Hi guys!
This is the last chapter, but it's basically two in one, so...enjoy!
"Do you have anything else to say?" The lawyer asked but Jade was still looking at her father.
"It's okay, honey, I love you" Her father said.
"I'm sorry, daddy" Jade said as several tears streamed down her cheeks and the lawyer smirked, while her friends and parents looked down mortified.
"That's okay, it's not too late make things right" The lawyer said and she nodded "You admit that you love your father, right? You admit you were wrong to run away, don't you?" He questioned and Jade knew she was making a mistake, she couldn't look at her friends and family because she imagined their disappointment, but she couldn't keep accusing her father.
"Yes" Jade said as she looked down.
"You admit you wanted to be with him all this time, before you were 'rescued', right?" He questioned and she felt disgusting, but she had to say yes, she couldn't help it.
"Yes" She responded as her friends stared at her shocked, they couldn't believe what they were witnessing, she was actively defending her father.
"Why did you lie to the police then?" The lawyer asked and she shook her head confused as she thought of an answer.
"I…I don't know" Jade said and looked back at her father "I'm so sorry, daddy" she said again and he smiled as he nodded, so she tried to smile back as she wiped the tears away.
"Oh god…" Mr. West said worriedly as he looked down and rubbed his forehead.
"What is it?" His wife asked and he sighed.
"She just apologized to her abuser in open court and denied the abuse even happened" He commented and shook his head.
"How bad is this?" Diana asked.
"He could be free in a couple of years, that's how bad" He informed mortified and they looked at each other worriedly.
There were some charges that couldn't be disputed, such as her kidnapping, but that wasn't a big enough punishment and he had the chance to get a lighter sentence. She was an adult so they could also dismiss the recent rape charges because she had basically admitted to sleeping with him willingly.
They needed to get him for her childhood abuse, that was the only way to truly bury him, but she was blowing it and they were afraid she would take that back too and without her testimony, they couldn't prosecute him for those crimes, because they had no real proof, she could just say someone else had abused her. They were about to witness the unthinkable: he would walk free and she was giving him they key.
"No more questions" The lawyer said and walked away, so Jade looked down feeling horrible, she just wanted to disappear. She couldn't face her family, her friends or her father, she felt guilty about everything.
"Way to go for the defense, intimidating and confusing a girl who only a few weeks ago was rescued from the defendant, barely alive because she tried to kill herself in captivity" The prosecutor said and walked closer to Jade "Jade, we just saw a really nice picture of you and your dad on your birthday, but let's just focus on something else now" She said and turned off the screen.
"Come on honey, you can do this" Evelyn whispered nervously, they were really worried about the result of that trial at that point.
"Tell us what a regular day was like when you were a kid, since you were 'normal' according to your previous statement" The woman said.
"Um…I was in my room, dad woke me up for breakfast and taught me school stuff" Jade said.
"What happened after that?" The woman asked and Jade shrugged.
"Nothing, I just…stayed there and he left to work and then…" She started and looked down "He came back later"
"To do what?" The woman asked.
"See me…?" Jade said unsurely, but she kept looking at her father and he was nodding a little.
"Are you asking me or telling me?" The prosecutor asked.
"He came to see me and brought me lunch" Jade said.
"And then what?" The lawyer asked and Jade looked back to her father, so the prosecutor stepped in front of her to block her view of him "Don't look at him, look at me and answer the question, what else did he do? Did he only feed you and teach you things?" The woman questioned.
"Umm…I don't remember" Jade said nervously and her friends looked at each other confused.
"You sure about that?" The prosecutor asked.
"It's been a long time" She responded.
"You're under oath, Jade, you have to tell the truth and may I remind you, this isn't the first time you tell this story in open court" The woman commented "What else did he do?" She asked.
"I wanna go now, I don't want to do this" Jade responded.
"It doesn't matter what you want, you're a witness, you have to testify or you'll be held in contempt" The woman responded.
"What does that even mean?" She asked "You can't make me do anything" Jade added upset.
"Sure I can, you can either be honest or you can go back to jail, take your pick" The lawyer said coldly.
"Jail? Why?" Jade asked confused.
"First, for refusing to testify and then for lying to the authorities, that's a serious crime, are you aware of that?" The prosecutor asked and Jade stared at her nervously.
"I…I…" Jade started, but she didn't know what to respond.
"You didn't know that when you lied to the police and to the judge in your last trial?" The lawyer asked aggressively, but Jade stayed quiet "This is not a game, I'm going to ask you questions and you are going to respond honestly, remember you are under oath so think carefully before you tell anymore lies"
"But-" Jade started but the woman cut her off.
