BEHIND THE MASK- BOOK II

TWENTY: CURSED LAWYERS PART 2

TWENTY: CURSED LAWYERS PART 2

FIRE was churning.

In that moment, the media was in a frenzy with all of the information that it had seen.

That the world had seen. Their favorite lawyer was apart of the Stealth program case and registered offender. A man carrying the persona of a family man selling as hard as Kayak and Expedia advertise on YouTube.

"I need to see them," Clara finally said breaking the silence. "I need to see my kids."

"Your son is still in the operating room and your daughter hasn't awakened yet. You'll have to wait," Riley told her.

Cameron, Riley, Clara, and Sylvia were in one of the hospitals close by, waiting in the waiting area. It hadn't been long, but Clara was already impatient.

"I don't care. Those are my kids in there!" Clara shouted at Riley. "I need to see them." She was about to head toward the operating room that her son was in, but Riley stopped her.

"You want your son to survive? Do you want your daughter to get better?"

"Of course, I do."

"Then I suggest you have a seat and keep your mouth so that I don't have to call security to escort you out," Riley told her sternly.

"You can't do that. You don't own the hospital," she said smartly.

"Actually...we do own this hospital," Cameron joined in amused. "Look at the sign on the wall."

Clara then looked at the sign hanging against the wall, seeing the words, 'Welcome to the Dragon Health Center.' "Just...who are you?"

Cameron smirked. "Your hubby's boss, doll."

Riley laughed at Cameron's comment. "Don't confuse her more, Cam. She'll find out eventually."

"Syl, can you—"

"You have a phone, use it," Sylvia said blankly. "Riley, when can we see Cassidy?"

"S—"

Just then a nurse entered the waiting area.

"Family of Ms. Carson?"

"That's us. Let's go," Riley stood up and the others followed.

They followed the nurse to Cassidy's room.

"How has she been since she came in?" Riley asked the nurse.

"Not good, ma'am. She won't anyone go near her. We had to let her sleep so we could give her the rape kit." The nurse explained as they all walked into Cassidy's room.

There she was lying asleep on the bed as they watched silently. Clara went up to her and tried to caress her cheek, but Sylvia stopped her.

"You'll scare her." Was all Sylvia said.
Clara reluctantly stepped back. Then the nurse broke the short-lived silence.

"After doing the rape kit, we decided to run a few more tests on her," the nurse revealed.

"What did you find?" Cameron asked.

"Well...she's...pregnant," the nurse revealed.

Sylvia's eyes were wide unable to say a word. Clara's world shattered right before her eyes as she felt her knees give way.

"Please tell me that this is a joke. She can't be pregnant. She hasn't been sexually active with anyone. Please..." she said, heartbroken and devastated.

The nurse gave Clara a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry miss. It isn't a joke."

"How long?" Cameron asked.

"About ten weeks, sir." The nurse explained.

"By any chance, you know the father of the baby is?" Clara asked holding back tears.
Riley chuckled. "You already know who the father is, Aunt Clara."

The nurse gave Clara an apologetic look. "The father of the fetus is Ben Carson."

Right there, Clara broke down. Silence filled the room allowing her sobs to be heard. Hearing all of this felt like she was being stabbed in the stomach. Over and over again, no matter what she seen by him. All of it, was an illusion that he created to keep her in the dark. Ben, her own husband, was hurting her children behind her back. Now, she had a grandchild/stepchild on the way.

***

The heart monitor attached to Cassidy started to spike. Her rate picked up and that's when Riley noticed. Cassidy was having a nightmare. Her breathing quickened even more as she shot up from slumber—eyes wide in horror, sweat rolling down her forehead. Breathing heavily, Riley noticed the look in her eyes. It was very familiar to her. So, on instinct, she grabbed both of Cassidy's hands and began to calm her down.

"Cassidy. Look at me, it's me, Riley." She called out.

"I-I can't breathe. Please get him away from me." She said in panic.

Riley then pulled Cassidy into her embrace.
"He's not here. He can't touch you here, okay? I'll make sure he doesn't touch you again. Okay?"

"Help me." She said as tears build in her eyes.

"Make him go away. He's going to hurt me! Make him away!"

"Follow me, okay? Let's make him go away together," she told her soothingly.

Cassidy nodded. "Okay."

Then they began. Cassidy followed Riley's every move as Clara could do nothing else but watch on. Hurt, angry and confused. Still in denial of everything, she watched as Riley helped her daughter calm down from this panic attack. When Cassidy's heart rate went back to normal, Riley gave her a warn smile although still worried for her.

"Are you alright?" Riley asked.

"I'm okay. Thank you." Cassidy smiled a little.

"How could you?" her mother asked, feeling betrayed. "How could do this to me? How could you seduce your own father behind my back? You're disgusting. Vile. You—"  
Cassidy didn't say a word. She expected her mother to react this way. After all, it's not like has been a mother to her to begin with.

Clara was about to slap her when Riley grabbed her hand and pushed it away. With a cold glare, Cassidy watched her mother embarrass herself further. "One, I didn't seduce your sleezy husband. It's not my fault that you can't give him what he needs. And two, the reason I didn't tell you is because I was going to have an abortion and I was scared because I knew that you would react this way."

Just then Cameron came in with a doctor. "What happened here?"

"Cassidy woke up having a panic attack. I managed to calm her down only for her mother to be a douche and call her out of her name for something she couldn't control." Riley explained approaching him. "How's Casey?"

"He hasn't woken up yet, but he's stable now." Cameron told her. "Anyway, miss Carson, my name is Cameron. I'm the overseer of this hospital and this is Dr. Norris. She'll be your caretaker until you discharge."

Cassidy held a smile, appreciative of the fact that Cameron had assigned a female to her knowing about her condition mentally.

Cassidy waved at the doctor whilst her mother sat quietly. As the doctor responded, Cameron took Riley's hand guiding her outside so Dr. Norris, Clara and Cassidy get acquainted.

"We need to make Clara see what her husband really is, Cam," Riley told him. "It hasn't even been an hour since Cassidy and Clara's ridiculing her."

Cameron sighed. "Guess, we're going to have to make him tell her everything himself."