Written by: Dallas Walsh

"Oh my God!" Cole Rockwell gasps as he watches Sabine Andrews' body crumble to the bottom of the staircase in the Rockwell mansion. He looks at Celeste Baldwin, who is standing at the top of the staircase in shock.

"What did you do?" Cole looks up at his estranged lover, who he saw push Sabine down the stairs as they were bickering about Celeste's affair with Nathan Lockhart, which was revealed while Celeste testified in MacKenzie Rockwell's trial for murdering Nathan.

"I, uh, I didn't mean too, it was an accident," Celeste explains as she rushes down the stairs while Cole checks Sabine's pulse. She can't believe what happened; she never meant to push Sabine down the stairs, it just happened.

"She's alive but we have to call 9-1-1," Cole looks at Celeste. "She's not responding."

"You stay with Sabine," Celeste looks back at Cole. "I'll call for help."

***

A few hours later, Sabine is sitting up on her hospital room with tears in her eyes. She came too shortly after she was admitted to the hospital and she is hoping that she isn't too injured as she wants to be at the courthouse for the remainder of Mac's trial. She doesn't want to miss out on seeing how it turns out since her fiancé lost his life.

"Ms. Andrews," a doctor says as she moves into the hospital room. "How are you feeling?"

"A little sore but okay," Sabine turns and looks at the doctor. "What did the test results show? Am I going to be okay?"

"I want to keep you overnight to make sure that you don't have a concussion," the doctor informs her. "You mentioned earlier that you wanted to get back to the courthouse for Mac Rockwell's trial, but I found out that it has been adjourned for the night, so baring anything that happens overnight, you will be discharged tomorrow morning."

Sabine sighs back to her as she had hoped that she would have been able to leave the hospital right away. She hates staying in the hospital but she doesn't want to fight with the doctor.

"There's something else that I need to discuss with you," the doctor tells her as she moves closer to Sabine.

Sabine looks back at her in concern. "What is it? What's happened?"

"Your baby," the doctor says back to her to her. "I'm afraid it didn't survive the fall."

Sabine feels her eyes swell with water as she learned that she has miscarried her child. "What? No…please, please tell me there is a mistake! Please tell me that my baby didn't die!"

"Is there anyone that I can call for you?" the doctor asks her. "I don't want you to be alone right now."

A tear falls down Sabine's cheek as she wonders who she could call; Nathan is dead, Mac is in jail, she's not close to Lydia; she suddenly realizes she is very alone.

"My daughter Quinn," Sabine whispers to the doctor. "Please call my daughter."

***

Cole paces back and forth in the waiting room of the hospital while he waits for an update on Sabine. He finally pauses and looks over at Celeste, who has her hand over her eyes as she is hoping that Sabine is okay from the fall.

"This waiting is driving me crazy," Cole finally breaks the silence between the two of them. "I hope that Sabine is okay."

"So do I," Celeste looks up at him. "I feel awful for what has happened."

"You feel awful?" Cole asks her quickly. "You should Celeste! You…you pushed my Aunt down the stairs!"

"You did what?" a stunned Quinn Cunningham gasps as she moves into the waiting room, as she just received a phone call advising her that her mother was in the hospital. "You pushed my mother down the stairs?"

"It was an accident," Celeste stands up and looks at Quinn before she looks at Cole. "We were fighting and…it just happened."

Quinn glares back at Celeste as she moves closer to her. "You better stay the hell away from my mother," Quinn whispers to her. "Because if you go near her again, you will answer to me."

Celeste gulps back to her. "Please just let me know if she is okay. That's all I care about now."

***

A short time later, Quinn opens the door to Sabine's hospital room and moves inside.

"Mom, I came as soon as I heard," she says as she sits down next to Sabine's hospital bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Physically I am fine," Sabine looks back at her daughter. "It's just…I lost the baby, Quinn."

"You were pregnant?" Quinn gasps back to her. "I had no idea, Mom."

"I know," tears fill in Sabine's eyes. "I hadn't told anyone because everything was happening so quickly. I found out that I was pregnant and then, immediately, Nathan was shot. And then he died and Mac's on trial…"

"Okay, okay," Quinn looks at her, realizing Sabine is feeling overwhelmed. "Just breathe, just breathe."

