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His words stung. There was judgment in his voice, and no humor to soften it. Perhaps it was best he was seeing what I’d been trying to tell him all along. I was nothing but trouble. “Yeah, well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
“Finally, some truth.”
Well, now that pissed me off. I straightened my back. “I never lied.”
“You weren’t honest and upfront, either.”
A bit of my anger fell, and I slumped in my seat. “Those are two different things.”
“Not to me,” he said, pinning me with his eyes.
I wasn’t used to someone calling me on my shit.
I clenched my jaw. He was right. Lying by omission was still lying.
“I wasn’t ready to tell you any of it,” I said, rubbing my face with both hands. “I don’t talk about my past.”
“Are you ready now?”
I dropped my hands onto the table. “No.”
Ryan pushed his chair back and ran his hand through his hair. “Fuck, Laura. You can be so stubborn, you know that?”
“Yeah,” I said softly and looked down at the table.
“Look, this is not the time for it. You’re in a lot of trouble.”
“I know it looks bad. But I can explain it all to the judge. I only followed my dad to this guy’s house. I entered through an open door, so there was no breaking in the breaking and entering. How long can they lock me up for trespassing?”
He closed his eyes briefly. “Trespassing isn’t the only thing they’ve charged you with. They’ve added another count.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’ve also charged you with armed robbery. Rossi said you pointed a gun at him and demanded twenty thousand dollars.”
“Well, I did demand something,” I mumbled.
“What was that?” he asked.
I inhaled and told him the truth. “My father stole Luke’s baseball and sold it to Rossi. I stormed into the room to get it back.”
He stared at me and a shadow crossed over his features. I couldn’t read his expression. Was he angry? Disappointed? Both?
“Ryan?” I reached for his hand to apologize for what my father had done. But he pulled away. “We’re not getting into that right now. We have to deal with this first. “
“Fine. The truth is I had no gun and didn’t demand money. So, it’s his word against mine.”
“It’s more than that, Laura.”
“What are you talking about?”
He shook his head. “Even if Peter were to testify on your behalf, the testimony of a father will mean nothing against that of a police officer.”
I didn’t bother to tell him that my father wouldn’t have the guts to testify for me. Also, what did he mean by the second part?
“The police came after,” I explained.
“No, Laura. A police officer was present at the incident, apparently. He was in the room. He confirms Giancarlo’s story. Your father’s testimony will only look like he’s lying to get you off the hook.”
