She was due at the courthouse at ten, but she wouldn’t know when she’d be called to the stand until it happened. Elliot suggested they try and get there early to avoid the protestors, she knew most of the people would know her. She was genuinely scared of what they might do to her, but she was also ashamed. Ashamed that Luke had so many people on his side and she was mostly alone aside from Elliot and Krista. When they pulled up in the cab at the courthouse she saw the protesters, there were maybe fifty of them, mostly overgrown frat douches.

“How are we going to get through?” she asked frantically.

“Don’t worry about it,” Elliot said. Then she saw that there was a straight path through the crowd. People stood militantly along each side of the path holding back protestors. She saw Leon, Darlene, Krista, Jason, some of her employees that weren’t working the day shift, and several men she’d never seen before.

“Elliot, what’s going on?” she asked.

“Called in some favors,” he said. They walked up to the crowd, and Leon nodded at her so she smiled at him. She turned and grabbed Darlene’s hand as she walked past her, she nodded at Krista and Jason. They walked up the pathway and when she got to the top of the steps she saw Bethany, holding Papi by the arm.

She ran up to him, “Papi, what are you doing here?”

“Someone thought you could use the moral support,” Papi said, motioning toward Elliot. Raine hugged Papi around the neck and they walked in with Elliot taking his other arm to help him inside. Leon, Darlene, Krista, and Jason came in behind them and stood waiting for the trail to resume for the day.

“Elliot who were all those people?” Raine asked.

“People Darlene knew from when she was running fsociety and some were people Leon knew from the dark army, the good ones,” he said.

“And you called my employees?” she asked.

“I called the shop and talked to Amber, told her the situation and she took care of that part of the group,” he said as they set down in the hall waiting area. Raine sat between Papi and Elliot. Krista, Jason and Darlene sat across from them and Leon stood talking to Bethany, about Seinfeld, of course.

“Thanks all of you for this,” Raine said looking around at them.

“Yo, he might have fans, but you got something better, what you got is family,” Leon said putting a hand on Elliot’s shoulder. Elliot didn’t back away like he usually did when someone besides her or Darlene touched him.

“I do, don’t I?” she said, smiling at Elliot and taking Papi’s hand.

“Do you need anything? You didn’t eat much yesterday you want a snack?” Elliot asked her.

“There is no way I could eat right now,” she said.

“Who knows how long we could be in there, you should eat,” he said looking concerned.

“You didn’t eat yesterday?” Papi asked. She winced and Elliot put his head down apologetically. “I ate, just not a lot,” she patted Papi’s hand, someone telling Papi she didn’t eat all day was the equivalent of telling anyone else she’d just snorted cocaine.

“I think you should have something,” Papi said, and Elliot nodded at her. She looked at Krista for help with these two and Krista said, “Darlene, why don’t you, Raine and I go see if we can get everyone some coffee?”

“That sounds perfect,” Raine said, standing up, she stood too quickly and got dizzy for a moment and Leon grabbed her before she fell over.

“Damn girl, maybe you should eat something,” Leon said.

“I’m fine I just stood up too fast,” she said.

Elliot started to protest and Krista said, “I’ll make sure we get her some crackers or something,” then she looked at Raine, “you can probably eat a few crackers right?”

Raine nodded and Krista and Darlene led her away from the group.

“Thank you, I don’t know if having him here is a good idea, I love him dearly but he’s driving me insane,” Raine said.

“He’s just concerned and he’s not wrong to be, you do need to eat something and keep your strength up,” Krista said.

“But he doesn’t have to treat her like a two-year-old,” Darlene said.

“I know, I understand the frustration but he’s not wrong in being concerned, this is big deal,” Krista said.

“I know, and I love that he brought everyone here and made sure I had my own support, but it’s just easier for me to deal with when he doesn’t treat me like I’m a child when he does that it just reminds me of where I am and why,” she said.

“But is he right? Did you not eat yesterday?” Krista asked.

“I tried, I ate a little mac and cheese, and some ice cream, he was there when I ate it,” Raine said.

“A little as in?” Krista pushed.

“A couple bites,” she admitted.

“And how much ice cream?” Darlene asked.

Raine sighed, “I don’t know like four or five spoonsful.”

