The courtroom was half filled with reporters from every possible news outlet in New York. It was outrageous and yet not shocking at all. Everybody was following the trial. Fortunately, Rafael was immune to all of the pressure that would come from those outlets. He just thought they were nosy. They made no difference to him when he started that morning. Bauer was up first.
"...and when the third woman, Tiana Raynes, came to you and said Shakir Wilkins had raped her, did you promise her a bonus?"
"Yes, I did," the man seemed at least a bit guilty for his actions.
"Can you tell the jury why you offered these women bonuses, which may appear to some as buying their silence?" prompted Rafael.
"I take no joy in this. I've had a long-term relationship with Mr. Wilkins. I simply couldn't reconcile my knowledge of him with what these women were saying. At the time, I believed that these were false allegations."
"And now?"
"After I saw how upset Carla was in that elevator, it began to gnaw at me. And these other girls... There's a saying: When three people at a party tell you you're drunk, don't drive home."
That may not have been the best comparison but Rafael would take it so long as he said nothing else unprompted. "Thank you, Mr. Bauer."
After him, Calhoun took her turn. "I'm sure we can all agree you're in a difficult position here, Mr. Bauer. Yes, thank you. But isn't it true you're only testifying today in exchange for avoiding charges of bribing a witness?"
That's common knowledge, scowled Rafael. It was a rather weak beginning which made him slightly curious of how she would end it.
"I'm testifying here today because I made a wrong decision, and for that, I apologize," Bauer responded.
"But no charges have been filed?"
"Correct."
"At the time these complainants came forward, did you believe their stories?"
"No, I did not. I simply couldn't think that the man I knew was capable of doing the things they said he was doing."
"But now you do believe that Shakir Wilkins assaulted these three women?"
"Yes, I do. As I said, after that scene in the elevator with Carla, replaying all their words without blinders on, so God help me, yes, I do."
"Does the sudden change in your beliefs give you the right to invoke the morals clause and terminate your contract with Mr. Wilkins, saving your company roughly half a billion dollars?"
"Roughly, yes, but that's not why I terminated him—"
"Does getting out of your contract with Mr. Wilkins provide long-term relief?"
There it was. Rafael cut in with a sharp "Objection!"
He would never be the fool to underestimate that woman, neither would the others.
"We need to prepare Tiana," he said as soon as they were out of the courthouse. The others had already thought about that and thus called ahead to schedule it with the woman. "Calhoun's going to go after her and strongly."
"When doesn't she?" Amanda countered, making a good point.
"We'll make sure she's here this afternoon," Olivia promised him. She would see it personally if she had to.
"I can bring over the file too to make sure that we don't leave anything out," Montserrat said.
"You?" Nick was sending her a half smirk. "I wonder why?" Beside him, Fin shook his head and nearly showed a smile.
"What is this? High school?" Montserrat raised an eyebrow at them, then, just to prove her point, she seized Olivia's arm. "I'm getting the principal!"
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Enough guys."
"He started it," Montserrat pointed a finger at Nick.
"And if he doesn't watch it, I'll finish it," Rafael surprised them with his own input. He was above these types of jabs but not if they were directed towards Montserrat. "Drop it, Amaro."
Nick looked pleasantly satisfied. Sonny gave him a light shove from behind. It truly felt like high school.
~ 0 ~
Later that afternoon, Montserrat returned to the courthouse with Tania to go over her testimony. The young woman begrudgingly made her way to the appropriate seat and started the session rather uninterestedly. Montserrat had taken her mood as a cause of the entire situation, which was very fair. Rafael had to badger her with questions which couldn't possibly lift the woman's mood.
"Then I woke up. My dress was ripped, stained...he raped me," she spoke slowly, her arms folded over her chest, her gaze looking...bored? Montserrat thought she had to be wrong.
Rafael either didn't notice it from where he sat which, in Montserrat's opinion, couldn't be any less professional given his spot was on the jury stand with his feet propped up. "And you didn't tell anyone."
Tiana shifted in her seat, finally giving him the time of day. "Look, I know I have to do this, but I had to take an express bus and a taxi to get here."
Rather unimportant and pretty much nothing to do with the topic but given the situation, Montserrat assured her it wouldn't be a problem. "Okay, we can reimburse you for that."
