"Did this abuse ever stop?" The lawyer asked.

"No" Jade responded.

"When was the last time he rented you out or raped you himself?" He asked.

"The day before I escaped, he brought three men…two in the afternoon and one at night" Jade said as she tried to stay strong, but the pain in her voice was almost palpable. Mr. West was just looking at her and imagining that, he remembered the day she'd arrived and the fact she'd been running from that hell made everything so clear to him.

"Did you usually have to have sex with more than one man a day?" The lawyer asked.

"No, it was usually just my dad and he brought five or six strangers a month, but having more than one stranger in a day was something that just happened sometimes and I could always tell when it would be one of those days" Jade commented.

"How?" The lawyer asked.

"Because dad would make me pancakes and milkshakes in the morning, I could eat as much as I wanted and he would give me gifts" Jade said.

"What kind of gifts?" Her lawyer asked.

"When I was little it would be things like dolls and colored pencils because I liked drawing" She commented "When I was a little older, he started giving me new clothes and one time he even gave me a music player with lots of records, it was amazing, I was so happy that day" She added smiling, but then she looked down as her smile dropped "Until the men arrived…and I just…" she said and stopped because she could feel her voice about to crack, so she took a breath, while her friends and parents stared at her mortified.

"So, when he knew he would be allowing multiple men to rape you, he 'paid you' in a way, right?" Her lawyer asked and she looked to the side thinking about it, she had never really thought of it as payment, but it made sense.

"I guess…" Jade said emotionlessly and sighed "At first I didn't notice it, I was just happy when I woke up to the smell of pancakes and all those gifts, but after a while I began to see the pattern so…" she said and sighed "I hate pancakes now" She added sincerely and Evelyn looked down completely heartbroken.

"Okay, let's go back, after you were with the three men that day, how did you manage to get out?" Her lawyer questioned.

"Dad said I had been a good girl, so he let me stay upstairs with him and I waited until he fell asleep, that's when I grabbed the keys and I ran away" she informed.

"But you said he started letting out at fourteen, why didn't you escape before?" He questioned.

"I didn't know that what we did was wrong, I was afraid, I…I thought we were normal, that's what he always said" Jade explained "And he always told me that he was my dad and that if I ever went out and got lost somehow, the police would just send me back to him because that was the right thing to do, I was his daughter and I knew that if I escaped he would be upset, I didn't want him to hurt me" she added.

"Hurt you? It seems to me he did plenty of that already, what else could he do to you?" The lawyer asked and she took a breath to calm down because she had to keep talking and she didn't want to crack.

"I didn't think of the sex as bad at the time, I didn't like it but I thought it was normal, so that wasn't a punishment in my head" She commented "But there were things he did when I wasn't a 'good girl' and I was afraid of those" Jade added.

"Could you elaborate? What did he consider a bad behavior?" He questioned.

"There were times I really didn't want to do the things he asked me to do…to him or his friends, so I cried and I wasn't supposed to cry, that upset him and he punished me" Jade said.

"Punish you how?"

"Umm…he would hit me or make me kneel on uncooked rice for hours while he watched me and made me apologize over and over and over again until my time was up" She commented "Other times, when he was really upset, he would just turn off the lights in the room and leave me in the darkness for days with no food or water or any noise, at first it's not so bad, but after a while it's just…I desperately wanted him to come back, I didn't even care about the sex, I just…" she added and looked down "Whatever, the point is I didn't want him to punish me, that's why I never tried to escape before"

"Oh my god" Tori said sadly.

"Okay, now let's talk about the tattoo, how did you get it?" Her lawyer asked.

"I saw the picture of Jade on the internet and I thought we looked alike, I figured that if I escaped and became someone else, then the police wouldn't have to send me back to my real dad, because they wouldn't know it was me" Jade explained "So I cut the image and told him I wanted it as birthday present"

"And he said yes just like that? He didn't get suspicious?" He asked.

"I gained his trust because I never tried to escape, he said I deserved it" Jade said.

"At this point you had a plan to escape, though, he just didn't know it" Her lawyer commented and she nodded.

"I just wanted a normal family and I…I thought they'd be happy if they found their daughter, no one would get hurt" Jade said sincerely and looked at her former parents "I'm really sorry" she said to them and they stared at her sadly.

"There's your criminal, mastermind" Jade's lawyer said sarcastically to the prosecutor "This girl is a victim who was only trying to escape the hell was she born into, she never had criminal intent so we shouldn't treat her like one"

"Can any of this be proven?" The prosecutor asked and Jade looked at her lawyer nervously "It's just her word, how can we be sure she isn't lying to get sympathy?" He questioned and Jade chuckled to herself as she looked to the side and a few tears streamed down her cheeks, she couldn't believe that man was seriously suggesting she'd made it all up.

