Cheers To Comeuppance
Chapter 53

Third Person

Court was currently on recess for a break for lunch. Annika, Leon, Kenzie, and Hunter were at a nearby restaurant by the courthouse to make things more manageable so they could walk. Annika was mainly silent, reeling that Sadie was not her father’s daughter. Although she had suspicions about the matter, she still could not fathom that her hunch was spot on.

“Yoohoo! Earth to Annika!”

“Huh? What?” Annika shook her head when she saw Kenzie waving her hand in front of her face. “What?”

“Baby, you’ve been staring off into space for the last ten minutes and have barely touched your food,” Leon lectured as he moved Annika’s plate closer.

“I’m sorry. I’m still trying to process everything. Sadie isn’t Mr. Galloway’s daughter?” Annika repeated it out loud.

“Nope. And the worst of it is that her mom most definitely knew,” Kenzie replied.

“How can you possibly know that?” Annika questioned.

“I did the math, sweetie. According to her birthday on her chart and the wedding date for Mr. and Mrs. Scum of the Earth, there’s only a seven-month difference. So, Mrs. Liar-Liar Pants on Fire was already pregnant when they married. We safely assumed that it was because she was knocked up that they got married but given that Mr. Dumb-Dumb is not the father, we can now ascertain that she got pregnant from someone she did not want to be with and lied to him that it was his kid, or completely just withheld that information.”

“That makes sense, but still, Mr. Galloway isn’t some Smuts. He’s anything but stupid,” Annika defended.

“You’re right, baby; he’s not stupid. But he has been known to show willful blindness to many things in the past,” Leon cut in. “Galloway only knows how to do business one way: to lie and cheat. And of the rare occurrence he gets caught doing shady s**t, he eliminates the problem with bribery.”

“That’s not willful blindness, Leon. That’s just straight-up illegal business practice,” Hunter said.

“Either way. I don’t think he didn’t know,” Leon replied as he took a bite of his Rueben sandwich. “I think he chose to ignore it.”

“Why, though?” Kenzie questioned.

“We’d have to ask him, Doc Malloy.” Everyone nodded at the conclusion and went about their lunch. But as Annika bit down on her chicken Caesar salad, a screech from the establishment’s door caught her attention.

“YOU FILTHY INGRATE!!!” Everyone’s heads snapped toward the voice. The gang was surprised to see Mrs. Galloway stomping toward them, fuming. If this had been a scene out of a cartoon, her face would be red as a tomato with smoke coming from her ears. By the time she reached their table, she slammed her purse down, making a mess of all their food and drinks. Both Hunter and Leon instinctively shield their women from getting dirty.

“Mrs. Galloway, what is the meaning of this!?” Leon thundered as he rose from his seat, b***d boiling at her blatant.

“Are you seriously going to play dumb, Leon!? You had your stupid lawyer call me to the stand and interrogate me!?” she shrilled. Everyone in the restaurant was staring at their table, eyes wide as saucers. With the publicity of the trial, everyone in there knew whom the table making all the ruckus consisted of.

“My lawyer is anything but stupid. And nothing in the law states that he can’t call you to the stand. You and your so-called daughter defrauded me of millions. Tens of millions, to be exact, through lies, deceit, and fabricated evidence. Not only did you two slander my good name, but you also ruined the image of my company. Did you honestly believe that you, Mrs. Galloway, would get away unscathed?” Leon countered.

“I’m your mother-in-…”

“EX! Mrs. Galloway. You’re my ex-mother-in-law! And for good reason. Your mannerism is immature and unruly, and your constant need for public attention is tiresome!”

“Public attention!?”

“God, you’re such a ninnyhammer,” Annika spewed out.

“What did you just call me!?”

“A ninnyhammer. It means you’re a simpleton. A fool. Do you think that people can’t see right through you just because you screech like a banshee? You’re here in public causing a ruckus during everyone’s mealtime rather than going home to your husband to try to put the fire out.”

“What fire?”

“The one that Leon’s lawyer lit during your cross-examination. He questioned you on your underhanded tactics to lie to people to get your way. Why do you think that is?”

“Because you’re all just trying to –”

“Please, stop with the blame game, Mrs. Galloway. You and your daughter are in this predicament because neither of you seems to have any decent morale. You have already been proven guilty of having a hand in stealing from Leon. The question is, did you use the same tactics to steal from your husband?”

“W-w-what are you saying?”

“Mrs. Galloway, perhaps even you’re not that brainless?” Hunter spouted from the side.

“Lady, we’re saying that perhaps you should go home and talk to your husband. The heavens only know what he may have deciphered during the live broadcast this morning,” Kenzie chimed in.

“Live … Broadcast?” Mrs. Galloway’s face paled.

“Seriously? You didn’t know this entire case was being broadcasted live?” Kenzie turned to her friends in disbelief. This woman really is an i***t. She thought to herself.

“Mrs. Galloway, take my advice. Instead of wasting any more of our time and destroying our lunch, perhaps you should go home and see if you can salvage what’s left of your marriage,” Leon suggested. Without another word, Mrs. Galloway grabbed her purse and dashed out of the restaurant. What I didn’t realize, however, was that her antics had been filmed and live broadcast again.

And unfortunately for the gang, their conversation had also been leaked by people who had overheard their conversation. Rumors started to fly in a nanosecond that Sadie’s paternity was faked and that her mother trapped Mr. Galloway. The floodgates of hell had been opened, and by the time Mrs. Galloway made it home, she was shocked to replace her husband waiting for her at the door.

