*THank-you for the reviews on the last chapter. They were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much.
Standing outside the courtroom with Joe and my attorney I see Jay walking toward us with his attorney. As he gets closer I see the smug look on his face, his typical arrogant asshole look. I move closer to Joe who immediately wraps his arm around my shoulders as if to shield me from Jay. "Teagan," he says with a smile. "It's so good to see you," says Jay with cocky smile. "You're looking, well, you're looking pretty sexy today," he says as his eyes trail up and down my body as I am dressed in a grey skirt falling to the top of my knees exposing my tanned and toned legs in black pumps with a white silk blouse and my blonde hair pulled into a low bun. "Maybe we should just give up this whole divorce thing and you come home with me and I fuck you senseless like the good times."
"Excuse me," says Joe as he steps between Jay and me. "Stay away from her."
"She's MY wife, Reigns, you'll be smart to back away."
"Or what?" asks Joe. "What are you going to do?"
Jay lets out a chuckle and says, "you're going to find out soon enough."
"Yeah," says Joe, "I'll believe it when I see it. Stay away from Teagan." His voice chilled and aggressive and I know he's doing his best to hold back from tearing Jay to pieces. I grab onto Joe's arm tightly and rub it softly.
"We'll talk later, Teagan," he says as he looks at Joe before he walks away and walks over to his lawyer.
Joe turns to face me and cups my face with his hands. "It's going to be over soon," he says. "I promise and once it is over you and I can focus on us; focus on our wedding and completing our family. It's going to be okay," he says as I wrap my arms around his neck looking into his grey orbs. "It's okay, Teagan," he says as he moves his hands to my arms and rubs them softly, "and when this is all over you and I are going to take a nice trip alone for the weekend somewhere that we can be alone and somewhere we can enjoy each other and relax. Okay?"
"Okay," I say before he kisses my forehead softly. "I'm scared, Joe."
"You have nothing to be scared of. I am going to be there the whole time and Mr. Calaway has everything under control. Just relax," he says as he continues to rub my arms. "It's going to be okay. All you have to do is tell the judge about your marriage and everything that happened. You don't have to worry okay?"
"Okay," I say nervously before Joe pulls me to him for an embrace. I take in his scent and nuzzle my head onto his chest holding him tightly, not wanting to let him go, when Jay is around being in Joe's arm is when I feel the safest.
"I love you," he says into my hair.
"I love you too," I say as I stay buried at his chest.
"Ms. Richards," says Mr. Calaway, "they're ready for you."
"Okay," I say reluctantly breaking away from Joe. He takes my hand as we walk into the courtroom together behind Jay and his lawyer. Joe takes a seat while I take a seat with my lawyer and Jay takes a seat with his. We stand as the judge comes into the courtroom. I smile to myself when I see that it is a woman judge. I'm hoping that helps my case a little more.
"You may be seated," she says.
We take a seat and I nervously bounce my leg as my stomach turns in knots. I don't care if there are armed officers in this courtroom. I don't care if Joe has his security people here and I don't care if Joe is here himself; I do not trust Jay and the fact he looks so smug makes me nervous. I look over to him and he gives a sheepish smile. I am called up to the stand to say what I need to say. I get sworn in before I take a seat. "So Ms. Richards," says Mr. Calaway. "Tell me, what was your marriage like on a typical day with Mr. Richards?"
"Well, I wasn't allowed to leave the house or do anything without his permission. He made a list of chores for me to do during the day stemming from cleaning the living room to doing laundry. Whatever he could come up with he put down on the list. I did the chores he wanted me to do but if they were not good enough or they weren't done," I say pausing, "if they weren't good enough or didn't get done Jay would get really upset."
"Upset how?" he asks.
"He would yell at me, call me names sometimes he called me stupid, sometimes he called me lazy, sometimes I was fat, he's called me useless."
"Did it ever get physical?" he asks.
"Yes," I say honestly, "sometimes he did get physical. When he was angry enough he would strike out and hit me, kick me or whatever he felt like doing."