"Jade, when was the first time you had sex with your father?" The lawyer asked and she looked at her a little surprised by the question, she wasn't expecting that or the treatment she was getting. She didn't feel she was a witness, she felt she was the one on trial, the two lawyers were really aggressive towards her.
"What?" Jade asked confused.
"Wasn't I clear enough?" The prosecutor asked back and Jade looked at her upset "Come on, Jade, we all know you've had sex with him, it's not a secret, you recently had an abortion because you were pregnant with your own sibling" she added and Jade looked down ashamedly.
"Umm…" Jade muttered, but she didn't know what to say, she didn't want to keep talking.
"Hey, it's fine…you're an adult now and you're free to sleep with whoever you want, including your own father, he says it was consensual and you say you were with him willingly, so it must be true, you had sex with him because you wanted to, right?" The lawyer commented and Jade couldn't respond, she was just staring at her nervously "So, tell us, when was the first time you did it?" She questioned almost cynically.
"What is that woman doing?" Evelyn asked her husband "Jade is not the one on trial" she added upset.
"She is doing what she has to do to save this case and make them see who he is, Jade isn't really helping" Mr. West responded.
"Jade, answer the question, when was the first time you had sex with your father?" The lawyer asked.
"I don't wanna do this anymore" Jade said and tried to stand up, but the woman's voice stopped her.
"Again, you don't have a choice, so sit back down" She ordered and Jade rolled her eyes.
"Answer the question, young lady" The judge demanded.
"Yes, tell us all, the defense wants to argue you were a happy child because you got pizza and presents on your birthday, but that's not the whole picture, is it?" She questioned and Jade glared at her angrily.
"What are you trying to prove? I take it all back, okay? Just leave me alone" Jade said upset.
"You think you can just 'take it back' with no consequence? If you lied, you'll be back here very soon and I can assure you the charges will not be dropped this time" The prosecutor threatened and Jade stared at her nervously "Do you want to go back to prison for the man in that chair? Will you keep lying to protect him?" She questioned coldly.
"Please stop" Jade said, she couldn't take it any longer.
"How old were you the first time you had sex with your father?" The woman questioned again "Just answer the question, it's quite simple and you know the answer, I can read your previous statement if you want" The prosecutor said.
"Stop it" Jade demanded upset.
"I'm gonna ask you again and if you don't respond, you'll be held in contempt and the first thing I'm gonna do when I leave this courtroom is file charges against you, so you're not coming out of that cell any time soon" The lawyer informed.
"Can she do that?" Evelyn asked her husband worriedly and he sighed.
"She could charge Jade for false allegations, but she didn't lie before, so don't worry, she is just trying to scare her into telling the truth, I'd do that too" Mr. West said and Evelyn exhaled relieved.
"So, now that we are clear, tell us, how old were you the first time you had sex with your father?" The prosecutor asked again and Jade sighed in resignation, she knew she had to say it.
"Seven" Jade said upset and the woman nodded.
"So, you do remember" The prosecutor said with irony and smiled, so Jade rolled her eyes "Seven, a seven year old CHILD having sex with a grown man who happened to be her father, is that 'normal' to you?" She questioned and Jade exhaled annoyed "Please, enlighten us…was that also normal in your new family? Did you have sex with your adoptive father too?" She questioned and Jade's parents looked at each other, that prosecutor was ruthless.
"What? Of course not" Jade said angrily "What's wrong with you?"
"Me? You said you had a normal childhood, Jade, so you admit having sex with your father from the age of seven is NOT normal" The lawyer said.
"No, it's not" Jade said coldly.
"What about living in a basement all your life? We have your medical records, are you saying they're lies too?" The prosecutor asked and she looked to the side "Lying is not so easy when there are proofs that contradict you, I guess you didn't think about that when you lied to this jury" She commented.
"What's your point?" Jade asked annoyed.
"I just want the cold hard truth" The woman said "So, going back to the very nice and healthy relationship you had with your father" She said sarcastically and Jade rolled her eyes again "How many times a week did you two have sex?" She asked and Jade sighed in resignation, she knew she had to be honest and just respond.
"I don't know, four or five" She said.
"Okay, so…that makes 260 times a year, for 8 years because you left at 15 and since you were underage you couldn't consent, so that means your father raped you around TWO THOUSAND times, is that right?" The woman asked and Jade felt her blood going cold, she was completely disarmed by that point.
"Jesus…" Andre whispered shocked, they hadn't done the math and clearly Jade hadn't either, she looked so appalled.