"I'm trying Quinn," Sabine lets a tear fall down her cheek. "I just feel like my world is spinning right now."

"Oh Mom," Quinn pulls her into a hug. "I am so sorry that this is happening to you. I know that you will grieve this child, but I do believe that things will get back to normal for you. It will just take time."

"I hope you're right," Sabine replies to her. "It just hurts so much, closing Slate then Nathan and now my baby. I just need this to all end, you know."

"I know," Quinn replies to her. "We will get through this, I know we will."

***

The following morning, the Rockwell family slowly starts making their way into the courtroom as Mac's trial is about to get underway. Lucinda and Lydia Rockwell move up to Mac, who is standing next to Chase Cooper, his lawyer.

"How did you sleep? Were you able to get some rest?" Lucinda asks her son with intent.

"Not much," Mac replies to her quickly. "The cots in the jail are not exactly comfortable."

"Just try not to worry Mac," Lydia then tells her ex-husband. "This should be the last day of the trial and the charges will be dropped. We have to believe that."

Before Mac can respond, the bailiff emerges from a side door of the courtroom. "All rise, the honorable Judge Sebastian Cartwright," he announces, as the Judge walks up to his chair.

"Good morning everyone, you may be seated," the Judge announces to the room. "Ms. Choi, please call your first witness of the day."

Ming Choi slowly stands up. "The people call Lucinda Rockwell to the stand," she announces, while Lucinda moves towards the witness stand and is sworn in.

"Good morning Mrs. Rockwell," Ming smiles at Lucinda as she moves towards her. "First, I am sorry for what you're going through. Losing a child can't be easy."

"If you were truly sorry, Ms. Choi, then you would drop this charges against my other son and spot wasting everyone's time with this trial," Lucinda quips back to her. "But since that won't happen, please save the pleasantries and carry on with your real questions."

Ming looks back at her in surprise as she wasn't expecting Lucinda's response to her. "As you know, we are here because your one son, Nathan Lockhart, was shot and has since passed away and your other son, the defendant, has been arrested."

"Thank you for the synopsis," Lucinda rolls her eyes. "I'm well aware of why you felt like I needed the recap of the on-goings in my own family but carry on."

"Leading up to the shooting, were Mac and Nathan at odds with one another?"

"Yes, they were," Lucinda replies to her quickly. "But you already knew that. Seriously, your honor, what is the point of this?" Lucinda looks at the Judge.

Sebastian chuckles back to her. "She's just doing her job, Mrs. Rockwell. Please, answer her questions accordingly."

"As I was saying," Ming looks back at Lucinda. "Why, exactly, were your sons at odds with each other?"

"It is a very long story," Lucinda sighs back to her. "You see, Levi, my son, felt like he was an outsider in the family. My husband, Mortimer, really paid more attention to MacKenzie as he was the heir to Rockwell Mining and the head of the family. Levi, eventually, left town and changed his name to Nathan Lockhart after he emancipated from the Rockwell's. It wasn't until Levi returned to town and we were all reunited a couple of years ago."

"What happened next?"

"Well, Levi and Mac instantly didn't like one another," Lucinda continues. "It escalated, of course, when Nathan's son, Slate, discovered that Mortimer isn't Mac's biological father; once that truth was revealed, Levi purposely went after everything that Mac had built up over the years and claimed it as his because he felt like he was the true Rockwell heir."

"So, Nathan took over Mac's life?" Ming asks her quickly.

"I suppose you could say that," Lucinda tells her. "He got Mac fired from Rockwell Mining and he took over as the head of the Rockwell estate. Everything that Mac was accustomed to running, Nathan took over."

"Mac must have been furious with Nathan for this."

"You'd have to ask him how he felt," Lucinda replies to her coldly.

"Do you believe, Mrs. Rockwell, that this was enough motive for Mac to want Nathan dead?"

"Objection your honor!" Chase stands up yelling.

"Sustained," the Judge smashes his mallet down. "Answer the question, Mrs. Rockwell."

"Was MacKenzie happy?" Lucinda looks back at Ming with intent. "No, of course not. But if you're asking me if I think that Mac was furious enough to shoot Levi, then no, I don't think that's possible."