Apparently, she said something terrible because Tiana was sending her the coldest of looks. "And that's it?"
She sounded incredulous — why would she be incredulous?
"Is everything all right, Tiana?" Rafael asked her.
"I just…" Tiana sighed. "Forget it. Just tell me what you and Mr. Bauer want me to say."
"We want you to say exactly what happened," Montserrat spoke slowly, getting more confused as the seconds ticked by.
"Lemme look at what I said before, and I'll get it right."
"Why would we—"
"What did you mean when you said you'd say what Orion Bauer wanted you to say?" Rafael cut in, that line suddenly hitting him. He pulled his feet down and stood up, making his way over to Tiana. "Orion Bauer gave you a bonus to keep quiet about the initial complaint, isn't that right?"
She raised an eyebrow at him. "A bonus. Uh-huh, right," she spat.
"Are you saying he didn't make a payment?" Rafael waited for the answer but all he got was a hard stare from her in return. "What?" His eyes flickered to Montserrat who'd completely lost them. She had no idea why Tiana was suddenly acting like this.
"How much is that suit?" Tiana asked instead, the judgment filling each of her words. "Two grand?"
Well that was certainly the last thing Rafael expected. "I beg your pardon?"
"And that tie? Please," she rolled her eyes, "I work retail. You don't think I know?"
"Okay, Tiana, what does that have to do with this?" Montserrat came forwards, hoping to get a straight answer and not the crap she was giving them instead.
Tiana barely gave her a glance and when she did, it was full of disdain. "Oh, hello, white girl."
Montserrat scowled. "Excuse me?" Who the hell was this woman making assumptions about? Couldn't be her.
"Orion Bauer paid me half-assed what he paid those other girls," Tiana started, anger lacing her tone.
"And how do you know this?" Rafael asked her, almost stretching an arm towards Montserrat to keep her in place. Tiana was pushing buttons.
"I heard it on LMZ. Do you think I'm stupid? He paid them five grand. So maybe you call him and make it right, then I'll remember better."
"And you think that we're—" Montserrat gestured between herself and Rafael, "—involved with that too? No, wait a minute," she shook her head, "What the hell did you get paid for and why the hell would you think we'd be in on it?"
"Detective," Rafael's call was a warning. Montserrat inwardly huffed but kept her mouth shut. Rafael turned his attention to Tiana who was still glaring at them, more at Montserrat. "What did Bauer pay them for? To keep quiet about the rape?"
"Please," scoffed Tiana, "All I know is, I got paid to say Shakir raped me."
More anger rose in Montserrat. If that was true then did she really think that they would be in on that plan?
Rafael had a better grapple on his frustration at that moment. His mind was racing to make the connections that came with Tiana's claim. "Are you saying...are you saying Shakir Wilkins did not rape you?"
"I'm saying you get Mr. Bauer to give the right amount — the fair amount — I'll say whatever the two of you want me to say," Tiana shifted in her seat again, planting her hands on the bar of her seat. "Hell, I'll do you nasty like I did Shakir in that dressing room, but you got to man up, and pay up."
"That's it!" Montserrat snapped, actually moving towards Tiana until Rafael caught her by the arm and yanked her back. She actually tried getting free out of sheer offence. Their case was probably in shambles, the woman thought they would pay her for her story, and she had the audacity to make a terrible pass at Rafael. She would need some time to get back from that, and even more when the others found out.
In the meantime, she would have to deal with Rafael which was a problem enough. Once they sent Tiana home and they were out of the courthouse heading home too, he was free to laugh (because tomorrow there would be no room for such a thing).
"It's not funny," Montserrat huffed. She picked up her pace on the street with another huff.
"The situation isn't but the way you handled it was…" Rafael stopped walking to think about it, leaving Montserrat to stop as well and look back at him. The clear amusement on his face made her want to smack him for taking joy in her reaction. "It was perfect," he eventually said and laughed.
"You know, right now, I really want to dump you," Montserrat said.
Rafael laughed and started walking again, taking her hand when he walked past her. He squeezed it tight as she tried to pull her hand out of his. "Why? Jealous?"
"No!" she said far too quickly to ever believe it.