"And that's not even counting the times he pimped you out to other pedophiles, I mean the number of times you were abused before you hit 15 was so high, we can't even know for sure, yet you say you had a normal happy childhood" The lawyer commented and Jade stared at her trying to control her emotions, but she felt them building up inside her, she just wanted to disappear "You are a liar, Jade, your childhood wasn't normal and it definitely wasn't happy, was it?" She asked coldly.
"Why are you doing this?" Jade asked confused as several tears streamed down her cheeks "You are supposed to be on my side" She said upset and the prosecutor shook her head.
"I am on the side of justice and the only truth here is that you are a victim and that man is a criminal" The prosecutor said as she pointed at her father "You still wanna tell the jury that he is innocent? You want to say you slept with him and all the other men willingly?" She asked, but Jade was just sitting there with lots of tears flowing down her cheeks.
"No, he made me do it" Jade finally said and her friends closed their eyes in relief.
"Of course he did, he was the adult and you were the child" The lawyer said and Jade looked down. "He might've given you presents and cake a few times, but that doesn't mean anything, he still raped you for years, he kept you locked up like a dog, he allowed other men to abuse you, he stole your childhood, didn't he?" She asked and Jade stared at her sadly, that was true.
"Yes…" Jade muttered.
"You escaped because you had to, you needed to and you got yourself a new life, the only reason we are even here today is because he tracked you down and took you back to that room where he raped you again and he got you pregnant, isn't that right?" The lawyer asked and Jade looked down at her scars, hearing it again made her remember the day she'd slit her wrists.
"Yes" Jade responded and the woman took a paper from her desk.
"And you thought you'd never get out, so you decided to take your own life because you had no idea you'd be rescued, you thought you'd be with him forever and you just couldn't take it" She said as she read from her statement and Jade looked down again "This is your statement from a month ago, here you say he gave you a piano and you knew that meant he was bringing some men to rape you, so you used it to break the mirror and used the glass to slice your wrists" She commented and more tears streamed down Jade's cheeks.
"Yes" Jade said as she stroked her scars and tried to contain herself, she didn't want to break out crying there.
"Did you lie to the police at any point about this or your childhood?" The lawyer asked.
"No" Jade responded.
"Did you just lie to this court when you said you wanted to be with him?" The lawyer asked and Jade looked down.
"Yes" She said ashamedly and the woman nodded.
"Good, thank you for clarifying" She said.
"Can I go now?" Jade asked back emotionlessly and the prosecutor nodded.
"Yes, you may step down now" She said and Jade immediately walked off the stand, but she kept looking down, she only looked to the side to see her father and he smiled. It was just a second, but it felt eternal to her, it was like everything was in slow motion after being on the stand for so long.
"I love you, don't forget it" Her father said as he abruptly moved towards her, he was fast so the guards couldn't catch him in time and he managed to grab her in the middle of the courtroom.
Jade had been caught totally off guard so she only heard his voice and then felt his arm surrounding her neck from behind, he was tall and strong, so she was really small next to him "You'll always be my little girl, I'm sorry honey" He said as he squeezed her neck with his forearm to strangle her.
"Stop it, STOP IT" His lawyer screamed as all the guards tried to get him off her, but he was really strong and he had a good hold of her, so they couldn't get him to let her go.
"Jade!" Beck screamed scared as he and Jade's parents rushed to her rescue, she was just shaking desperately and trying to hit his arm because she couldn't breathe. All the guards were trying to control him, but he was using all his strength to resist.
Jade was barely touching the floor, she was on her toes and he kept making the squeeze tighter to kill her faster "Sh, sh, sh…just go, go, stop fighting" He said as he used all his strength to crush her and she was starting to see shadows, she felt her energy lowering quickly and she couldn't even hit his arm properly, her hands were just shaking.
Everything had happened so fast that they couldn't even fully process it, one moment he was on his chair and the next he was about to kill his daughter, it was unbelievable.
"It's okay, you're gonna see mommy soon" He said to her and kissed the top of her head as he fought to keep his arm around her, even with all the guard surrounding him "Rest, just rest darling…it's gonna be okay" He said as he looked down at her and watched her struggle for her last breath, but then a guard shot him on his foot, they couldn't risk shooting Jade by accident.
The shot immediately distracted him so he loosened of her neck for a moment and the guards used that second to restrain his arm to stop him from finishing her, Jade immediately dropped on her knees and then used her arm to support her upper body as she struggled to breathe properly. She felt dizzy, she was out of air and she could barely see.
"Honey!" Evelyn said terrified as they tried to help her, but she was just gasping for air and holding her neck.
"It's okay, you're okay, you're okay" Beck said nervously as he got on his knees next to her to help her breathe properly "Take it slow, take it slow…" He added, but she felt she was going to pass out so he put his arm around her waist to hold her in case she did.