"But your son, Nathan, claimed that Mac shot him. Why would he do that?"

"Because, he hated Mac!" Lucinda hisses back to her. "He wanted Mac to get in trouble for this and look at where we are, Ms. Choi. You've played perfectly into his hands instead of doing your own job and finding the real shooter! Let me ask you a question, do you even have a gun that ties Mac to the shooting? No, of course not, because he didn't do this! My son didn't try to kill his brother!"

***

"Your mother did a great job up there," Chase looks at Mac as the court is in a brief recess as Lucinda has stepped down from the stand.

"I knew that she would be on my side without any questions," Mac nods back to him. "But I'm afraid this isn't going to get any easier because now my children will have to take the stand."

"Just continue to stay calm," Chase tells his client. "We will be able to prove that you didn't do this, Mac, trust me."

Mac uneasily nods back to him as the Judge looks over at Ming and clears his throat. "Ms. Choi, your next witness please."

"The people call Cole Rockwell," Ming stands up and turns to see Cole moving closer towards the witness stand, where he is sworn in. "Mr. Rockwell, the defendant is your father, correct?"

Cole feels some beads of sweat form on his forehead as he doesn't like being on the witness stand. "That's correct."

"Can you explain your relationship with your father?"

Cole shrugs his shoulders back to Ming. "He's my Dad; I love him very much."

"Correct me if I am wrong, but your lover, Celeste Baldwin, was married to your father when the two of you met?"

"That's correct but I am not sure what that has to do with anything," Cole replies to her quickly. "My relationship with Celeste; my father's relationship with Celeste, has nothing to do with what is going on in this trial."

"I don't have to explain myself to you," Ming snaps back at him. "When you were involved with Dixie Ryan, did your father help you cover up her death?"

"It's not the way you are spinning it," Cole looks back at her. "Dixie overdosed while we were together; my father simply helped ensure I wasn't charged with any wrong doing. You see, you district attorneys love to make a name of yourselves by trying to pin crimes on members of the Rockwell family that we had nothing to do with. If you're able to get a conviction against a member of the Rockwell family, you believe you will shoot into stardom. It's rather pathetic."

"Your honor," Ming approaches the bench. "I'm getting extremely fed up with these witnesses feeling the need to tell me about my job. Can you please keep them in line?"

"Your honor, the Rockwell family is just expressing their truths over this case," Chase stands up and defends Cole. "If Ms. Choi can't handle that, she shouldn't have called them to the stand."

"I'll allow it continue," The judge says. "But Mr. Rockwell, please try to answer the questions."

"Yes sir," Cole tries to hide a smile on his face.

"Mr. Rockwell, did you hear your father threaten to kill your uncle at his engagement party?"

"Yes, but you already have witnesses to collaborate that story."

"Do you think that your father shot Nathan Lockhart?" Ming asks him point blank.

"No," Cole quickly tells her. "I think Nathan was trying to hurt Mac and that's why he claimed he shot. I don't care how many people think that Mac shot Nathan, I will never believe it. Not ever."

***

The door to Mac's hotel suite at the country club slowly opens and black gloved hand pushes it open. A figure, all dressed in black, then moves inside the suite and looks around before they quickly shut the door behind them.

Then, swiftly, they move to the bed and they push the mattress to one side of the bed. Then, they pull out a small handgun from their pocket and they put the gun on top of the box spring. Then they push the mattress back in place, leaving the gun hidden under it.

Without saying a word, the figure then leaves the suite without having been seen by anyone else.

***

Helena Grant picks up the file that is resting on her desk at the police station that reads, "Nathan Lockhart". She sighs to herself as she opens the file and wonders how the trial is unfolding at the courtroom. Ming had given her an update the previous day, but she can't help but wonder what's going on today.

"We have a lot of evidence that supports Mac's motive and Nathan identifying him as the shooter," she whispers to herself. "I just wish we had something else to connect Mac to the attack."

Before she can say anything else, the phone that is sitting on her desk rings. "Detective Grant," says into her receiver.

"You need to check Rockwell's room at the country club," someone says into the phone using a voice distorted.

Helena's eyes open wider in surprise. "Who is this?"