"You nearly lunged at the girl," he reminded her, not that he needed to. It was permanently ingrained in his mind.
"But not because of what she said to you," she once again spoke far too quickly for anybody to believe her.
"No, course not," Rafael sarcastically agreed, nearly laughing when she shot him a death glare on the side.
"You're enjoying this way too much!"
"Yeah, I am," he let the laugh come out this time. "Never thought I'd see the day when Detective Novak lost her cool with a victim."
"Based on what she said, she's not a victim," Montserrat spat. "She's lying and that's what makes all future cases harder to get through to court."
"I know, but we have to verify what she's saying. She could just be angry about the amount she was given and wants to get more."
"It doesn't excuse what she said." As soon as Montserrat heard her words that deeply contradicted what she'd just said before, her eyes fell shut and sighed.
"So," Rafael stopped walking, shooting her a smirk, "It is why you're upset."
Montserrat could think of multiple ways to deny that. She could probably argue for the rest of the night if she wanted to, Rafael would definitely get a kick out of it too, but the truth was there and if roles were reversed, he would be doing the same thing. "Yes, fine," she confessed with a groan. She turned to face him, her expression between a glare and a pout. "How dare she!? I'm your girlfriend!" she pointed to herself, ignoring (or possibly not even hearing it in the midst of her anger) Rafael's laugh. "I was standing right there and...okay, so she didn't know that but…" Her face scrunched, making it impossible for Rafael not to laugh even harder. "Oh shut up!" She decided to stop making an idiot out of herself in public and started for home again.
"Montserrat!" Rafael called after her, picking up his pace to catch up with her. "Montse, you need to calm down."
"Shut up!"
"Your vocabulary is on fire this evening, you know?"
She shot him a glare. "Keep talking like that and you're going to get some real colorful vocabulary right now."
Rafael's eyebrows raised in utter amusement. He'd never seen her so riled up and he had quite an impressive talent to irritate her. Jealousy did many things to people. "How about I take you home, huh?" He slowly reached for her hand, unsure if she would allow him to touch her. He had to control the urge to laugh when he clasped his hand around hers and she gripped it even though she was frowning so deeply. He managed to take them to her apartment without getting smacked, though it didn't save him from many more incredulous outbursts. She was beyond pissed (and jealous) and it would take at least one night to bring her down.
"The audacity," she was huffing even when they approached the door of her apartment.
"I know this will get me either smacked and/or something worse but jealousy is a whole other color with you," he remarked, smirking when she nearly bumped her head into the door.
"What!?" she glared at him.
"Are you going to smack the shoulder? Or the head?" he asked with a straight face. She finished unlocking the door and cursed at him under her breath. He followed her inside with a smirk on his face. "It's alright, Montserrat. Calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down," she promptly snapped.
"What can I say then? Because everything I've said before seems to just piss you off even more," he closed the door behind her.
"God you're terrible at this," she leaned on her hip, giving him an incredulous look.
It almost resembled the look Tiana gave them but he wasn't actually stupid enough to say that out loud. "You do know my track record, right?"
She groaned. "You're stupid!"
"Okay, fine, insulting seems to be the way to go with you," he shrugged. "Whatever works for you."
She groaned again as she stomped her way up to him. "You're supposed to reassure me, stupid. Tell me that you like me?" She brought her hands to rest on his chest, her fingers fiddling with the top button of his coat, her frown slowly shifting into a pout. "That you would never look at anyone else? That sort of stuff."
"But you're not jealous, right?" Rafael asked her, his smile widening when her face scrunched.
"No," she said like it should've been obvious that she wasn't.
"Just checking," Rafael took in a deep breath as he arranged his best words to appease her. "Of course I wouldn't look at anyone else—why would I? Look at you," he tucked one of her curls behind her ear then cupped her face. "Everybody wants you, I have to make sure nobody gets their hands on you." Montserrat started smiling, enjoying each of his admiration declarations. "Tú eres mi corazón." He gave her a short kiss on her lips. Even though the apartment was only half lit with the hallway light, he could see a blush on her cheeks. "And you're not jealous, right?"
"Nope!" she popped the 'p' in her answer, making him chuckle.
"Good, because there's really nothing you have to worry about," he bopped her nose. He let his arms drop around her waist. "But if you ever want to 'not-be-jealous' again, that's fine too."
