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“Who is she?” I ask.
“You mean the prosecutor?” Andries replies, momentarily taken off guard.
I nod, my mind already racing with thoughts of how to uncover the truth. “Yeah. I'm gonna do a background check. I'm sure we can find something.”
Andries shares her name with me, and I immediately note it, shooting off a few text messages to contacts of mine that are professionals in the art of finding out everything there is to know about a person. I ask them to do some research and see if the prosecutor has any link with the Van den Bosch family, and almost all of them agree to start digging.
“I got things started,” I inform my friend, “but I can do more once I get home.”
Andries, still wan, thins his lips and nods. “Thank you, Dan. I hope it does some good, but at this point, there have been so many roadblocks that I am starting to lose hope.” He sits on one of the benches and pinches the bridge of his nose. “It’s almost like the universe wants us to suffer and go through all this. Like my love story with Roxanne is cursed somehow.”
“Don’t go all broody poet on me now, man,” I try to joke, but the humor doesn’t come off quite the way I want it. “You have to have faith that this is all going to work out, or you’re going to drown in the stress of it all. We can see the finish line, and we just have to get there. Top priority right now is to stop Roxanne from having to go to trial.”
“It just feels impossible,” Andries sighs. “Like we’re never going to make it to the wedding.”
“You will,” I insist, putting as much conviction into my voice as I can. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that we get you both to the altar. Just hang in there right now, okay?”
He looks up at me, strained, but finally nods. “Okay. I hope your contacts come through.”
I can see the weight of the world on his shoulders and I know this is the beginning of a long and difficult journey for him and Roxanne, but I swear to myself that I will stand by him, and help in any way I can, knowing that this is going to be a fight for justice and truth against all odds. The stakes are high, and the consequences are severe, but I am ready for the battle.
28
Elise
Mixingmy personal and work life is something I’ve tried to avoid since the first day I started at Van den Bosch industries, but everything always seems to come back around to who I’m related to and not how good of a job I’m doing.
Not that I’m doing a very good job right now. In fact, I’m finding it difficult to work at all, but at least things have improved some since the interview dropped a week ago. No one ever says anything to me directly, but there are certainly plenty of gossip-ridden conversations happening all around me during the day.
I try to bury myself in my work, but the constant chatter and bustle of the open office cubicle make it nearly impossible. Everywhere I turn, I hear snippets about me and my family. My coworkers whisper behind their hands, shooting furtive glances in my direction, and it’s hard to shake the feeling that they’re all talking about me and my father, who owns the company. The weight of their judgment is suffocating, and it’s hard to shake the feeling that they're all judging me for my family’s actions.
For once, I’m not involved in the drama at all, as far as the public is concerned, but it’s still all blowing back to affect me here. I’m sick of it, and I don’t know how much more I can take.
I try to push the thoughts away and focus on my work, but my mind keeps drifting back to Roxanne and the charges she may be facing. The thought of her potential upcoming trial consumes me, and I find myself checking my phone for updates every few minutes. It's improper, but I can't help it. I need to know what's happening with her case. The constant distraction makes it hard to do anything else.
Every choice I make from here on out has to be made extra carefully, because my entire family is under the microscope of public scrutiny. Not only that, but even though Dad came to my apartment to apologize to me the other night, I’m certain that he will still be angry beyond words with me if he discovers how much I really have been supporting my brother and his soon-to-be wife. He’s coming around slowly, but I know if I push too hard then he’s likely to balk and go back to the cold, hard-headed man he was before.
I know now how unlikely it was, but after the night Dad came to my apartment, I had thought for a moment that he would embrace Andries and his upcoming marriage. I felt like it was a breakthrough, but things have since gone back to normal for the most part. Sure, he treated me more kindly––affectionately, even––but we never spoke about my brother or the interview scandal again. At work, Dad appears to be happy, if a bit distant, and while there has been a simmering energy around the office ever since the interview aired, no one dares to talk to Dad face to face about it.
I’ve barely seen Karl, except in passing, but whenever I do he either sneers at me or pretends that I don’t exist. No matter how things play out with Andries, I refuse to work with someone who is so hostile towards me, so Dad will have to figure out what to do about that––whether he’s fighting with Andries or not.
It’s still so hard to comprehend the kind man that hugged me and talked me through my relationship problems and one that would pay off a dancer to do outrageous things just to sink his future daughter-in-law’s reputation. The dichotomy of it makes me vaguely nauseous, and I can’t think about it for too long without feeling overly emotional, as if my brain just can’t compute that those actions can come from the same person.
I try to remind myself that I am not responsible for my father's actions, but the guilt still gnaws at me. The fact that I am powerless in stopping this train wreck of a situation only adds to my helplessness. The thought that my brother's future happiness and Roxanne's freedom are at stake fills me with dread, not only because I want them to be happy––as unconventional as their relationship is––but also because I don’t know how I’m supposed to continue on with my life knowing that my father is responsible for such heinous acts and feels no remorse for them.
As I try to focus on my work, the din of my coworkers––both their chatter and the normal sound of printers going, fingers tapping on keyboards, and low-voiced phone calls––becomes a background hum to my own internal turmoil. It might sound dramatic, but it feels like the weight of the world is on my shoulders, and I can feel the pressure building with each passing moment. All of this has been going on for so long and just doesn’t seem to ever let up. I need a break, which sounds silly considering I’ve just returned from vacation, but there was plenty of drama to drive me crazy in Capri, too.
I am trapped in this cubicle, surrounded by people who are judging me and my family, while the fate of those that I care about hangs in the balance. The reality of it all is almost too much to bear.
The news that Roxanne is going to trial has sent shockwaves throughout the city; I guess Dan and I weren’t the only ones that had gotten comfortable thinking that she would never actually have to go in front of a judge. Now everything is calm enough, but I know it’s only because Amsterdam is waiting as a whole with bated breath to see if she really will have to enter the courtroom.
Feeling suffocated by my cubicle walls, I scroll aimlessly through my email inbox for what must be the tenth time today, looking for anything to keep my mind busy until the day is over. Just as I decide to do some actual work, my cell phone rings. Despite everything, I smile a little when I see that it’s Dan.
“Hey,” I say as I pick up. “Don’t you know I’m at work?”
“If you were that busy then you shouldn’t have answered,” he jokes, but there’s a serious note to his voice. “I do have important news, though, if you can spare a moment for me in your terribly busy day.”
I lean back in my chair, feeling more content just hearing his voice. “I suppose so. What’s up?”
