CHAPTER 27 Liam Bradley
Jury Selection
I’ve got this week in San Diego, and then I’m heading back to Chicago.
My dad’s trial starts today.
Izzy is finding out if I’m having a boy or a girl today.
I should be there, but instead, I’m in meetings all day while I wait for Madden to text me updates.
Mandatory minicamp is tomorrow, and it’ll kick my ass for a few days before I head back to Chicago to be there for Penny’s pretrial hearing…
if she wants me there. If not, I can at least be at home waiting for her when it’s over.
And yes…if I’m attending her hearing, I should probably also attend my father’s trial.
I finally get a call from Madden just as I’m getting home from my long day of meetings. Clay didn’t invite me to head out tonight since we have an early morning tomorrow, and somehow the weight of why Madden is calling feels heavier than it should.
“How’d it go?” I answer.
“It was a long day. Prosecution was looking for people who hadn’t heard of the case and therefore didn’t have preconceived opinions, and it was hard to find them since it’s been all over local news.
A lot of people were dismissed, but I touched base with Paul, and he thinks the jury and alternates will be finalized tomorrow and the trial should start on Wednesday. ”
“Thanks for the update. How are you holding up?” I ask.
“I’m fine. It was weird seeing him sitting there. I mean, we all know he did it, so it’s weird to me that he won’t just take the plea deal.”
I’m surprised he’s saying it with such candor over the phone. If our dad taught us anything, it’s that someone is always listening.
Or maybe that’s just me being paranoid given everything that has happened over the last year or so.
“Are we sure he did it?” I ask carefully. I don’t know why I ask. Maybe in case someone is listening. Of course he did it.
“I guess it’s up to Paul to plant that doubt,” he says.
Our father has been horrible to all of us. He took money from what was supposed to be our inheritance and used it for these illegal casinos. He deserves to pay for his crimes.
He had all of us sign different papers, some of which associated us in different ways with his crimes.
I’m still trying to piece together why he’d do that, and all I can come up with is that he truly thought he was building some legacy.
He thought he was untouchable. He never saw himself ending up in prison…
and yet here he is, on trial because he was caught.
Not a single one of us should ever forgive him for what he did to tear the family apart, and yet…
Madden is there at his trial. He’s allowed our father to live at his place while he awaited trial.
I’ve always seen Madden as a leader. He’s the oldest of the seven Bradley children, and he’s had a lot fall on him because of it.
I think it’s why I tried my best to step up and take care of what I could when my mother was sick and my dad was facing these charges.
I wanted to emulate my older brother. I wanted to be the one everyone could count on.
I wanted to simply be there for my siblings.
And now I’m doing quite the opposite. I’m lying to Everleigh, hiding the most important relationship in my life because I don’t want the woman I love to lose her best friend.
Only by hiding it, we’re causing an even bigger divide.
Madden knows but only because he all but caught us.
I’m keeping the rest from everyone else, pushing me further from everyone when I was the one trying to hold them all together.
What the fuck am I doing?
Why are Penny and I hiding this like it’s some dirty secret?
Was it my idea or hers not to tell Everleigh?
It started as one drunken night, but at this point, it’s become something else entirely. She’s living at my place in Chicago. It was only supposed to be a temporary solution. It doesn’t feel temporary anymore.
I’ve gotten close with her kids. I want to build a life with her, with my new baby and the boys as a family of five.
Maybe it’s time to tell Everleigh the truth.
It’s in the back of my mind the entire week in San Diego. It’s there when my phone rings as I’m sitting at the kitchen table, and I see it’s Izzy calling.
“Hey, Iz,” I answer.
“I know the gender, but we haven’t talked about my financial situation yet.”
“Are you holding the information ransom?” I ask.
“I’ll be at the bar in an hour. Meet me there.”
“I can’t. I’m in San Diego.”
“Then text me when you’re in town.” She hangs up.
I FaceTime Penny next.
“You okay?” Penny asks when she sees the look on my face.
“Izzy won’t tell me if it’s a boy or a girl until I pay her.”
“Jeez, Liam. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I mutter. “I’ve been putting her off, and I shouldn’t have.”
Penny presses her lips together, and I think we both realize that I’ve been putting Izzy off because I’ve been prioritizing Penny and the boys.
But I can’t. I won’t have that option once the baby is here, and I know this is my chance to step up and do right by the woman carrying my baby.
The week passes quickly. Minicamp is a success.