“So, his concern is justified?” Krista asked.

“He doesn’t know I didn’t eat anything else all day,” Raine said.

“But you didn’t,” Darlene said.

“Okay guys this is hard enough, just get me some crackers so we can all move on,” Raine said.

“Well with your history of anorexia it’s a little bit of an issue,” Krista said.

“I wasn’t not eating for any reason other than I’m just so nervous, once this is over I’ll be fine,” Raine assured her. They went and got some coffee and Krista managed to get a pack of saltines from the staff lounge. They went and sat in the waiting area again and Raine nibbled on her crackers like a mouse. When she had eaten half the package she handed them to Elliot and said she couldn’t eat anymore. He didn’t press it and put them in his backpack to save for her in case she wanted more. Finally, Dom and the prosecutor, Mr. Avery Knight, came out to get them. Her guests could set in on the trial if they wanted and they all decided to come in, even Leon. They took their seats and waited. The prosecutor introduced Raine to Sarah’s parents, she shook their hands and she started to tear up. All the support and love she’d gotten and all the time she spent feeling sorry for herself but these two had it much worse. She introduced them to Papi calling him her grandfather and Elliot as her boyfriend. Even though seeing them humbled her, it also made her more nervous that she would have to give her testimony in front of them, describing the monster that had murdered their daughter in graphic detail. She grabbed Elliot’s hand and squeezed it.

“Thank you so much for doing this,” Sarah’s mom said to her, “I know this is hard for you, but our girl deserves justice and Mr. Knight said you’re the biggest hope we have for a life sentence.”

She smiled and nodded but inside she was trembling from the added feeling of pressure, if he wasn’t put away for life, who knows what he would do to the people who put him in prison. Luke wasn’t a career criminal or anything so they wouldn’t be putting anyone in witness protection. He hadn’t planned to murder Sarah, she knew that much because he wouldn’t have risked getting himself in trouble on purpose, but he still had ways of making people miserable. And his violent urges were unpredictable at best, it was a matter of time before he did it again if given the opportunity. There was a noise in the back of the room, Raine looked over to the other side of the room and saw Luke’s parents looking hatefully at her before they turned to look at the back corner. Two officers led a handcuffed Luke to the defendant's table, and Raine slid down a little in her seat hoping he wouldn’t see her. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, and Luke’s eyes grew wide as he looked from her to Elliot, who had his arm around her and was rubbing her shoulder. She leaned more into Elliot instinctively for protection, and Luke sneered at them. His lawyer had to physically turn him around and set him down in his seat, but Luke still turned his head to stare at her. She looked down and away from him, but she knew he was still staring. She looked up at Elliot and he was staring back at Luke with more hatred than she’d ever seen in someone’s eyes.

“Elliot,” she whispered, he looked down at her and his expression softened, she continued, “I don’t know about this.”

“You got this baby, you got this,” he said pulling her a little closer to kiss her forehead. She checked on Papi who was on the other side of Elliot and he was looking straight ahead like a gentleman. Bethany was on the other side of Papi and Darlene and Leon sat behind them whispering. Jason and Krista sat behind Elliot and Raine so Krista could be near Raine in case she needed her. Also, so Raine and Krista could both be at the end of the row because they both were going to testify. It was a small courtroom and not too different from the ones she’d seen on TV, just a lot smaller. She tried to think about anything besides the man staring at her from across the room, but she couldn’t help feeling like she wanted to just take off running out the door. They all had to stand up when the Judge came in and she held onto Elliot’s arm as she stood there because her legs were weak and trembling. Papi was holding on to Elliot’s other arm and Raine was almost amused at what the sight of this row of people must be. Bethany and Elliot holding Papi up and Elliot holding Raine up on his other side. They finally were told to sit back down and Raine nearly fell into her chair. The Judge was a black woman in probably her late fifties, she looked kind and grandmotherly, which relaxed Raine a little.