"Consider me an anonymous, concerned member of the community. You will find the gun he used to shoot Nathan in there, I promise you that."

Before Helena can say anything else, the phone line goes dead. She arches her eyebrow. "Of course, the gun could be in his suite but who called me to tell me that? And why?"

***

Lexington Rockwell finishes being sworn in before he sits down on the firm witness stand chair. He looks over at the man who raised him and hopes that he can help Mac beat the charges of attempted murder.

"I won't waste the courts time with asking questions that have already been established," Ming says as she stands up and moves towards Lex. "You knew that the defendant hated your uncle, correct?"

"Yes," Lex nods back to her. "But the entire family was pretty upset with Nathan. He was turning all of our lives upside down."

"Has Mac ever shown violent tendencies with you, Lex?"

"I mean, he's lost his temper, sure," Lex replies to her. "But never has he given me reason to believe that he could kill someone."

"So, like your grandmother and your brother, you believe that Nathan lied, on his deathbed, about who shot him?" an annoyed Ming asks him.

"I don't think Mac shot Nathan," Lex replies to her. "So yes, I suppose that means that Nathan was lying. And, as you've already heard, he had motive for wanting Mac to pay."

***

After Lex's testimony, the court moves into a short recess. Stacey Rockwell bends down at the vending machine and grabs the bottle that she just purchased and immediately opens it to have a drink.

She puts the bottle back into her purse and starts to move towards the washroom, when she sees her mother, Lydia, emerge.

"Oh good, we have a moment to talk," Lydia comes up to her daughter. "I think it's high time we get everything out on the table, don't you?"

Stacey sighs back to her mother. "If this is about you working with Carmen Santos to merge Rockwell Mining and Blackmore
Ltd. together, then yes, I'd love to hear you try to explain yourself."

Lydia chuckles back to her. "Well, isn't it obvious, Stacey? I know that you've been sleeping with my husband. My daughter, the woman that I've loved more tthan life itself, has betrayed me. And now, Kent needs to pay."

Stacey is stunned that her mother admitted to her that she knows about her affair. She didn't think Lydia would ever say anything to her about it.

"Look, I am sorry Mom," Stacey's lower lips quivers. "Kent and I, we never meant to hurt you… it just happened."

"Oh shut up!" Lydia hisses at her. "You two are grown adults, you could have made the decision to say no, instead, you spread your legs wide open for him!"

Before Stacey knows what she does, her hand finds Lydia's cheek with a cold, hard slap. "Mom, I, uh…"

"You ungrateful little slut!" a stunned Lydia replies to her! "How dare you!"

"I, uh," Stacey mumbles back to her, stunned that she struck her mother.

Before Stacey can respond, Lydia slaps her back twice in a row! "That's for slapping me, and that's for sleeping with my husband!"

Stacey lunges at her mother, who falls to the ground as the women begin fighting with each other! Screams can be heard as they pull each other's hair and claw at each other!

"What the hell is this?!" Lucinda yells at them as the walks out of the restroom. "Lydia, this is your daughter! And Stacey, what on earth has gotten into you?"

An embarrassed Stacey rushes into the washroom while Lucinda glares at Lydia.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing," Lydia stands up and tries to fix her disheveled hair. "Just a minor spat between a mother and daughter, nothing to get worked up about."

***
A short time later, everyone is waiting in the courtroom as Ming Choi has just called Stacey to the stand. Mac looks around the courtroom but doesn't see his daughter. He stops when his gaze gets to Lydia, who is reapplying her lipstick, and he can't help but notice some scratches on her face and her hair is still slightly a mess.

"Where is Stacey?" Mac asks Chase, who shrugs back to him. "I don't like this, not one bit."

"Don't worry about it," Chase whispers back to him. "She was going to be on our side anyways, if anything, this might rattle Ming even more."

"I'm waiting Ms. Choi, and I am not a patient man," Sebastian looks down at the district attorney.

"I'm sorry your honor," Ming stands up. "I'm not sure what could be delaying Ms. Rockwell."

Before anyone can say anything else, Helena moves into the courtroom. "Your honor, Ms. Choi, Mr. Cooper," she moves closer to the Judge's bench. "Can I approach the bench?"