"How many times would you say that he verbally abused you during your marriage?"
"Probably every day that we were married," I say.
"And how many times would you say he physically abused you?"
"I'm not sure. It happened a lot," I say.
"And how many trips to the hospital would you say you made in the last 6 years of your marriage?"
"Probably about 3 times every month," I answered.
"Did you ever try to leave him?"
"Yes," I say, "but he threatened to kill me and this last time," I say, "when I finally did leave, I went back to get my stuff he attacked me and almost killed me."
"How did he almost kill you?"
"He stabbed me numerous times," I say thinking back to that day. "He wanted me to die."
"I see," he says, "and in the bedroom. What would you say your sex life was like during your marriage, was sex ever forced upon you?"
"Yes," I say, "Many times Jay would rape me. He liked it when I fought him. He liked when I told him no. It made him want it more. He got aggressive with it," I say as I look at Joe as he looks down to the ground. "He made me do things to him and not just him but his father and a couple of his friends," I say honestly. I never wanted Joe to find out the truth of the hell that I endured with Jay. I didn't even want to remember it but as I sit on this stand telling the story of it all the horrible memories run through my mind, making me physically sick to my stomach. I look at Jay and he gives a cocky wink.
"What kind of things did he make you do, Ms. Richards?"
"Anything he wanted, anal, oral, vaginal whatever he wanted and if I didn't want to he made me do it by hitting me or burning me. Whatever he needed to do to get me to comply he did it." I see the pain on Joe's face as I look at him. I can feel his anger rising deep within his body as his chest heaves.
"And when you say he made you do things with his father and his friends what do you mean exactly?"
"He made me have sex with them. I was raped by him and his father numerous times during our marriage. Every time I fought it I got hurt. They would take turns," I say as tears burn my eyes. "They took turns and sometimes," I say as my voice cracks remembering the pain, "sometimes they did it together. And for his friends he used me to secure business deals and business transactions. He made me sleep with his friends just for fun and even though I didn't want to; I had to because he threatened me that if I didn't he would kill me or he would hurt me some other way. I did what he told me to do because I was scared of him. I'm still scared of him. He's a monster," I say feeling myself break apart.
"Was sex ever consensual between you two?"
"Sometimes but mostly it was forced and dirty."
"How often would you say you were raped?"
"3 or 4 times a week," I say with tears falling from my eyes, the memories too painful to think about.
"And you two have how many children together?" he asks.
"Two," I say.
"And what is his relationship like with the two kids?"
"There isn't one. Jay didn't want to be a father. He didn't want his kids. He sat and told me he didn't like them. He loses his temper with them easily. They annoy him easily. He doesn't bother with them. He didn't know their birthdays or their middle names. He doesn't know them," I say.
"Very well," he says, "How do the children feel about their father?"
"They're terrified of him," I say.
"Very well," he says, "Your Honor, I have transcripts given to me by their children's therapist. These are what the children have said they feel about their father and all that they have witnessed. They were too young and it's too traumatic for them to be here today so I wanted to give you transcripts their therapist gave to me." He walks the papers from Lylah's and Serenity's therapist over to the judge. "As you can see, Your Honor, the children have witnessed a great deal of these events of their mother being brutalized by their father and belittled by him. You can see that Lylah's words were, 'my daddy is a monster. He hurt my mommy' And Serenity spoke the words, 'I am scared of my dad. He does bad things to mommy and he yells at us' The children are terrified of their father," he says.
"I see this," she says looking over the papers. "And is there proof of these injuries Ms. Richards suffered?"
"Right here," says Mr. Calaway as he hands the photos and medical reports of my injuries to the judge. "And I have no more questions."
"Thank-you," she says.
"Your Honor," says Jay's attorney, "if I may."
"Please," she says.
Jay's attorney gets up just as cocky as Jay and makes his way over to me. "Ms. Richards, you say your marriage was so brutal and that you were raped numerous times if you were raped numerous times and endured such trauma how did you run to the arms of another man so quickly?"