“You alright?” Elliot whispered to her. She just nodded at him and shrugged at the same time; how alright could she be under the circumstances. They did a recap of the facts of the case and listed the charges being brought against Luke. They called their first witness, Luke’s mom, who cried and talked about what a good boy Luke was and how he was passionate about his relationship with Raine. She implied heavily that Raine was a whore who pushed Luke into jealously and anger. Raine bit her lip and tried to stay calm, but it was hard to listen to. Then she tried to say Luke would never date a fifteen-year-old girl and her entire testimony fell apart because of it. Mr. Knight reminded her and the court that Luke had already admitted to having a sexual relationship with Sarah. Next, they talked to Sarah’s mother, Luke’s lawyer, Mr. Adams attacked her viciously, accusing Sarah of being a Lolita. Mr. Knight then mentioned it in his line of questioning, “you brought up Lolita? Interesting choice Mr. Adams, have you read the novel?” he paused and looked around, “Has anyone here read the book? See we associate the name Lolita with the young temptress, a girl who lures innocent men into their doom. But that’s not what really happens in the book, is it? No, Nabokov wrote of a man who lusted after a twelve-year-old girl Dolores Haze, but not just her, he had a thing for all female children. Hubert didn’t just lust after this child from afar, he manipulated his way into her life by marrying her mother, then he raped his own stepdaughter… an innocent man he was not.”

“Objection, relevance,” Mr. Adams shouted.

“You brought it up,” Mr. Knight said.

The Judge looked at Mr. Knight, “but is there a point to this Mr. Knight?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I just thought it was interesting that he would bring it up, it’s a bit ironic under the circumstances,” Mr. Knight said. Raine smiled despite herself, Avery was smart and a bit of a smartass, she liked him.

He continued talking to Sarah’s mother and asking her questions about the night that Sarah had snuck out to meet the older man they had suspected her of sneaking around with. Raine shifted in her seat uncomfortably and cried with the woman who’d lost her daughter. It was nearly more than she could take, and she almost got up and left but Elliot put his hand on her leg and comforted her. Luke could barely keep himself from turning to look at her and Elliot, so much so that the Judge scolded him for not facing forward.

Finally, they called Krista to the stand, this meant it was almost Raine’s turn, and then she could get this over with. Krista touched her shoulder as she walked by and went up to take her place. She handed the Judge her report on Raine’s PTSD and her belief that it was a result of Luke’s treatment and nothing else. Avery questioned her first.

“You’re saying that this young woman has PTSD?” Avery asked.

“Yes, I see her twice a week because the case is quite severe,” she said.

“And what caused this disorder?” Avery asked.

“Not what, who,” Krista said, “I believe that it was her relationship with the defendant, and only that relationship that caused her PTSD,” Avery asked her some more questions but most of them were more of the same answer. When he was done, it was Mr. Adams’ turn, he stood and buttoned his jacket.

“So, you say you’ve been treating Ms. Valarian for how long?” Mr. Adams asked.

“About a month,” Krista said.

Mr. Adams raised his eyebrows, “Is that enough time to really give a diagnosis?”

“It can be, I do know some of the events of the relationship, and even just based on that, I would say anyone who went through what she did would have PTSD,” Krista said.

“Like what?” Mr. Adams asked, he knew all the evidence brought against Luke already. Krista was leaving the details up to Raine to tell so she just glared at him, so he said, “how did you meet Ms. Valarian?”

“I met her through another patient of mine,” she said.

“That would be Mr. Alderson?” Mr. Adams said motioning toward Elliot.

“Yes,” Krista said.

“And what is the nature of your first meeting?” Mr. Adams asked.

“She came in on session I had with Elliot,” Krista said.

“Oh, of course, that’s Elliot Alderson,” he paused to chuckle, “we have a celebrity in our midst, Mr. Alderson was involved in a near nuclear meltdown in New Jersey,” he started.

“Objection,” Mr. Knight said, “Elliot stopped a nuclear meltdown your honor, but it is irrelevant to this case.”

“Sustained,” the Judge said, “Mr. Adams we all know about what happened in Washington township, move on.”

“Do we though? Know what happened? This man is a hacker, your honor, he could falsify medical records,” Mr. Adams said.

“Objection,” Mr. Knight said again, “again relevance.”

“There are medical records being used as evidence against my client, I find it very relevant,” Mr. Adams said.

“The FBI brought those medical records in as evidence, so if you are questioning the FBI as to whether they would present false evidence based on them either being incompetent or having some personal vendetta against your client, I have to wonder if you would question my authority as well Mr. Adams,” the Judge said sternly.

