Page 33 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part Two
Someone audibly sucked in a breath, and I didn’t have to look at the crowd to know it was Aviva. Yeah, I was going to hear about that later.
“Your Honor, please see Exhibit D, which shows the assets owned solely by Senator Kenley, and not owned by his wife or her trust. You will see, it is significantly less than that.”
“Objection, Your Honor. Everyone’s bank balance would be significantly less than that. Senator and Mrs. Kenley are married, and therefore wealthy in their own right. They don’t need Hendrick’s money.”
Tobias slid his eyes to the judge. “Need? No. Want? Well, that is another question entirely.” He turned back to me. “Hendrick, do you think your father, Senator Ted Kenley, would have your best interests at heart should he become conservator?”
I snorted then. “I think that up until last week, my father would have happily seen me dead.”
“For the record, what happened last week?”
This time I smiled, and it was genuine. “I got married. It was a little more rushed than I would have liked. I would have preferred something more romantic than a courthouse wedding, but once again, my father forced my hand. But now, if I die, she gets it all.” Well, most of it. Otto got a chunk too, but that wasn’t important right now.
I turned to my father, holding his gaze. “You’ll get nothing. Not while I’m living, and certainly not when I’m dead.” He stared back at me with my own eyes, hard and disgusted. “And that’s why we’re here today, Your Honor. Because this is his last chance to get what he wants.” I turned to the judge. “If you believe I need conservatorship after this, so be it. I will have a whole team oversee my finances if you wish, or grant it to my wife—anyone but the man who has abused me for two decades.”
My heart was pounding, and I realized I was breathing hard, like I’d run a marathon.
Tobias looked at me with empathy in his gaze for the first time, then looked up at the judge. “We rest, Your Honor.”
My father’s lawyer stood, and he had a mean sneer on his face. “Congratulations on your marriage, Mr. Kenley. How long have you known your wife?”
“Nine months, but I knew she was the one almost immediately. I’m sure you felt the same about Mrs. Waters.” I knew for a fact his wife had just left him aftershewas caught fucking his secretary in the back seat of his Benz. Every single one of the reporters in this room knew the same thing.
He gritted his teeth. “Indubitably.” He handed me a newspaper article. “If you could tell the court what you’re looking at, Mr. Kenley, I’d appreciate it.”
I gritted my teeth. The old fuck. “It's a newspaper article about the time I crashed my Maserati under the influence of alcohol.”
“And this one?”
“An article where I was snapped by paparazzi, passed out on the front lawn of someone's home.”
“This one?” He handed me one more.
Tobias interjected here. “Are we here to debate journalistic accuracy? Because I read in that same newspaper last week an article about a woman who swore she saw Elvis in Hoboken?”
There was laughter around the room, and the judge banged his gavel. “Sustained. I assume the counsel is getting to a point.”
“I am, Your Honor. Please, tell the court what this article is about.”
I gritted my teeth, and shot Otto a quick, apologetic look. “It appears to be a photograph that impunes my right to privacy.”
“Hardly a right if you are undertaking sexual acts in public, Mr. Kenley. But you didn’t answer—what is the article about?”
“It’s a grainy photograph of me having sex with my longtime lover.”
“And when is it dated?”
“Two months ago.”
“You mean, around the time you were courting your now wife? I think we all know what this Aviva Robinson is, and she isn’t your devoted spouse. She is just one more in a series of bad choices you use as a crutch for your illness and have the audacity to blame on your father, a man who has based his whole platform around family.”
He was trying to get a rise out of me, but I’d been fucked by the best of them. “Sir, this is going to blow your conservative little mind, but I’m bisexual. It's the letter B in LGBTQI+, in case you were wondering. I know how men like you are always like ‘I don’t know what all those darn letters mean,’” I said mockingly. I hoped the court secretary got all that down. “Aviva is my wife, and I love her completely. She is beautiful, and smart, and kind, and so damn empathetic.
“And Otto Guyer is my boyfriend. I’ve loved him since I was a teenager; he’s basically half of my soul. For so long, he was the only person who cared if I lived or died. We are polyamorous. We all love each other, and nothing we do can be construed as infidelity, because it’s done with the full love and support of both my partners. More often than not, we all fuck together—” Tobias cleared his throat. Whoops, too far.
“What I’m saying is that you think you’re catching me out, being unfaithful, but what you are really doing is opening your eyes to the future, old man. This isn’t the twentieth century anymore. Your ideals of a nuclear family, where the men are men and the women are baby-making, unpaid servants? It doesn't work anymore. Love and relationships look different now, but they are no less committed.”
“In the eyes of the law—”