"Because he's gentle with me. He's different," I say. "He respects me and takes no for an answer."
"Isn't it true that before you met Jay you were on a sex binge? Having sex with everyone you met?"
I wince thinking about that time in my life when sex was everything to me. I didn't care who I slept with. I just needed to feel that connection with someone. I look at Joe with embarrassment as his grey eyes meet mine and his face serious. "It's true," I say, "but I was dealing with a lot."
"But how do we know you weren't willing to sleep with those men for your husband to close business deals or just didn't want to have sex with another man including your father in law."
"Because I said no," I say. "I have the right to say no. He didn't listen. He made me do it."
"But there's no proof of that is there?"
"No," I say quietly, "but I said no."
"Sure you did," he says. "And if my client did not want to be a father why did he marry you when he found out you were pregnant with his child?"
I take a deep breath, "because his father made us. His father didn't want a scandal in his family of an unwed pregnancy so he made us get married so we did."
"I see and isn't it true that during the course of your marriage you were unfaithful to Mr. Richards?"
"Yes," I say, "I was."
"And you were sleeping with your boss correct?"
"Yes," I say.
"And you became impregnated during the affair with his child?"
"Yes," I say.
"Very well, if your marriage was so brutal and so devastating, why did you stay? Why did you wait?"
"Because he threatened to kill me," I say. "He threatened to kill me."
"And as for your children do they call your boss Daddy?"
"Yes," I say, "He has been more of a father to him than Jay ever was. Jay never did a thing for him. He's done everything for him in the last few months of their lives. They love him."
"But is it true that you didn't allow your children to spend time with their father?"
"They didn't' want to. When they did they strongly objected to it."
"Very well," he says before he sits down before I go back to my seat. I can barely walk my legs are weak, my stomach turning. I turn to look at Joe and I am ashamed of myself, I am embarrassed of who I was. Jay was playing dirty. He brought up my darkest times in my life and he was using them against me. I am not proud of it but it is what it is. I can't make eye contact with Joe because I am too ashamed. I put my head down as Jay makes his way up to the stand.
"Mr. Richards, do you love your wife?" asks his attorney.
"With everything inside of me," he says, "she makes me upset sometimes but that doesn't mean I don't love her. She is my wife, she's the mother of my children. How could I not love her? She is the best thing to ever happen to me."
"Have you ever physically abused her, verbally and sexually abused her?"
"Physically it was an accident. I never meant to hurt her. It was an accident," I inhale a deep breath as I feel my chest tightening as I keep my head down not looking at anyone as I cry silently to myself. "I never meant to hurt her. I will admit I got a little rough with her but I never meant to hurt her. When we get upset don't we all say stuff we don't mean? I never meant to say those words to her. I was just upset. I didn't mean them at all. Sometimes like everyone else when I get angry I say things I don't mean. I never raped my wife. Teagan likes it rough. She likes to fight me during sex. It turns her on. She likes when I am aggressive. And she likes to test the waters. She wanted to have sex with my friends. She likes that kind of stuff. She enjoyed it. Even with my father. She loved every second of it. We never forced her to do something she didn't want to do."
"And what about your children? Do you love your children?"
"Immensely," he says, "They are my entire world. I just don't get to spend much time with them because I am a very busy man as I am running a company. They don't know me and they are scared of me because their mother built me up as this monster and she has them calling another man daddy. How am I supposed to compete with that? They are my children," he says as he pauses and his voice cracks. "I'm sorry," he says. "I Just need a minute." He's good. This is the real Jay coming out he plays people. He didn't get where he is in the world by sitting around waiting for the world to come to him; he did it by playing people, manipulating them, CONTROLLING them. "I'm sorry, I just love my kids. I just really want to spend more time with them but Teagan never lets me. She took them away from me. I haven't seen them for months. She took them to another place to live before she left me. I just want my family back," he says as his fake cries turn into sobs. I look at him and roll my eyes at his performance.