Montserrat's frown returned to her face. "I swear to god—"
Rafael saw her hand coming to shove him so he seized it midair. He tucked her arms in front of her then wrapped her up in a big, and tight, hug to prevent any future smacks. "You're unbelievable, you know that?"
"I really hate you!" she huffed and let her head fall on his shoulder, adding a moment later: "...but I also really like you."
Rafael smiled and hugged her even tighter if that was possible. "I kinda know. I've learned to understand your vocabulary."
"That's so sweet," she said with a light laugh. He dropped a kiss to her hair, slowly letting her arms free to have them around him as well.
~ 0 ~
The next few days were a rapid blur trying to vet the remaining victims. Through yells and demands, each one remained true to her story.
"They're definitely not lying about the transactions," Sonny said as he looked over the information on his computer. "Carla and Macie-Lynn got paid more."
"This whole case is coming down like a house of cards," Montserrat leaned on her desk. "And you know who I think is behind this?"
"How about the man making all the payments?" Nick called from his seat. "Who else, right?"
"Liv's already sent Rollins with Barba to talk to Bauer again," Fin said, leaving the 'now we wait' unsaid.
"Yeah, I know," Montserrat said with a grumble. After learning what she almost did in the courthouse, Olivia pulled her out of the case altogether. It was a right punishment, alright, but it still pissed Montserrat off. Apparently, jealousy wasn't a good reason for almost lunging on somebody even though that somebody turned out to be a liar.
"Control those emotions, Novak," Nick 'tskd' at her. The others grinned at his remark. By now, they all knew what happened at the courthouse.
"Seriously boys, is this high school?" she slammed a hand on her desk, daring any of them to answer her. Suddenly, they all had work to do. "Mhm."
~ 0 ~
"Are you kidding me?" Bauer was outraged once he heard from Rafael and Amanda what had happened with Tiana. "She's shaking me down again!?"
"Dad," Cordelia tried to calm him down, going around his desk to help him sit down.
"No, no!" He shooed her to the side. "She came crying to me. I tried to make it right. I gave her $800, now she wants more? Ingratitude!"
"Now, are you denying you gave Tiana money to claim rape?" Amanda asked slowly so there would be no contradictions later on.
"You're damn right I'm denying, lady. It's an outright lie. Not that I should be surprised."
"Mm-hmm, and why is that?"
"Dad, stop," Cordelia shushed him in vain.
"That girl didn't even graduate. I was the one that made her assistant store manager. Because the way I grew up, background didn't matter. It was a matter of character, integrity. It was a matter of loyalty!"
"Okay, I think that that's enough!" Cordelia spoke over him seeing that he wasn't listening to her. Unfortunately, Bauer kept going.
"It's a long path, a strange journey we are all traveling with our tribes, our families. Just the way of our culture, just the damn way of it."
Rafael felt a headache coming. "This is very simple," he said, cutting Bauer off. "Did you or did you not pay Tiana Raynes to make false allegations?"
"The hell I did not! Did you ask the other girls? The white girls?"
"Dad—"
"Because if you did, you would discover that they didn't change their stories."
"And how do you know they didn't?" asked Rafael. "Are you in touch with them?"
"Dad, you have to stop now-"
"No—"
"Dad, please…"
"Cordelia, Cordelia!" Bauer yelled at his daughter, silencing her. "I'm in charge here! Now look, I love you, but you have no more sense than your mother did! You're blind!"
Cordelia kept herself composed as she glanced at the pair. "We are done here. All of that was off the record. I would like you to leave now. Please. This is enough."
"So now NOW you're worried about me?" Bauer turned to her, startling Cordelia."About the company? Hmm? Now you're a good girl?" Amanda and Rafael watched as the man got in his daughter's face. "Well, that's good. Because I forgive you, my darling. I forgive you for everything."
Cordelia had clearly not been expecting that bit and truthfully neither had the others. It left a lot of questions on their way down from the office.
"What was that?" Rafael couldn't come up with a definite answer so he shared his guesses instead. "Early dementia? Our journey, our tribes?"
"I don't know." Amanda was as lost as he was. She glanced away and happened to see Cordelia leaving the building as well, quite in a rush. "You go on ahead."
