chapter758

Lydia's words left Fred and Christie frozen in shock.

Attempted murder?

Even if you'd never watched a single courtroom drama, you would know how serious those words were.

"Lydia, what are you talking about?" Christie snapped, her voice rising. "Are you saying Freddie tried to kill Luke?"

Lydia looked at Christie, calm and unbothered while Christie just about lost it. "There's video evidence. If I hadn't shown up when I did, those three would've smashed beer bottles over my brother's head. You should be thanking me. I stopped them in time. Otherwise, they'd be facing way more than a simple sentence."

"Lydia, stop making things up. Freddie never even touched Luke."

"If he had, do you really think everyone would still be standing here calmly? The police would've hauled them away by now."

Christie struggled for words, completely outmatched by Lydia. No matter what she said, Lydia had a way of flipping it right back on her. It was so maddening.

"You just wait. My husband's on his way. He actually knows the law, so don't think you can fool us!" Christie huffed, crossing her arms.

She barely finished before a whole crew showed up. Christie must've called in backup, because six big guys strolled in, each one bigger than the last.

"Who's causing trouble here?" boomed the guy in front, but as soon as he spotted the police, he hesitated, looking like he'd just walked into the wrong room. Why call them if the police were already here?

Stephen, Christie's second husband, shuffled in with the group. Balding, beer belly, his face creased with wrinkles, he looked like he was pushing sixty.

As soon as he noticed the police, his own face tensed up.

Why hadn't Christie warned him about the cops? If he'd known, he definitely wouldn't have brought all these people.

"Sweetie," Christie called out, putting on her softest voice as she swayed over to Stephen. "Sweetie, it's them. Look at how they bullied Freddie. And now they're trying to blame us can you believe it?

Usually, Stephen would play along, but with police watching, he dropped the act and leaned in, lowering his voice. "What's going on? Did they call the police?"

Christie blinked, stalling. "I did. I told them to apologize to Freddie and pay up, but they wouldn't listen, so I called the cops."

Stephen almost choked on his own breath.

You already called the police, so why did you drag me down here? Don't you know how busy I am?"

Christie's face crumpled. That guy is scary. If you hadn't brought people, what if he started hitting me too?"

"That's what the police are for," Stephen shot back, feeling his blood pressure spike.

"Are you Fred's parents?" one of the officers asked, walking over.

Stephen quickly straightened up, giving a polite smile. "I'm his stepdad, and this is his mother."

The officer nodded and handed over a phone with the surveillance video.

"Watch this, According to the

footage, your stepson and his

friends blocked the victim's way and attacked him first. We'll need you all to come to the station and give a statement."

Stephen was no stranger to the law. He'd been around, knew a trick or two, and

thought he could handle whatever came his way.

But as he watched the video, his

chest tightened with anger. He turned to Christie, jaw clenched barely keeping his voice steady "This is what you meant by Freddie almost got beaten to death?""