"We need a doctor now!" Tori exclaimed worriedly and a few seconds later the paramedic rushed into the courtroom to help Jade.
"Honey, mommy misses you…don't fight it, just let go" Jade's father said as he watched her struggling, he'd hurt her so she still couldn't breathe "It's okay, it's all gonna be good soon" He added and the gang looked at him shocked, they couldn't believe how sick and twisted he was.
"Get that man out of my courtroom" The judge ordered and the guards dragged him away.
"Oh my god, what just happened?" Tori asked confused.
"He just signed his sentence, that's what happened" Mr. West said and turned back to Jade, who was being treated by the paramedic, he'd already put an oxygen mask on her face and he was helping her regulate her breathing. It took her a few minutes and when she was finally breathing normally, the paramedic helped her to stand up. She was fine, but her neck and head hurt and her eyes looked red.
"Why are her eyes like that?" Cat asked confused.
"It's normal, don't worry…it'll fade" The paramedic said.
"Let's go outside" Beck said as he hugged Jade and took her out of the room.
"I'll see what's gonna happen with the case and I'll meet you in a few" Mr. West said to his family and they nodded as they left the courtroom as well.
"How are you feeling? Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" Beck asked worriedly once they were outside.
"I'm okay" Jade said with a raspy voice and sighed sadly "He tried to kill me…" she added.
"Yes, he did" He responded, just remembering what he'd felt in those moments made his blood freeze again. He'd been terrified.
"Why would he do that?" Jade asked sadly with a few tears in her eyes, but her voice broke again, it was hard for her to keep her voice steady.
"Don't speak too much" He said "And don't try to understand, he is a sick man, he knew he was done and he wanted you to be done too, but he didn't succeed"
"I…I thought he would" Jade admitted and a tear streamed down her cheek "I felt I was dying"
"It's okay, it's over now and he won't hurt you again" Beck said and Jade looked at him ashamedly.
"Why aren't you upset? I blew it" Jade said "I said sorry to him, they all saw that…they'll think I wanted it, maybe they'll believe I lied in the end"
"What are you saying, darling? You were a child, the prosecutor said it" Evelyn commented confused as she and the others joined them "They know what he is and what he did to you in front of everyone just confirmed it, don't worry"
"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I don't know what happened to me" Jade said.
"It's okay, that lawyer wanted to confuse you and that man manipulated you all your life, but the prosecutor made them see the truth in the end" Her mother affirmed and Jade sighed.
"Two thousand times…" She said and closed her eyes disgusted.
"Don't think about that, it's not worth it" Beck affirmed and hugged her again, so she leaned into him as they waited.
A few minutes later, John West finally walked out of the courtroom and joined them in the hallway.
"What happened?" Jade asked almost whispering and held her neck because it still hurt, she was scared of having ruined her own case.
"The trial will resume tomorrow, but there's nothing to worry about, it's just sentencing and he'll be found guilty on all charges, plus attempted murder" He explained "Don't worry, darling, that bastard will never see the light of day again and I'll personally arrange for him to receive the treatment he deserves in prison"
"What do you mean? What are you gonna do?" Diana asked.
"No one likes pedophiles and they become really popular in prison" He responded and Jade looked down, she wasn't happy about it but she didn't feel sad either, she felt nothing.
"Good" Beck said upset "He deserves to suffer"
"And he will" Mr. West said and smiled at Jade "As for you, my love, it's time to move on completely"
"Do you really think I can?" Jade asked in her raspy breaking voice and her mother stroked her cheek.
"Of course you can and you will" Evelyn affirmed "But right now we gotta get you checked at the hospital, missy, we need to make sure you're okay"
"Mom, I'm okay, I wanna go home" Jade responded.
"I wasn't asking, let's go" Evelyn ordered and Jade rolled her eyes smiling a little, that was the most normal exchange she'd had all day: contradicting her mother, only to be shut down immediately. It almost felt normal and that gave her the comfort she needed in that moment.
Jade had to continue her treatment because her depression wasn't easy to overcome, but she had a family and friends by her side to help her. She no longer had to worry about being kicked out and left alone, they knew everything about her and they still wanted her, they still loved her and for the first time, she actually felt she had a chance at a happy life. The ghosts from that dark room would never completely fade, she just had to keep them at bay, but after everything she'd been through, she knew she could.
Happy-ish ending, I hope you liked it and the whole story
PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME ALL YOUR THOUGHTS!
Also, remember you can always give me ideas of stories you'd like me to write, I don't assure I'll do it, but I definitely think about it and if I find a way to make it work, I write it :)