Rafael followed her gaze and saw Cordelia walking in the opposite direction. "She can't talk to you about the case, she's his lawyer."
Amanda was already backtracking from him. "We can talk about fathers." Because it sure as hell seemed like there was another story between Cordelia and Bauer that they didn't know about. She turned completely and hurried after Cordelia. "Hey, Cordelia. You all right?"
"I'm fine," Cordelia answered despite being startled with Amanda's sudden presence.
"Is your father always like…"
"Larger than life? Absolutely, and I love him for it. He's old school. A lion."
"Yeah, can you help me understand something? I don't think your dad is the kind of man that would completely destroy someone's reputation just to void a contract." That's where it all seemed to tie back to. Nothing else stood out.
"No, he would never," Cordelia said. "He raised me to believe that your word is your bond. Used to say if you ever betray that, you are dead to him."
"What did he mean when he said that you were blind, and he forgives you? Forgives you for what?" Amanda studied the quick flicker of Cordelia's eyes away from her. The story had to be big.
"I have no idea. If you'll excuse me, we really shouldn't be talking," Cordelia offered her one small smile before picking up her pace.
~ 0 ~
"This doesn't make any sense. Orion Bauer paid the store clerk to say that I raped her?" Shakir stared at Rafael until he would tell him that it was all a lie, that the story couldn't be that.
Unfortunately, Rafael nodded to confirm. "Yeah, Tiana finally gave that up."
"What about the other two?" Calhoun quickly asked. She didn't expect for this office visit to be just about one girl retracting her accusation, not when that was already old news.
"Well, they're still claiming you raped them."
"I didn't!" Shakir exclaimed and this time there was a more plausible reason to believe him. "I swear. I mean, this can't be about the money on my contract. The old man makes a fortune off me."
That's exactly what Rafael and everybody else thought. "Okay, can you think of any reason Orion Bauer wants to destroy you?"
Even Calhoun waited for the answer. Shakir thought for what seemed like a minute before something flashed across his eyes. Rafael knew for sure there was something there, but Shakir never answered.
Two days later, however, he would receive an audio that would answer all ALL the questions. It was that very audio that would set Shakir free from all accusations because he was, in fact, innocent.
The courtroom was flooded with reporters again, the hallways were in constant flashes of cameras.
Calhoun came out of the courtroom with a natural triumphant smirk and when Rafael came out a moment later, he was all but deflated. "I'm gonna go upstairs and...duck calls."
"You poor thing," Montserrat couldn't help but chuckle. It was always a pain to lose against Calhoun but this case would surely leave a good amount of lingering loose ends to tie. The glare he shot her as he left wasn't at all inviting but she welcomed it nonetheless.
"So Bauer just gets away with this," Fin said as they started heading out themselves.
"My bet? A tape like that? Sooner or later it comes out," Olivia said, almost sounding like it was a promise.
"Well, what about these three girls?" asked Sonny. "They lied, under oath. They just get to skate?"
"They should get a punishment," Montserrat muttered. Not only for the way they helped wreck Shakir's reputation but also for making it even harder for future victims to come forwards.
"General policy for the D.A. is when you go after girls when a case falls apart, it can prevent real victims from coming forward next time," Olivia explained what they already knew.
"I guess you guys were right," Amanda looked at Finn, Sonny and Nick. All throughout the case they'd stated their reluctance to believe the girls. It wasn't for nothing apparently.
"We missed Bauer paying them off," Nick said.
"They were just his pawns. Like Shakir, like his daughter," Olivia shook her head.
"And he was good," Montserrat hated to admit. "That old man act of his? He played us. I mean, he really used his own daughter in this. I can't imagine my own father doing that to me."
"He's a narcissist," Olivia reminded them. "He thought he was 'protecting' his daughter." Montserrat stiffened suddenly, not that anybody noticed it.
"The extremes fathers—parents—take to do what they think is protecting their children can sometimes be completely off," Amanda sighed. "They just wreck their lives instead."
"Yeah," Montserrat mumbled. Many things were running through her head when they left for the precinct. They were the same thoughts that directed her back to Rafael's office at the end of her shift. He wasn't expecting her to stop by, much less for her line of greeting to be: "I'm sorry!"
