Sitting back, the matriarch of the Haas family felt her neck burning. Burning in anger and absolute rage at the things her husband had done to Shelby Wyatt. Rage at the way she'd just gone after the victim, hissing that she'd ruin her for hurting Caleb this way. Rage at the world for the lot it had thrown her and her son in this life.
The small woman she had, from the very moment her son had introduced her, assumed would become her daughter-in-law one day, sat next to her. She was curled in on herself, nails digging into her palms dangerously in an attempt to mold herself back together and Claire could do nothing but watch, making frail attempts at rubbing her back or squeezing her shoulder gently only to be met with flinches. (Probably from her behavior on the stairs.)
Caleb sat in front of the women, eyes fixed ahead as he diligently worked once more, gathering as much evidence as he could from the servers to incriminate his father. He already had the video and audio recordings sent and stashed for extra security, but it would only help to have some more pieces for the evidence log. Perhaps it would be enough for his father to take a plea and tell the truth, keeping precious Shelby from having to testify.
Finally he pulled away from his work, his chair swiveling around and rolling across the small space to slide right in front of the woman he loved. With every piece of evidence he uncovered, each time he saw the videos and heard the audio, his stomach was so sour he thought he'd retch. He had done her wrong by not seeing what was in front of him, not being there to keep her to himself, away from his father and safe.
Taking her wrists in his he rubbed his hands gently down them, urging and prying them open to see the damage being caused by the sharp nails. Caleb clenched his jaw as her body went ridgid, looking at the red liquid in the thin cut crescent moons. Ducking his head he pressed kiss upon kiss to each of her hands until her body began to relax under his gentle touch.
Straightening his body he readied himself as he felt her rock in her chair. Just as he opened his arms she had crumbled forward, launching herself at him. One of Shelby's hands fisted in his shirt with the other one wining around his shoulders and her face buried into his neck. "I'm sorry Caleb, I'm so sorry." she sobbed quietly. "I'm so sorry."
"Shhh." he ran his hand down the back of her head, "Shhh. Shelby you did nothing wrong. You have nothing to apologize for." He knew, of course, what she was apologizing for. His father had blackmailed her, threatened his own son knowing that was her one weakness. Had forced her to do the kind of things that ruined relationships, and had it been her wholehearted and enthusiastic choice it would have. Her choice here had been to throw herself to the wolves (his father) and protect him as much as she could from the damage and fallout. "You did nothing wrong." he told her again, "You were just trying to protect me." He continued to brush his fingers calmingly through her hair as her grip tightened, "You were just trying to protect me."