"Did you ever say you didn't like your kids?"
"Never," he says as he puts his hand on his heart, "I love my kids with my entire heart. They are my entire world. The day I became a father was the best day of my life. The day I married Teagan was the best day of my life. I just want my family to be back together. I'm sorry, this is really hard for me," he says. "It's just really hard for me."
"I have nothing else to ask of my client. He is destroyed by the infidelity of his wife and losing his kids. It's tearing him apart. I have the proof of the DNA of the baby Ms. Richards just gave birth to, as well as a copy of the birth certificate to prove her infidelity during the time they were married," he says before he hands it all to the judge. I'm not sure how he got a copy of my daughter's birth certificate but I am sure someone was paid a good deal of money for it.
"Thank-you," says the judge as she looks over everything he hands to her as Mr. Calaway stands up and makes his way over to Jay to start asking him questions.
"Mr. Richards, you didn't mean to hurt your wife? It was an accident that you broke her ribs numerous times, it was an accident you broke both of her arms not at the same time of course but you did break both her arms at one time. And what about stabbing her was that an accident too? What about breaking her jaw, choking her to the point she almost passed out? That was an accident, and what about her broken nose that she had to get surgically fixed because you did so much damage? Those were all accidents?"
"Yes, Sir, I didn't mean to hurt her like that."
"But you did. One time is an accident but 3 times to the hospital each month is more than an accident it is abuse."
"I know it was an accident."
"You say she likes to have sex with your business partners, your father and your friends? Look at her," he says pointing to me, "does that look like a woman that liked that and liked what you did to her? You have destroyed her. She's broken, she's damaged because you made her do stuff she didn't want to do. She won't even make eye contact with you because she's terrified of you. She is terrified of you! Your children are terrified of you. You are telling me that you want to be a father? Where have you been the last few months and what about the last few years? Your kids don't know you, they are scared of you. They told their therapist you don't like them."
"Because their mother put that in their head, I never said that," he says.
"Really? Because when asked they both told the therapist that their mother has never once said a bad word about you and tried to push them to see you but they didn't want to. Mr. Richards, is it not true that you are having a sexual relationship as well with a woman that used to work for you?"
"Yes," he says, "but only because my wife won't do her job. She won't spread her legs for me. She won't do what she's supposed to do. She walked out on me and took my kids. What am I supposed to do? I just want her back. I just want my life back. I love her. I really do love her."
"But you damaged her, you destroyed her, you made her lose her self-worth, you broke her physically and emotionally, you didn't love her. You just wanted to control her. That's what this marriage is about for you. That's all Teagan ever was to you was a pawn in your business ventures. You used her, you beat her and you broke her. You didn't love her. Love doesn't hurt people, Mr. Richards. The proof is there of how much you hurt her and how much you 'loved' her. I have nothing else to say." Mr. Calaway makes his way back over to me as I keep my head down. I can't look at anyone. I don't want to look at anyone. I just want to go home and be done with this day.
The judge recesses us for at least a half hour to make her decision on whether to legalize our divorce or not. I sit by myself as we wait before Joe walks over to me. "Tea," he says softly. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No," I say. "I don't, Joe." I look at him with pain and sadness in my blue eyes.
"You're hurting," he says as he wraps his arm around me. "I see it in your eyes. They're dark blue. That's the color your eyes were the night I let you walk away."
"Correction," I say, "the night you ditched me for Gina."
"I'm sorry, Teagan," he says, "are you okay?"
"I'll be fine," I say, "I don't want to talk about it. I just want it to be over."
"I know, Angel," he says, "and I am here no matter what."
"Why? You just heard all about my wild escapades how could you still love me after that?"
"Because I know you, I know what's inside of you. I know how amazing you are and how smart you are. I know you as the Teagan Madison you were when we were in high school. I don't care about that stuff, Teagan, it is what it is. What I care about is you and how much I love you. I don't' want to see you hurt and I don't' want to see you cry. I want to see you smile, I want to see you laugh. I want to see you happy and I am going to always make you happy."