"What is it Ms. Grant?" the Judge motions for her to move forward while Ming and Chase move up with her. "Why are you interrupting this court?"

"Because," Helena replies to him. "There's been another discovery in the case; I got a search warrant to look into Mr. Rockwell's hotel suite at the country club, my team found this under the mattress," she explains as she holds up a gun in a plastic bag. "I have a forensics team running all of the tests required, like finger prints and to confirm if this gun was used to kill Nathan Lockhart, but I didn't want to wait to bring it to the attention of the court."

Ming gets a coy smile on her face, knowing that this only helps her case. "I know it's late into the case, but you have to submit this as evidence, your honor. It further cements that the defendant is guilty."

"There's no way in hell you can do that!" Chase objects, as Mac turns and looks in worry to his family, as Stacey slowly comes into the courtroom, as she had to freshen up from her fight with Lydia. "My client and I have not had any time, or warning, that this was coming. It's not acceptable!"

"I will allow it," the Judge nods back to Ming and Helena. "Mr. Cooper, after Ms. Rockwell testifies, you can have a recess with your client to discuss your next steps. Now, let's continue, please?"

***

Stacey slowly takes a seat in the witness stand while she looks over and glares a Lydia. She still can't believe that her mother attacked her once she confronted her over Stacey's affair with Kent. In Stacey's mind, her mother has gone too far this time and she is wondering how she can ensure Lydia doesn't continue to hurt everyone around her.

"Ms. Rockwell," Ming stands up from her chair. "Can you please tell the court what your relationship is with the defendant?"

"Mac is my father," Stacey replies to her. "My loving father."

"Have you and your father always been close?"

"I mean yes," Stacey nods back to her. "We've had our ups and downs like any two people that are family, but I love my father and I know he loves me."

"In your experience, has your father ever experienced violent tendencies?"

"Like my brother's have already testified to the court," Stacey gulps back to her. "Our father can have a short temper that flares up, but do I think he could kill someone, absolutely not."

"You heard your father threaten to kill your Uncle at Nathans' engagement, did you not?" Ming asks her next.

"Yes, I did."

"And, you are aware that Nathan has claimed that Mac is the one who shot him, correct?"

"That's correct…but…"

"No but's," Ming cuts her off. "Frankly, I'm tired of your entire family thinking that they can walk all over me when I'm the one answer the questions here."

"Objection!" Chase stands up and shouts.

"Sustained, move on Ms. Choi."

"That's fine, I have no further questions, your honor."

***

"What the hell are we going to do about this gun?" Mac asks Chase as they sit in a short recess before he and Ming are about to give their closing statements to the Judge. "Someone must have planted it in my suite!"

"Don't worry about that," Chase shakes his head back to him. "There's enough circumstantial evidence for me to get these charges dropped, you have to trust me."

Before Mac can respond, Judge Cartwright smashes his mallet down and clears his throat. "Alright, I'm ready to hear the final statements. Ms. Choi, you can begin."

"Thank you, your honor," Ming stands up and looks over at Mac before she walks towards the bench. "This case is incredibly straight forward. We have the murder weapon, which the police have confirmed have Mac's finger prints on it and validated that it was the gun that shot the victim, which was found in the defendant's hotel suite," she says to the Judge, as during the last recess, Helena was able to provide the latest update from the police station. "We have multiple eyewitnesses that have heard Mac Rockwell threaten to kill Nathan Lockhart. We have motive, we have opportunity and we have the murder weapon; all signs point to one thing and one thing only: MacKenzie Rockwell is guilty. It's time for justice for Nathan Lockhart to be served."

As Ming moves to her seat and sits down, Chase stands up and looks at the Judge. "As Ms. Choi said, this case is crystal clear, your honor. The fact of the matter is, there is no proof pointing to MacKenzie Rockwell being the guilty party here. Every single member of his family testified that he wouldn't shoot anyone, yet alone family. It has been clearly stated that Mac and Nathan were at odds, it is not unreasonable that Nathan would have framed his half-brother. As for the murder weapon," Chase pauses to chuckle. "That's a joke! The police obtained it at the 11th hour, how? It was obviously a set up against Mac, likely by the real shooter. So, while we have wasted taxpayers dollars going after a big headline name, the real shooter, who could still be dangerous, is walking around! It's time for the court to make things right: declare Mac innocent, because he is, and find the real shooter."