He looked up at her just as she strode up to his desk, looking truly apologetic for whatever she was sorry for. "This should be interesting," he mumbled under his breath before asking, in a regular volume, "What's wrong?"
"Me," she shrugged, wringing her hands together. "I didn't get what you were saying about the 'fathers protecting their daughters' stuff up until today when...well...you know…" she gestured to the side, referencing the awful case they closed today. "What Bauer did to Cordelia, thinking he was 'protecting' her...that is never what my father would do."
"I didn't—that's not what I meant to say!" Rafael exclaimed, panicking with her but for very different reasons. The last thing he wanted was for that assumption to make its way up to her father. "That—I did not mean to say that."
"No, no, I get it," Montserrat hurried around his desk, stopping beside his chair. "I mean, my Mom left when I was four so my Dad did get a little overprotective of me but never to that point. What I want to say is that when you are ready, know that my Dad, he's not...he's not that type of man."
"I know that," Rafael said, feeling odd that he had to say it out loud. 'Because that's not what I meant. I expect him to be protective of you, yeah, but nothing to like what Bauer did."
Montserrat sighed. "I'm sorry for not understanding, for not believing in it actually. You were right." She leaned off his desk and came around his chair. He opened his arms before she'd even sat down on his lap. She curled an arm around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. "I was just so excited about the idea of having you meet my family and them meeting you, I was stupid. I'm sorry."
"No you weren't," Rafael brought a hand to rest on her back. "It's nice that you were excited about it. I didn't actually know you were excited about it. Truth be told, I was probably more afraid than anything else."
"What? Why?"
"I did mean what I said about the over-protectiveness but there's just other things, Montserrat. We, us, we're not exactly conventional."
Montserrat scrunched her face. "What the hell does that mean?"
"Do you remember how we started?"
"How could I forget? It involved a lot of yelling and arguments."
"Yeah, do you think your father would like to know that? That I yelled at you?"
"I think he'd be more upset that I was yelling and throwing things," Montserrat said, chuckling when she remembered the awful way she threw her ballerina necklace at Sonny then later threatened to murder him and Rafael all together.
"I'm serious," sighed Rafael. He leaned his forehead over hers. "Plus, there's an age difference."
"Six years," Montserrat patted her hand against his chest. "It's not that big of a deal. I'm 30, you're 36, need I be more clear on the 'we are well past the age of 18' thing? Somebody's even exactly twice that number." She giggled when he flicked the back of her head. "You really have nothing to worry about when it comes to that stuff."
"I still worry," he admitted. "I'm not always put together, I have a bad attitude, I'm snarky and it comes out. People don't like me for a reason."
"Regardless of when you meet my family, I know they would like you."
"Yeah, how do you know?"
Montserrat raised her head to meet his eyes. "Because you make me happy," she replied plain and simple. "My Dad loves me and he noticed the big change after I moved from Queens. I wasn't me. I didn't laugh, I didn't talk, I spent most of my days in my room. Knowing that you helped me get back to some normality and that you're constantly caring for me is all he needs to know. And it's all he's going to care about."
"That wasn't because of me, you did that on your own," Rafael said, though he was touched that she would think he did that for her.
"But you helped. You don't realize it but you did and you're still helping me. So when you're ready, you won't have to worry," she pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"You have that much faith?"
"Mhm," she nodded.
He searched her face, only finding absolute trust in what she said was true. It warmed his heart and after the day they had, it wasn't something easy to do. Montserrat always did things to him that he never thought were possible. She surprised him every day, making him wish that it never stopped. He knew he was in this relationship for the long run and for that to be true, he needed to show her. He wanted to show her.
"Okay, let's set it up."
His words didn't register for Montserrat the first time around. She tilted her head at him. "What?"
"When can we set it up?"
"Like...you mean the...dinner…?"
Rafael nodded his head. "Yeah, you think we can do it soon?" He would never forget the way her face lit up like the fourth of July. He laughed. He had to!
"Oh my God! Are you sure?"
"No, but I'll try to be on my best behavior."
Montserrat laughed. "That'll be the day! But okay!" She crashed her lips on his for a messy, eager kiss.
A/N:
P.S. As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"