“Of course not,” Mr. Adams said clearly knowing when he’d crossed a line, then he said, “no further questions.”

Next they called Raine to the stand, Elliot squeezed her hand for reassurance as she stood up and straightened her clothes out. She tried to remember her anger at Luke and the real reason she was here, this wasn’t a case against her, it was to get justice for Sarah. She took the oath and sat down in the square booth. Avery was questioning her first.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Hello Ms. Valarian, how are you today?” he asked.

“I’m a little nervous,” she answered honestly.

“And why is that?” he asked.

“Well this is the first time I’ve seen Luke since we broke up, it’s a little unnerving,” she said glancing at Luke who winked at her. She had to hold back a retch and cover her mouth with her hand. The Judge saw this interaction and looked displeased.

“Let’s talk about your relationship with the defendant, when did you start dating?” he asked.

She told him about their relationship and most of what she wasn’t allowed to do right from the start, she gave details she never thought she’d say to a crowd this size. She didn’t know where the strength to do this had come from, a desire for justice maybe. She left out the times he had put her in the hospital because she knew he would have specific questions about those.

“So, you were told what to eat, wear, do, who to see? What would happen if you broke these rules?” he asked.

“We would get in a fight, which usually ended with me getting hit,” she said, she looked at Elliot who winced.

“Let’s talk about these reports from the FBI, one stating that you were brought to the hospital by the defendant for malnutrition,” Mr. Knight said. She started to panic, she hadn’t told anyone about that besides Darlene and Krista.

“Umm yes, as I said he made me stay on a strict diet,” she said.

“But this time was different? There was evidence you had been held captive, bruises on your hands from pounding what would be assumed a steel cage.”

She looked at her hands to avoid looking at Elliot or Papi, she saw her hands wrapped around the bars and she whimpered aloud.

“Are you alright?” Mr. Knight asked.

She took a deep breath, “when he started to monitor my food, he wanted to put me through a detox of sorts. I woke up one day in his basement, it was a house his parents had bought him. I was in a cage,” she said and most of the room gasped, she looked at Elliot who was crying.

“Why did he put you in a cage?” Mr. Knight asked.

“He said I was fat, he wanted me to get used to not eating so he kept me in there and only fed me what he wanted to, when he wanted to, and don’t ask how long because after the first day time was meaningless,” she said.

“And how did you end up getting out?” he asked.

“I guess I passed out for a long time and he thought I was dead, so he got scared and took me to the hospital, they treated me like someone with an eating disorder and didn’t believe that the man who had brought me in would keep me in a cage, that someone would do something so cruel and yet would care enough to bring me to the hospital,” she said.

“And do you think he cared? Is that why he took you for help?” Mr. Knight asked.

“No, absolutely not, he didn’t want to get in trouble for killing me,” she said.

“Objection, speculation,” Mr. Adams said.

“Noted but not stricken from the record, this is a character witness Mr. Adams, what she believes to be his character is the whole point,” the Judge said. Then the Judge nodded at Avery to continue.

“What about the next time you ended up in the hospital?” Mr. Knight asked.

She felt more panic and put her hands on the platform in front of her to steady herself. Avery touched her hand and said, “take your time.”

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breathes, “the worst time, I don’t really remember most of what happened, I know we argued and he came towards me, the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital after surgery, they told me that,” her voice caught and she started to cry softly, “they told me that they had to remove my ovaries because they had ruptured, I had big purple bruises on my abdomen for months.”

“Were the bruises from the surgery?” he asked.

“No, they were from the… hitting, punching I guess,” she said.

“When the nurses asked you what happened, you told them you couldn’t remember,” he said.

“They asked me as soon as I woke up, and I really don’t remember it happening, Krista says I’ve blocked it out to protect myself, but I do know what happened, he told me what was about to happen,” she said.

“What did he say?” Mr. Knight said.

“We were arguing because I said I didn’t want kids, especially with him, he got mad and said if I wasn’t going to have any with him, he’d make sure I never had any with anyone,” she said, “and he did.”

“So, you can’t have children?”

“No, I don’t have ovaries anymore,” she said.

“And what does that mean to you, how does it affect you now?” he asked.