"Are you serious? Have you even glanced at her hospital records?" The lawyer asked "All the evidence we have supports her story" He affirmed and turned back to the judge "No more questions"

"You may step down, Miss" The judge said to Jade and she did, but she didn't have the guts to look at anyone, so she just made her way to the desk with her lawyer.

As soon as the trial was over, Jade was sent back to jail, but the West stayed in court to talk to the prosecutor, they couldn't send her to prison after hearing what her life had been like.

"We want to drop the charges" Mr. West said to the detectives and the prosecutor.

"Excuse me? She lied to you for years, she might be lying now" The lawyer said.

"Come on, Evans, give the poor girl a break…she is not a criminal, she is a victim" Anna said "It's obvious she isn't lying"

"Filing charges was a mistake, you were right…she doesn't deserve this" Evelyn said.

"I didn't know her life had been so horrible, poor girl…no wonder she had to lie to get away from that man" Diana said.

"Just cut her a deal and give her probation" Alex said to the lawyer and he sighed.

"Alright, I'll talk to her attorney" He said and they all nodded, Beck and the rest of the gang were on their way out of the courtroom, but then Evelyn's voice stopped him.

"Guys, have you talked to her since the arrest?" She asked concernedly.

"We went to see her in prison, but…she barely spoke, she is really sad" Cat commented sadly and Evelyn felt her heart crushing.

"Not to mention the fact she keeps getting beaten up by her cellmate" Andre added worriedly.

"God, we should have never sent her there" Mr. West said regretfully and shook his head "Just get her out, please" He said to the detectives.

"Do you know where that bastard is?" Evelyn asked them, referring to Jade's father.

"No, we've tried to find him, but she doesn't know where he is or she doesn't want to tell us" Anna commented "That poor child has been through hell, at least the years she had with you gave her some peace"

"What happens when she is released?" Diana asked and the detectives shrugged.

"She is on her own, maybe we can help her find a temporary shelter but…" Anna said and looked down "She doesn't have a real chance, unfortunately"

"What do you mean?" Mr. West questioned, seeing her in court had moved him and his wife to their core, they couldn't just forget they had been raising her for three years and when they heard her speak about her life, they just felt the need to protect her again.

"She was abused all her life, she has no family, she can't stay in a shelter forever and she is too old for foster care, we've had plenty of cases like this, it's never a happy ending" Anna said sadly "Worst part of the job, these kids deserve so much better but the system is a joke, they just get tossed on the streets like trash and then we are supposed to be surprised when the inevitable happens"

"What is that supposed to mean? What do you think is gonna happen to her?" Evelyn asked and the detectives looked at each other sadly.

"Pretty girl, alone, troubled, homeless, it won't be long until a pimp finds her, gives her a roof and hooks her on drugs, then she becomes his property" Alex commented and they stared at him shocked.

"And just like that she is back in her old life, controlled by a son of a bitch who will abuse and exploit her until she overdoses or gets killed by some bastard in the job, girls like her rarely make it past their mid-twenties, it's a fucked up world" Anna said angrily.

"We see it all the time" Alex added "It's tragic, but it's reality…and the worst part is that when they finally die, no one cares because they're just hookers and junkies, no one misses them and it's like they never even existed"

"No, that won't happen to her" Beck said upset.

"It's just statistics" Alex said "No money and no family means she's on her own and even though she is eighteen, she is still a kid, a kid who's completely alone in the world"

Jade was released from prison the next day but the gang didn't know the exact time, so they didn't pick her up and she didn't even expect them to at that point, she felt lost so she just walked away from the detention center and took a bus back to the city, but she didn't know where to go. She felt too ashamed to go see Beck, it was one thing to have been abused by her father, but she knew he was aware of all the other men she'd been with and she couldn't handle it.

Jade had nothing on her, only the clothes she'd been wearing the day of the arrest so she was cold but she didn't have anywhere to go, so she laid down on a bench in the park and embraced herself as several tears streamed down her cheeks. She just wanted to go back in time and be with her fake parents, she wanted to hug Evelyn, she wanted to drink coffee with her dad, she wanted to be in her bed talking to Beck on the phone, she wanted to have a normal life, but reality wasn't so benevolent and that was not her place, because she was not Jade.

"Where could she be?" Beck asked worriedly, it'd been over a week since her release and they had not heard from her.