I get the chance to learn from the best in Tanner Banks, and I get the chance to practice with a new team.
I find a rhythm with my receivers especially, and for the first time in my career, it feels like while I’m still the backup, this is my team, too.
I’m not just the backup. I have an important role, and I need to be warmed up and ready every single moment in case I’m sent in.
I’ll be ready. I can feel it in my bones. This is my chance, and I’m not going to let it slip away from me.
By the time I get home on Friday, I’m achy and exhausted.
There’s nothing I want more than to curl up into bed with the woman I love, but she’s still in her room next to the boys, already asleep by the time my late flight gets in.
I stop into her room and plant a soft kiss on her temple, but it doesn’t wake her.
I peek in on the boys, too, both sound asleep.
There’s something special about coming home to a house filled with the people I love.
I hate that we’re going to be apart. I get the next few weeks on and off here with them, but then once training camp starts, I’ll be in San Diego full-time until the season ends.
And in the weeks I’m here in Chicago, a baby is going to be born, one that will come with me to San Diego and that will maybe have my eyes or my nose or my smile.
Life is going to change, and I have no idea what that’s going to mean for Penny and me.
I don’t have a chance to meet Izzy at the bar until Saturday morning, and she slides into the booth beside me. I pull out my phone and open my Venmo. “What do you need?” I ask.
She tucks a piece of curly, frizzy hair behind her ear as her wide, brown eyes look up at me. She looks younger than she is, and nearly innocent—something the round belly says she isn’t.
She sighs. “I don’t want it to be like this. But I felt like it was the only way to get you to talk to me.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right.”
She sighs. “I’m sorry this happened. I just…
I can’t take care of a baby. I live in an apartment with three other girls, and it’s all I can afford from what I make here.
I need to finish school and start my life, and this just wasn’t how I wanted my life to go.
I know I’ll always regret it, but I can’t give this kid the life you can. ”
“Hey, Iz. It’s okay. You don’t have to explain anything. What’s your Venmo?” I ask gently.
She tells me, and I tap in a thousand dollars.
“Let’s start here.” I send her the money. “I’ll send you a thousand a week on Mondays until the baby is born. And upon the birth, I’ll wire you a hundred thousand. And that’s it. Deal?”
Her wide eyes grow somehow wider, and she nods.
I tap out a text to her detailing the agreement, and I send it to both her and my lawyer.
Once that’s sent, I look at her expectantly.
“It’s a girl.”
Tears fill my eyes. “It’s a girl,” I whisper.
I’m having a girl.
* * *
We spend the weekend doting on the boys with video game challenges and movie nights with popcorn, and I think about going to my father’s trial on Monday, but I decide to let Madden handle it only to get a call from him letting me know it’s already been messy.
“It’s been continuance after continuance. Nothing is getting done. And we just found out that one of Dad’s lawyers has Covid, so we’ve got a week until we’re back in court.” He sounds frustrated.
“Thanks for taking one for the team,” I say. I’m not sure what else to say. “How does this affect our scheduled date for testifying?”
“No clue. I’ll let you know if I hear anything about the date changing.”
I thank him again, and instead of going to court since it sounds like it’s not happening anyway, Penny works from home. We spend the day together, fucking on her breaks and prepping with her new lawyer for her pretrial hearing set for tomorrow.
“Do you want me there?” I ask. “It’s okay to be honest. I won’t be offended if you tell me to fuck off.”
She laughs. “I wouldn’t say that, but I think the judge might…well, judge me differently if I have someone with me.”
I nod. “I get it.”
“Are you going to go to your dad’s trial at all?”
I shrug. “Maybe at some point. I mean, I have to since I was subpoenaed.”
“You were?”
I nod. “We all were. All seven of us. And they gave us a tight window since Archer has a game, but they want us all there on July thirteenth. I assume that’s still when they want us there since Madden just said it keeps getting delayed.”
“Jeez. How are you feeling about all that? I mean, you’re offering to go to a pretrial hearing with me, but…” She trails off, but her meaning is clear.
I’m offering to go to her pretrial and not my own father’s actual trial.
“Madden’s there, so I’m letting him navigate it.” My tone is more clipped than I mean for it to be.
She nods and drops it, but I can’t help thinking how she’s right—just not in the way she’s thinking.
Somehow over the last few weeks, she’s become the most important person in my life. I want to be there for her more than I do for my own father. She’s become my family.
And I’m not quite sure what to do about that.