***

"MacKenzie," Lucinda rushes up to her son once the Judge has left the courtroom to make his final decision. Before Mac is taken back to the jail house, she knows that she has to speak to him to try to make him realize that everything will be okay. "You did wonderfully. This will end well, I know it."

"I hope you're right mother," Mac sighs back to her. "This revelation that they found a gun in my suite has me worried. How did it get there? Who would do this to me?"

"We don't have to worry about it," Lucinda shakes her head back to him. "I believe that Chase did his job; there's no way that the Judge can convict you for this crime. Once you're free, we can concentrate on who planted that gun in your suite."

"I just have a bad feeling mother," Mac admits to her. "I won't rest easy until we get the verdict."

***

"What the hell happened to you?" Kent asks Stacey as he moves up to the bar in the country club. He can see that Stacey has some scratches on her arm and face; he has no idea what could have happened since she was scheduled to be in court but he is concerned.

Stacey slowly picks up her martini and takes a long sip of it. As soon as the trial concluded for the day, she raced to the club as she was desperate for a drink. "You don't want to know."

"I am concerned," Kent looks back at her as he orders a scotch from the bartender. "Did court not go well?"

"It was uncomfortable being on the stand," Stacey tells him. "But it wasn't so bad. I told the court, and Ming Choi, that Mac is innocent."

"Stacey," Kent takes a sip of his drink. "Tell me what happened. It looks like you got into a street fight or something."

Stacey uneasily chuckles back to him. "I guess you're not far off," she admits to him. "Lydia admitted to me that she knew about our affair. And…"

"You and your mother had a fight?" Kent gasps back to her in shock. "I can't believe it."

"I can't believe it either," Stacey tells him. "But before I knew what was happening, we were on top of each other fighting. Lucinda arrived and broke it up."

"Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Stacey says. "I can't believe that I was physical with my mother in that way, but I guess that's what our relationship has come too."

"She's out of control," Kent replies to her. "I can talk to her…"

"No," Stacey cuts him off. "Don't do that. I'm going to use this to my, to our advantage," Stacey replies to him.

"What are you planning?"

Stacey gets a sly grin on her face. "Don't worry about that, just know that I will make sure that Lydia doesn't merge the companies together."

***

"I hope you're going to tell me that you've changed your mind about merging my father's company, my legacy, with Rockwell Mining," Houston Blackmore announces as he moves into the main office at Blackmore Ltd. and sees Lydia sitting behind the desk.

"Houston," Lydia looks up from her laptop and stands up to move to the bar to pour herself a drink. "What a surprise. Can I get you a drink?"

"You can get me some answers," Houston replies to her quickly. "You have to know how horrible of an idea this is, Lydia."

"I know no such thing," Lydia takes a sip of her drink. "If you only knew my motivation, you'd side with me."

Houston arches his eyebrow back to her. "What motivation? What's happened?"

"Did you know that Kent and I are annulling our marriage?" Lydia turns to him and asks him quickly. "I'm ending my marriage to your father."

"I heard, yes," Houston tells her. "But why? You two were barely married before this annulment came about. What happened?"

Lydia chuckles back to him. "So Kent hasn't been completely honest with you?" she coyly toys with him. "The fact is, Houston, your father has been having an affair. He slept with another woman on the morning of our wedding. He's a cheating son of a bitch!"

Houston looks back at her in surprise as he didn't realize Kent was involved with another woman. "No, I hadn't heard. Who is it, Lydia? Who is my father sleeping with?"

"Stacey," Lydia stuns Houston, who feels the blood drain from his face. "Your father is still sleeping with my daughter, the mother of your son."

***

Carmen Santos sits behind the desk in the main office at Rockwell Mining wit her eyes glued to the laptop screen as she is reading a recap of Mac's trial. While the trial was closed to most press, with her connections, Carmen was able to get someone in the courtroom and give her all of the information.

She closes the laptop screen as a sly grin comes over her face. "It seems like the trial went very well," she whispers to herself as she moves to the bar and pours herself a cocktail. "Ming Choi was ruthless and made it very clear that Mac killed Nathan."

