62. Ankle bracelet

CADEN

"This is all," said a bold man dressed neatly in a police uniform after handing back my personal belongings seized when I was arrested for attempted murder four days ago.

Yes, four days ago.

I still can't comprehend how I am freely standing outside the cell four days after what happened. I should be locked up in one of the high-security prisons in the country for almost killing a person.

Instead, I am obtaining back my stuff from the police and being escorted home along with two police officers, my lawyer whose name I have no idea about, and Mitch, the guy my dad and Martha trusted.

Beside him was my stepsister, Mad, who seemed entirely debilitated and overworked.

I shove the two hundred dollar note into my wallet and grab my car key from the desk.

The confusing thing is there's no more trial or chains or prison. I only have an ankle bracelet monitor which the police will use to keep me under surveillance for a specific time that I wasn't told about.

Yes, I was sentenced to home arrest, in case you're wondering.

Furthermore, I must be involved in volunteering activities, all in the package of my punishment.

While at home, I must run a social media account for some dumb non-profit community group.

And all of this meant no school for now and no visitors, as my lawyer has explained earlier.

The officers led me to the parking lot where two more police officers come into possession of my car key and get into my car like it was theirs to ride.

No one drives my car.

But maybe I shouldn't protest. Having such an opportunity wasn't what criminals like me get in America. I should be grateful like the lawyer had also said.

About that, you see, I thought prison makes a weak person tough and a tough person worse, but after eight years in prison, Kane Esteban ended up with a heart so soft a woman would be embarrassed by.

Mitch said the moment Kane walked in, he dropped the charges and pleaded with the police to set me free.

Odd, I know.

Something tells me he was doing it this way because he wanted to get back to me and there was no way he could do that with me locked up in prison.

However, the lieutenant wasn't going to let me go that quick, so he decided to trap me in my home without a discharge date.

I rode in the back of the police car that wouldn't shut up.

I was going crazy.

I thought I could follow Mitch, that way I can tell Mad to stop being disturbed over all of this since everything is finally over.

But no! Even the universe wouldn't forgive me for what I did that it had to punish me with two police officers munching on chips and turning on the useless sirens to irritate me in any possible way.

Back at home, Mitch and my lawyer followed Madison into our apartment while the cops began setting the monitor around my ankle.

I was losing it;

I wanted them to stop touching me... I wanted her.

I wanted her touch. I wanted her eyes to look at me because ever since I got out of the cell she hasn't spared me a glance, and it was beginning to scare me more than I can imagine.

By the time everything was set and the officers were back on their feet, towering over my seated figure, they explained: "Your max is across the entrance door."

Seriously?

"I can't even go downstairs," I grumbled.

"Don't you feel lucky for someone who almost killed someone?" said one among the four officers.

My mouth shrugged before I thoughtfully let out:

"I feel like you're not doing exactly as you're instructed to."

I felt everyone's eyes on me, but it was something I was used to, so it did nothing but flattered me.

"He wouldn't cross anywhere outside the entrance door," Mitch promised the annoyed officers.

"Alright, now you sign over here!" They held out some papers to him, and he followed behind them to the kitchen countertop.

"Here!"

"Settled," said the shortest officer while he gathers the papers into a file.

"Stay away from trouble, boy. I will see you soon," they said before exiting along with the lawyer, who was following them back to the station for some signature and boring stuff that involves papers and a pen.

"Thanks for the idea," I roll my eyes and held out my palm to Mitch, who has my car key.

"I am holding on to the key."

The fuck?

"Why? It's not like I can go anywhere without this thing peeping the heck out of me," I angrily scoff. Can't he see how restrained I am? There was no running away; I have a GPS around my ankle.

"Still, I am holding on to it. I don't trust you. I can't have you sneaking out. Unless you want your parents involved. If not, you will forget about it until all this is over."

What a dick.

Suddenly now he thinks he's the grown-up here because he helped me just as he promised my dad and Martha?

Dude is unbelievable.

"Ugh!" I gritted my teeth and slump into that special couch I shared with Mad. Then a soft voice came up, replenishing every empty space in me.

"Mitch, thank you so much," she told the man glaring at me. I should thank him too... Rather, I was challenging him. I know I'm always a dickhead. You can say it.

"Get some rest, okay?" He suggested to her before shooting me a warning glare and departing our apartment.

Maybe I appear ungrateful; I may even sound like it, but I am indebted to Mad. I promise I will never hurt her again.

She was quietly standing by the dining table when I walked over to her.

"Hey!" I reach to hold her in my arms, but she instantly withdraws and steps away from me. Excuse me?

She begins to feign a smile that fails to catch up with her eyes.

"I will go and take a shower... And... And start catching up on the classes I missed this week," she fumbled on her words, seeming unease.

Bullshit.

She's lying. She was using that as a purpose to stay away from me.

I can detect how much timid she is.

But I wasn't terrorizing her as I'd do before. I just wanted to hold her. Can't she see? She was spent.

Wouldn't she accept the solace I was willing to offer her? My brows knitted; I became confused.

"You don't want me to hold you?" I questioned, somewhat afraid and mentally hoping I was wrong. She said she has a strong emotion for me. She wouldn't push me away, right?

"I have tons of homework, Caden. I hope you understand."

That was a lie because I can see it in her weary eyes circled with dark eye bags.

I understand the fact that she's giving me cold shoulders. I also understand she doesn't want me around her.

I understand I've ruined the last shot of my happiness that all I have left is unspecified days of punishments and a living room that reminds me of the very first time I slept with my stepsister.

Indeed, I was really penalized.

From across the room, she watches me watch her, and when I didn't say anything for over a minute, she offered a nervous smile and awkwardly escaped to her bedroom.

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