“David?” she greeted him, but Mr. Galloway threw a stack of papers at her instead of replying to her. She gasped at the assault. While she was confronting Annika and the others, Mr. Galloway spent his time alone looking into the meaning of Janko’s claims.

Although he did not physically go to the courthouse, he did watch the broadcast at home; as such, he also saw his wife had been questioned and heard everything with his own two ears. Unlike what Leon had presumed, Mr. Galloway, in fact, did not know what his wife was capable of. Hearing that it had been her idea to defraud Leon made his b***d boil. He only suggested getting rid of the evidence of Sadie’s infidelity. He never once expected that his wife and daughter would fabricate fake evidence and defraud one of the most powerful men in the country.

All this time, Mr. Galloway believed that Leon did, in fact, cheat on his daughter as well. So, he had no problems lying in court for that simple reason. However, now that it’s been brought to light that his wife and daughter had lied out of their asses, Mr. Galloway began to suspect other things wasn’t right. Especially after he heard Janko accuse his wife of using underhanded tactics to commit felony fraud before, he had no idea that his wife was capable of such things. As such, he had his people look into her background with a fine-tooth comb, and what was found had him so enraged that he immediately called the family attorney.

What fell at Mrs. Galloway’s feet were none other than the background check results. She picked up the stack of files and read through everything, and her eyes bulged out of her head.

“D-D-David, I-I can exp—”

“Explain what!?” he roared at her. “That Sadie isn’t my daughter!? That you’re not actually who you say you are!? That you’re already married to someone else, and that Sadie is actually his daughter!? How many more lies are you going to spout!?” Mr. Galloway screamed at the top of his lungs as he slammed his cane on the hard floor.

“Please, David, it’s not what it looks like.”

“Do I look stupid to you!?”

“No. Honey, it’s not. I can explain. Okay? Yes. I am married to someone else, but he was abusive and treated me like dirt! He turned into a modern-day slave. He made me cook, clean, and perform every other household chore there was. He sexually abused me constantly!”

“STOP LYING TO ME!”

“I’m not lying! Darling, you have to believe me!”

“What do you take me for!? Huh!? Did you think you could get away with your little charade forever!?”

“What are you—” Before she could finish her question, another stack of papers came flying at her. “Ah!” she shouted as the papers smacked her in the face. When they fell, she was appalled to see pictures of her from her past life, or she should say … lives.

“Are you going to continue to deceive me seriously?” Mr. Galloway snarled. Mrs. Galloway picked up the papers in front of her as tears began to fall. All of her past transgressions were coming to light before her very eyes. The past she tried so hard to lock away the moment she fell in love with David Galloway. She closed her eyes as the tears she had been holding back dropped from her eyes. “How could you do this to me!?” Mr. Galloway screamed as his voice cracked halfway through. Mrs. Galloway opened her eyes to a sight she never thought was possible. David Galloway … was … crying.

“David … I …”

“Do you not know how much I loved you, Agatha? Why I took you in even though you came from nothing? Or at least that’s what I believed when we first met. I thought you came from nothing. But it turns out that was another one of your meticulous schemes. You’re nothing but a glorified grifter! Agatha probably isn’t even your actual name!” Mr. Galloway ululated in sheer anger and disappointment. Although Mrs. Galloway wanted to retort and defend herself, she couldn’t. It was because he was right. Mrs. Galloway was precisely that – a grifter.

She spent most of her adult life conning men into falling in love with her and marrying her. She robbed them of all of their assets, disappeared without a trace, and even changed her identity and physical appearance so that no one could ever replace her. But that all changed with accidentally falling pregnant from her previous mark. She didn’t have time to go after his money because she needed to get rid of the fetus that had been growing inside her, that fetus being none other than Sadie. The daughter she groomed to be just like her. However, her plans fell through when she coincidentally bumped into David Galloway and his then-wife. David was the epitome of the perfect man, in her opinion. His coming from a wealthy family was only a bonus.

David was forced into an arranged marriage with a woman he barely knew but went through with just so that he could inherit millions from his parents. At first, he was going to divorce her after two years to fulfill his husbandly duties; however, his father required him to have an heir. David had never touched his ex-wife and never planned on it, either. But then, as luck would have it, he met the woman standing before him on a night out with some friends and his wife. It was love at first sight for both of them. Love was something that Agatha Galloway never expected to experience because she didn’t know what love actually was. But the more time she spent with David, the harder she fell for him.

When she thought her life couldn’t get any better, David proposed to her. She said yes, and he divorced his then-wife. Although his family was against it, Mrs. Galloway dropped the bomb that she was pregnant. Because she had successfully passed off Sadie as a Galloway, David’s parents could no longer object to their union. David’s family was disappointed in his choice of a spouse because Agatha was the complete opposite of what they had wanted for him. Agatha was loud, obnoxious, and dominant. She never submitted to the family elders and ended up putting them into early graves from the stress of it all. However, David didn’t care because he had become the patriarch of the Galloway family, and he had the love of his life and his daughter. But now he has learned that it was all an elaborate con. Thus, we’re brought back to the present.

Mr. and Mrs. Galloway were at a stalemate. He was furious and betrayed. She was hurt and terrified that her perfect life was ending abruptly. She was about to defend herself again, but before she could even establish the seriousness of her situation, Mr. Galloway gave her one more blow to the heart when he tossed another file at her. She looked down, and the first word she saw on the document made her freeze.

Divorce Agreement.