"Joe," I say with a soft smile. "I love you too but I don't want to talk about it."
"And you don't have to. When you're ready you can talk to me about it. I'll be here but just know nothing is ever going to push me away from you or make me think differently of you."
"Good to know," I say before we are called back into the courtroom.
We stand as the judge makes her way into the courtroom. She tells us to take our seats. "After much deliberation and looking at all the facts presented to me I would say that this marriage is a toxic one from the infidelity to the abuse. It is a toxic environment and I do see a broken woman as I look at Ms. Richards but I also see a broken man when I look at Mr. Richards therefore I did not make my decision lightly but as of right now the marriage between Teagan Rose Richards and Jay Thomas Richards is officially over. By New York City law your divorce is legal in the courts. You two are no longer legally married however I do want to take a little more time to make my decision on the custody of the children, the division of the assets and the restraining order that Teagan Richards wants in place. We will meet back here tomorrow morning at 9 am to discuss these things. I want all of you to go home and have a good night's sleep. You are dismissed," she says. I stand up and turn to hug Joe feeling relief of being free of being Jay's wife. I can move on with my life now, I can focus on marrying Joe but I still have a restless nervousness inside of me because it's not all over, the custody of my children has not been decided. That's the most important thing to me. I cannot let them go to Jay.
"It's over," says Joe as he hugs me. "I love you, Angel."
"I love you too," I say holding his embrace. "Thank-you, Mr. Calaway."
"Don't thank me quite yet. Let's wait till tomorrow to see what she decides when it comes to the children and the division of assets."
"Okay," I say with a soft smile as I let out a deep breath.
As we are leaving the courthouse Joe holds onto my hand with our fingers linked together. "Teagan," I hear Jay's voice behind us. I turn around to face him. "Just a word?"
"Should I?" I ask Joe.
"Go ahead," he says as he lets go of my hand but keeps an eye on Jay and me.
"What do you want?" I ask as I face him.
"I just want a hug."
"Okay," I say with confusion.
Jay wraps his arms around me and I reluctantly wrap my arms around him. I am aware of Joe's eyes on my back as I feel Jay's breath on my ear. "This isn't over, Teagan," he whispers aggression in his voice. "I'm going to make your life a living nightmare," he says sending chills up my spine. "I can break you again," he says before he releases me. He smiles at me as if nothing happened. "I'll see you tomorrow," he says flipping his switch before walking away.
"What was that about?" asks Joe.
"Nothing," I say, "he just wanted one last hug."
"I saw," he says, "so you and me this weekend alone in New Hampshire or where would you like to go?" he asks as we walk down the stairs to the courthouse toward his black SUV and Roderick standing outside of it.
"I'm thinking some beach time would suffice. Pensacola again?"
"I have a better idea," he says, "you'll like it."
"I'm sure I will," I say not able to shake my mind off of what Jay said to me.
"Are you okay?" he asks before we get into the SUV.
"I'm fine, I can't wait for a nice relaxing weekend away with you. I definitely need it and so do you."
"And that's why we are going to take it and my mom is going to come up to take care of the kids for us, you know to help Cynthia out."
"Perfect," I say softly.
"Teagan," he says lifting my chin. "I love you."
"I love you too," I say with a soft forced smile. He smiles at me and kisses my lips softly before we climb into the SUV.
*A/N: What did you think of the divorce hearing? Did Jay put on a good act? How do you feel about Teagan's reaction to her darkest times being used against her? What about the confession of everything that transpired with Jay, his dad and Jay's friends? How do you think Joe feels about it all coming out like that? Do you think finding out that Teagan had a wild sex life after him will change how he feels? Do you think Teagan will ever be willing to talk about it with Joe? Are you glad they are divorced? What do you think the judge is going to decide? What about Jay's threat? Is he going to come through on his threat? Do Tea and Joe need a time to get away alone together after this court thing? Please review and thank-you for reading.