“I have to go get hormone shots every month,” she said.

“For how long?” he asked.

She let out a pained laugh, “the rest of my life… every month I have to remember that he took my internal organs from me, every month I have to remember that he exists,” she looked up at Luke who was grinning, satisfied. She looked at the Judge and motioned towards Luke with her eyes, the Judge looked over at him.

“Does the defendant find this amusing?” the Judge asked. Everyone else in the room was nearly in tears including Luke’s lawyer. And they all tried to look at Luke who quickly changed his expression. Mr. Adams leaned over and started whispering to him angrily. Then the Judge said, “please continue Mr. Knight.”

“Alright, Raine… you said you didn’t want kids but sometimes people do change their mind, sometimes they don’t but either way he took that from you didn’t he?” he asked.

“Yes, I don’t know that I would ever want children but now it’s not an option, he took the option away from me, from my future husband,” she said motioning towards Elliot who looked surprised. She saw Luke jerk his head around to glare at Elliot but Mr. Adams chastised him and he turned back around.

“So, you broke up with him after this?” Mr. Knight asked.

“Not directly, no,” she said.

“Why not?” he asked.

“If he would do something like that when we were together, wanting kids and everything himself, what would he do to me if we broke up? I was terrified… I came up with a plan, after that I was extra nice and followed all the rules, but I started dropping hints that I was connected to the mafia, I’m not proud of that, of course, I don’t have any such connections but it was believable enough for an idiot,” she stopped and started to apologize but Mr. Knight raised his hand and motioned for her to continue, some people laughed. She continued, “well I thought the only way to get out alive was to make him think that, at least make him think it enough to scare him out of killing me or my Papi, it was my only option at the time, and I don’t know if it worked, I don’t know why he didn’t come after me when I broke up with him, but he didn’t… not in person.”

“But he continued to harass you?” Mr. Knight asked.

“I changed my number, but he sent me Facebook messages, thousands in the first month, then over time they slowed down,” she said.

Mr. Knight went to his table and got a handful of papers that he handed to the Judge, “these are some of the messages retrieved by the FBI,” he said, he turned to face the room, “there are blatant threats in these messages, threats of violence, death threats, cruel and vile descriptions worse than any case I’ve seen since Ted Bundy,” he said.

“Objection!” Mr. Adams stood up and shouted.

“On what grounds?” Mr. knight asked him.

“Those are just words, he didn’t do those things to her, people get mad and say stuff,” Mr. Adams said.

“You’ll get your turn, Mr. Adams, I suggest you wait for it,” the Judge said reading over the messages with disdain and disgust on her face.

“You know he’s partly right,” Mr. Knight started and everyone looked at him surprised, “people do get mad sometimes and say stuff, Mr. Adams is going to try and say you pushed the defendant to be this angry, tell me what did you say or do to make him mad enough to send you these messages?”

“I didn’t do anything, I never responded,” she said.

Mr. Knight turned and found Dom in the crowd, “Ms. Dipierro, you were the FBI agent assigned to this case, could you tell us if these papers confirm that Raine never responded to a single message sent to her by the defendant.”

Dom stood up, “yes your honor, we retrieved all the messages, and not once did Ms. Valarian respond to him.” Dom sat back down and Raine smiled at her.

“And instead of responding or acting in revenge, you went to the FBI to try and get him to stop harassing you?” Mr. Knight asked her.

“Yes, I had tried several times to report him to the police before and after we broke up, so I decided to ignore him instead until Krista, my therapist, suggested I try again, she said the messages were keeping me from getting over my trauma,” Raine said.

“And he didn’t call the shop or come by?” Mr. Knight asked.

“No, not until that night, I think, just in my opinion, that he was afraid of Papi, not directly but I think he always thought we had mob connections and was afraid to come to the shop at all, he didn’t even go there or to Papi’s house when we were together and getting along,” she said.

“So, he assumed you had connections before you suggested it?” Mr. Knight asked.

“Yes, which is how I got the idea for that,” she said.

“Why would he assume you had connections to organized crime?” Mr. Knight asked.

“I guess because we are Italian,” she shrugged, “it’s a ridiculous stereotype that bothered me when he kept asking but it turned out to help me in the long run.”