"I don't know, her phone sends us straight to voicemail" Tori said "We should've told the cops to tell her we'd pick her up from prison"

"Well, it's too late for that, so what do we do? We've looked everywhere and nothing" Andre said.

"Do you guys think that cop was right?" Cat asked worriedly.

"About what exactly?" Beck asked.

"You know what, she is homeless and she is alone and…this city is full of creeps" Tori said worriedly and Beck looked down, he'd worried about that possibility as well. He just didn't want to believe it, but the more time that passed, the more danger she was in.

Jade had indeed been sleeping on park benches all those days and she'd sold her phone to afford some food, but she'd run out of money quickly, so she didn't know what to do. Part of her just wanted to get things over with, she felt the impulse to jump off a bridge and put an end to her misery, but she wasn't brave enough to do it, so she was stuck feeling lost and hopeless.

"Hey baby girl" A tall man with a giant tiger tattoo on his arm said as he approached Jade in the park at night, she was just sitting on a bench looking at the sky but when she heard his voice, she looked at him.

"Leave me alone" Jade responded coldly.

"Hey, don't be afraid, I just wanna be friends" He said and gave her a coat "It's cold" he added and put it on her.

"Thanks" She said emotionlessly.

"You from around the area?" He asked "I saw you sleeping here last night, this is not a safe place for a pretty thing like you"

"I have nowhere to go, so it's this park or the one across the street" Jade admitted coldly and he smiled.

"Not necessarily, why don't you come with me? I can give you a real place to live, a warm bed and nice food, how does that sound?" He suggested and she stared at him, she felt tempted because starving and freezing on the street wasn't nice.

"In exchange for what?" She asked and he smiled as he placed his hand on her thigh.

"Don't worry, nothing you won't like in the end" He said and tried to kiss her, so she moved back scared "It's okay, hon, no need to be afraid, I wanna be your friend"

"Please stay away from me" Jade demanded nervously.

"I have something here that will loosen you up a little, I swear it's heaven in a pill" The man said and handed her a little pill from his pocket "No worries, it's free, for my new special friend" He added smirking.

"No thanks" She said.

"Come on, honey, just take it and come with me, I'll take care of you" The man insisted.

"Leave me alone" Jade demanded and stood up to walk away but the man held her arm.

"Darling, I'm the best choice you have in this neighborhood, all the other assholes beat their girls, but I don't, I take care of my girls, come and see for yourself" The man said to her.

"Let go of me" Jade demanded.

"You need help and I can give it to you, let's have dinner" He suggested "I can be a good daddy to you"

"Stay away from me" Jade demanded again and tried to move away, but he kept holding her arm.

"A girl needs protection, let me help you, hon" He insisted as he tried to drag her with him, but she kept resisting.

"Let go!" She demanded.

"Don't be scared, I wanna help" The man said but she shook her head "I'll give you a home, sweetie, what other choice do you have?" He asked and she stared at him mortified, because she knew he was right and she hated it.

"I…" Jade started and he smiled.

"You are scared, I know but there's no reason to be" He said nicely and let go of her arm "I will protect you, I promise" He added as he held her hand and Jade looked at him debating what to do.

"Here, keep these and take them when you feel like it, they're my welcome gift to you" The man said as he showed her a little bag of pills and put them in her pocket.

"What are they?" Jade asked and he smiled.

"Don't worry, you'll like them" He affirmed and held her hand nicely "Let's go, I'll show you your new home…" He said and started walking, so she walked with him in resignation, she didn't have much of a choice.

"What's your name?" The man asked nicely as they walked on the sidewalk.

"Jade" She simply said, it was the only name she'd ever had.

"Nice to meet you, Jade" He said and put his arm around her waist "You'll love it here, we are a big family" He added and she sighed, but then a black car parked next to them.

"Hey Rogers, get away from this girl if you don't want me to lock your ass in jail" Detective Anna suddenly said.

"I'm not doing anything, just trying to be a good Samaritan" He said.

"Good Samaritan my ass, move it or I'll arrest you" Anna said and he chuckled.

"Okay, I'll go but sweetie, you know where to find me, I'll be waiting for you" He said to Jade and winked.

"Jade, you okay?" Anna asked and she nodded "Where have you been? I've been looking for you for over a week"

"Are you gonna arrest me again? Why? I haven't done anything" Jade said confused, but part of her felt it would be better to be in prison, at least she had a bed and food there.

"Get in" Anna ordered nicely and Jade stared at her unsurely, she didn't know why the cop wanted to take her "Come on, I have a surprise for you"

Hi guys!

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