.

"Tell me."

"His nose is disfigured. Unlikely he will breathe properly through it again."

Lucas sucks in a breath, "Let me see your hands." Julian begrudgingly pulls off his gloves. Lucas winces internally at them. While his left one only has bruises over the knuckles. His right one has a cut over three knuckles and the bruising extends through most of his hand like purple camo. "Jesus Julian. Does it hurt?"

"You know it doesn't, not that much anyway."

"What did he do?"

"He attempted to rape several women, and I'm a hundred percent sure he was able to do so entirely on several, but was never caught," Julian says with venom in his voice. Lucas feels disgusted such men exist in the world.

"Just to be clear, Julian, I am glad you hurt him. I am only worried-"

"Here you go again," he rolls his eyes.

"Yes, here I go again because I care about you. I don't like seeing you get hurt like this. Let your men do the hits for once. You have to quit using this as an anger outlet."

"I will stop when you stop removing yourself from anyone who loves you. Are you going to?"

"That's hardly fair."

"No, you know what not fair? What you just said. You think just because you no longer use my technique you're better than me or something, but you are the same. I let you do your own shit when it was you, and now you're suddenly Lucas the wise saint. Get off my back," Julian hisses. Lucas backs away. Arguing with him is pointless.

Julian pulls his gloves back on, "That's what I thought. You and I may have different ways of coping, but they are both just as damaging. Don't act like you're any better than me."

"Call me if you get anything new," Lucas says.

"Tell Samantha I said bye," Julian storms off.

********

Later in the day, Lucas returns to the house. The meeting with Wilder took longer than expected, as he had to get permission to get access to Harlow's stuff. Then he had to go to the store and pick up the shirt and jeans for Samantha. He had gone to the mall, refusing to give her more Walmart clothes. It is bad enough all she wears now is from there. She deserves quality clothes she will be in complete comfort in. He wasn't long in the mall when he found a soft cami he thinks she will like. Along with the shirt and black leggings, he also got her a jacket to go over it. He hopes she likes the modern style it has.

She is taking a shower when he gets there, so Vaughn leaves without saying goodbye due to him arriving later than he expected. Lucas puts the clothes in her room, wanting to avoid any awkwardness. Cooked food fills the stove, so unless Marcus magically learned how to cook, she cooked again. He serves himself and eats in silence. With every bite, he wishes Samantha was next to him. Once done, he retires to his room and puts away the clothes he didn't get the chance to the previous day away. Several times, he thinks to go ask Samantha to go watch the other movie, but decides not to. Seeing her eyes glimmer with excitement just because she is watching a simple movie makes Lucas want to do things he can't.

With nothing else to do he lies on his bed feeling the loneliness come creeping back in. His brother is right. Lucas's decision to remain single has him living a miserable, lonely life. Before he came with Samantha to this safe house, he would go to an empty apartment. Every day, the same routine. Work, sleep, work. It wasn't until the case started that he started seeing Julian more or hanging out with Marcus outside of work as much as he does now. But even then it gets lonely. Lucas likes having someone to get home to. Someone who needs him. This week has shown him that much. He wants more than anything to give himself a shot at happiness, but the constant worry that he will die and leave a whole family behind keeps him from trying. Samantha makes him want to try. Lucas sits up, shaking his head. Where the hell does that thought keep coming from? He smacks his head, feeling ridiculous doing so.

"You've practically just met her," he mumbles to himself, "chill out."

To take his mind off things, he goes into his office to start researching Micheal. He assigned Vaughn to try to track him down, while he finds all he can about him, but first Lucas has to find out who he is. Eventually, he'll have to ask Samantha if she has any proof of his abuse, but he still hasn't thought of a proper way to ask without sounding like an asshole. He pulls up the database and types in his name. Thousands of results show up until he narrows it to Arlington, Virginia, the city that Samantha lived in. Three results pop up, but none of them seem in the right age group. Lucas tries again, this time in all of Virginia. He makes the age group be from 20-40. For hours, he scrolls through the files, none of them seeming right. Finally, he lands on one showing who has multiple domestic violence allegations against him, that was never confirmed. "Bingo," he says, seeing his last confirmed job was as a construction worker just outside Arlington. He scrolls down to the picture and sees the man he has grown a hatred for. The man is handsome enough that he can see why he caught Samantha's attention. Dark hair cut short and strong jaw. Their kid will certainly have good genetics. Their kid. Lucas stares at the picture in disbelief that Samantha is truly carrying his child. He doesn't know what it takes to be able to walk away from a woman who will have his child. To condemn the child to a life wondering why his father left.

Lucas sends the information to Vaughn. He will wait until after the appointment to ask her if she has proof he can use in court. For the following couple of hours, he searches the names of the women who accused him. All four of them are below thirty and with similar stories. They refused to do something he said, and he hit them, or they said something he thought disrespectful, and he hit them. Despite all the allegations, none of the women told the cops until after he'd left them. It was always too late for the cops to find him, so they didn't even try. Two of the women are from other states. One in Florida and one in North Carolina.

Lucas feels for the pain Samantha went through with him. Given the reason, the other women said he hit them and the fact he knows how stubborn Samantha can be, he can't imagine how many times he sought it fit to hit her. People like him shouldn't be allowed to walk free when there are clear allegations against them. Lucas's eyes catch something in one of the women's statements. He prints his out and highlights the part. Turns out he is right about Samantha not being the only one he lived off, pretending to not have money. After faxing it to Vaughn, check his watch to see it's nine already. He hurries to Samantha's room before she can think to lock herself in again. It might be awkward for the both of them, but she hadn't had her nightmare since their sleeping arrangement started. If it helps her sleep peacefully, he isn't going to stop sleeping in the chair next to her. They were able to keep it perfectly professional the first days, he can't see why they can't now. With a little more effort, he can easily only treat her professionally. He feels another sigh leaves him. Why does he keep lying to himself?

**********

I wish I could punch Micheal >8(

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