She takes a long sip of her whiskey sour. "That means with Slate and Nathan dead and Mac going to jail, I am going to be the CEO of Rockwell Mining for years to come. And, with this merger coming up, I will be the toast of the town for merging these two powerhouse companies together."

She chuckles to herself as she is pleased with how everything is going. "This is perfect, I couldn't have planned this better myself!"

***

"I want to know everything that happened today," Sabine tells Lydia as they sit across from one another in the country club, with some dinner in front of them. Once Sabine was discharged from the hospital, she came to the club to meet her sister to find out what happened at the trial, since she missed the day. "How did it go?"

Lydia takes a bite of her chicken spinach salad before she looks back at her sister. "It's hard to say," she admits to her. "Ming Choi continued to be ruthless, but the children and Lydia really gave it back to her. I have to believe that Chase was able to create enough reasonable doubt to get this overturned."

Sabine sighs back to her as she takes a sip of her white wine. "I don't know what to think, if I am honest with you."

"The fact that Nathan said Mac shot him is weighting on you, isn't it?"

"I can't help it," Sabine replies to her. "My fiancé laid dying in front of me and he told me that Mac shot him. Why would he lie? I don't know, Lydia, this is all such a mess."

"I couldn't agree with you more," Lydia tells her sister. "Now, are you going to tell me why you were in the hospital? What happened to you?"

"That's another long story," Sabine sighs. "I was pregnant, Lydia. I was going to have Nathan's baby."

"What? My God," Lydia gasps back to her. "Wait, you said you were pregnant? What happened?"

"I had a miscarriage," Sabine reveals to her as tears fill her eyes. "And it was all Celeste Baldwin's fault. That woman cost my child's life, and I'm going to make sure she pays."

***

The following morning, the Rockwell family is sitting at the large dining room table in the mansion. The silence in the room is deafening as they know that at any time the phone will ring and they will get word that the verdict is in for Mac's trial.

"We are an awfully quiet group this morning," Lucinda finally breaks the silence to the rest of her family. "Are we all just concerned about the trial? Or is something else going on?"

"It's hard not to be concerned," Lex replies to her before he takes a sip of his coffee. "This trial has been a nightmare."

"I still think that Chase Cooper did a damn good job," Lucinda tells him. "We have to stay positive for Mac's sake."

"I think we will all just be happy when this is over," Stacey chimes in. "Hopefully the judge finds Dad innocent, like he is, and we can all try to move on from this nightmare that Nathan has brought upon us."

Before anyone can say anything else, the house phone starts to ring. The Rockwell's uneasily look at one another before Cole slowly stands up and moves to the phone.

"Rockwell residence," he says into the phone. "Yes, thank you. We will be right there."

He hangs up the phone before he turns back and looks at his family. "The verdict is in. We are about to find out Mac's future."

***

About an hour later, the family is all seated behind Mac in the courtroom. Mac turns to his family and forces a smile on his face as he is trying to remain positive about the verdict that is about to be delivered. He just hopes that Chase has done his job because he can't go to jail for a crime he didn't commit.

"Don't worry," Chase looks over at his client. "We got this."

Mac nods back to him before the bailiff comes into the courtroom and makes an announcement, "All rise, the honorable Judge Sebastian Cartwright resides."

The Judge walks up to his bench and sits down. "You may be seated," he states to the crowd, as they follow his instructions. "This case was a complicated tale of lies, deceit, greed and a feud between two brothers, who should have loved and respected one another. The fact that we have one brother threatening to kill the other and questions about the other framing his brother for his death are incredibly sad and disheartening."

Mac nervously starts playing with his fingers as the Judge gets closer to announcing his verdict.

"However, I have to go based on the facts of the case," the Judge continues to tell. "The facts are that the defendant had motive, opportunity and cause to kill Nathan Lockhart. The murder weapon was found in his private suite and the victim personally identified him as the shooter. That's all the evidence I need, therefore, I find the defendant, MacKenzie Rockwell, guilty of first degree murder!" the Judge announces while the Mac feels his heart move into his throat, stunned at the outcome of the trial.