“It’s a little racist for him to assume that isn’t it?” Mr. Knight asked.

“I thought so, yes,” she said.

“Objection!” Mr. Adams shouted, “relevance.”

“Sustained,” the Judge said, but added nothing to it and didn’t chastise Avery. He nodded and changed the subject, the only point was putting it out there and he’d accomplished that, it was another nail in Luke’s coffin.

“But he did call once, the night of the murder?” Mr. Knight asked.

“Yes,” she said, cringing from the memory, hearing Sarah laugh in the background. She knew what was coming next and she dreaded it with every fiber of her being, but it would help their case.

“The FBI had tapped the phone, in order to gather evidence for your harassment case, can we play the tape for the court?” Mr. Knight asked.

A couple of cops brought out a small table with a laptop on it, they hooked it to some speakers and Raine quickly turned to the Judge, “your honor is it okay if I cover my ears? I don’t know if I can handle hearing this.”

The Judge looked surprised and sympathetic and gave her a little nod. Raine covered her ears as best she could, but she could still hear it well enough to know which part of the call it was on. She watched Elliot closely and his face was a mixture of pain and anger, so was Papi’s. She waited for the part where you could hear Sarah laughing in the background with bated breath. Sarah’s mother gasped and covered her mouth and started crying and Raine knew she had heard it. She was crying softly as she watched people’s reactions. Apparently, the tap had caught her at the end of the call falling to the floor and sobbing. Then Darlene had come in and hung up the phone. Mr. Knight motioned for her to take her hands off her ears because the tape was finished.

“Do you recall what happened that night?” he asked her.

“It was a great day, I had gone shopping with Darlene, my best friend, and then Elliot came over, everything was going well but then I got a call on the shop phone, the call you just heard,” she said.

“And then what happened? There was a crash at the end, and we could hear you sobbing,” Mr. knight asked.

“I was barely keeping it together to start with, if you couldn’t tell, so when he hung up I didn’t have the strength to keep going, I fell to the floor and then Darlene came in and hung up the phone and helped me up, I got sick and had to sit down,” she started.

“When you say got sick you mean?” he asked.

“I started throwing up into a trash can, more than once, and then Elliot came in and wanted me to go to the hospital because he didn’t know why I was getting sick,” she said.

“You didn’t tell him about the call?” Mr. Knight asked.

“Not right away, I didn’t want to stress him out about it, Darlene knew because she had helped me get in contact with the FBI, so she let me know they had tapped the phone which made me feel better, then Elliot wanted to spend the night in case I got sick again, and then sometime in the night I had a nightmare and started punching everything wildly in my sleep and Elliot had to hold my arms down and wake me up to keep me from hurting myself, I ended up scratching his face while I was asleep,” she said.

“So, this nightmare, was it triggered by the call? And what happened in the nightmare?” Mr. Knight asked.

“Oh it was absolutely caused by the call, I had done that so many times while I was with Luke, I would dream that he killed me or Papi, and I kept having them after we broke up for a long time, I hadn’t had one in a while, on the night of the call it had been at least six months and then bam, he calls and I have one. The dream was that Luke came and killed Elliot, and then he started trying to kill me and I was fighting back in my dream, so I guess that’s why I was punching and kicking,” she said.

“And this is when you told your boyfriend, Mr. Alderson, about the call?” he asked.

“Yes, and he held me,” her voice cracked, and she started crying, “I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t been there.” She looked over at Elliot who was tearing up again and he gave her a comforting smile and she smiled back at him.

“So, this was the same night as the murder, the call was just a few hours before Luke was found with Sarah’s body,” Mr. Knight said more to the court than to Raine, but she shivered and started to feel sick. She looked at Sarah’s parents who hadn’t stopped crying since the tape played and her heart broke. She looked at Papi who was watching them, she knew he was probably thinking that it could have easily been him in their position. He had already lost what was essentially his son and daughter, but that was an accident. Somehow knowing some other person had taken her life would have been much harder to deal with. She needed to make sure these people got justice for their daughter. Mr. Knight was done with his line of questioning, she prayed they would get a break before Mr. Adams had his turn. She knew what he probably had planned, and she had tried to prepare but in this moment it didn’t matter.