Chapter 41- Esme's Plea

When Esme brought Ace downstairs the next morning, she found Mac and Georgie sitting on the couch.

"Good morning, Esme," Mac said. "Would you like to join us? I can grab you some cereal."

Georgie smiled at her.

"Wh-where's Mommy?" Esme cried. "Why didn't she come home last night? She left me and she's not coming to my trial, is she?"

"What? No, of course she's coming," Mac said. "She didn't leave you. She texted me last night to tell me she wouldn't be coming home because she and Spinelli wanted to continue to prepare for your trial today. But she's definitely coming."

Esme sniffled. "Really?"

Mac nodded.

"Mac, can I talk to Esme?" Georgie asked.

"Sure," Mac said. "Esme, I'll get you some breakfast." He headed to the kitchen.

Esme hesitantly sat on the couch with Ace but shifted a little away from Georgie.

"I'm sorry I can't go to your trial," Georgie said. "I asked if I could, but Mom, Mac, and Robin all said it'll be too much for me. But I wish I could be there. I know Mom is working hard on it, so I'm sure it'll go well for you."

Esme frowned. "I don't know about that…."

"Do you like OneRepublic?" Georgie asked.

Esme shrugged. "I like some of their songs. Why?"

"Mom told me they're still together, they're just a bit older now. She found out they're touring in the fall. She said we can go as long as I'm stronger then."

Esme stared at her. "You and Mommy? While-while I'm in prison? That's what you wanted to tell me?"

"No," Georgie said. "Sorry, I'm getting mixed up again. I'm inviting you to go with me. Mom said she'd buy us the tickets."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yeah. I thought it would be something you and I can look forward to."

"Um, maybe if I'm not in prison…."

They heard the door and Felicia walked in with Anna and Lucy.

"Hi girls," Felicia said. "Anna and Lucy are going to stay with Georgie and Ace while we're at the courthouse. Since Anna has been visiting Georgie a lot the past few weeks, I'm hoping Ace will be a little familiar with her."

"It's been years and years since I've changed Serena and Christina's diapers," Lucy said. "And I have soo much work to do for this year's Nurse's Ball. But…." She reached for Felicia's hand. "You and Mac are my two very best friends. So, I can sacrifice a few hours of my day. You'll only be a few hours, right?"

Felicia grinned at her. "Oh yes, that's what friends are for. I don't know how long we'll be though."

Lucy grimaced nervously.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Well, I could ask Robert to come instead. You know, if you're too busy to help out."

"And let you and Robert take all the credit as the friends who help out?" Lucy scoffed. "I think not. I'm staying." She sat down between Georgie and Esme. "But, while I'm here, who would like to perform this year?"

Felicia and Anna groaned.

Felicia took Esme's hand. "I need to talk to you in the kitchen. Maybe Ace can go in his playpen?"

"Okay." Esme set Ace down in the playpen and gave him a few toys before following Felicia to the kitchen.

"Oh, good morning, Felicia." Mac kissed her. "I just made some oatmeal. There's enough for both of you."

"Thanks, Mac," Felicia said. "Do you mind if I talk to Esme?"

"Of course." He headed to the living room.

"You have a lot of friends," Esme said, sitting across from her at the table.

Felicia nodded. "Esme, I was up all night with Spinelli going through a lot of surveillance footage. He's continuing to look through them while we go to the courthouse. We found a few things and I was hoping you could help fill in the gaps."

"Wh-what did you find?"

"Well, there's quite a bit of footage of you going to the Highsider," Felicia said. "Underage I might add, but that's a discussion for another time. And there's a clip of Oz Haggerty selling you a burner phone. It's very blurry, but we can tell it's you and Oz."

Esme's heart sped up.

"Spinelli dug a little further and found footage at the motel that Oz was staying at on July, 22, 2022. Just before Curtis arrived and found Oz passed out, you—you arrived there with him. What happened when you were alone with Oz?"

"N-nothing," Esme said.

"When we first saw it, we wondered if you drugged him," Felicia said. "But then we saw footage about 15 minutes before you arrived there. Dex was there. Do you think he could've drugged Oz?"

"I—I don't know."

"Esme, we're running out of time. I know you're scared. But I want to help you. Did Oz hurt you? Or were you involved? Why were you there?"

"I didn't drug him! I swear."

"Okay, then what happened?" Felicia asked.

"You'll hate me for this."

"I will never hate you. But I need to know."

"I-I tried to get him drunk," Esme said. "But he didn't drink much at all before he passed out and Curtis showed up. So, I hid in the closet."

"Were you afraid Curtis would blame you? Why did you try to get him drunk?" Felicia asked.

"I wanted to seduce him."

"Why?"

"Because everyone was accusing me," Esme said. "The-the sex tape was on the burner phone I bought from him."

Felicia cleared her throat. "Did you make the sex tape and post it for the school and online?"

"No! I—I was going to." She started crying. "And I did bring up some painful things for Trina during our game, but I apologized later. I even—even envisioned myself filming Cam and Joss. But I couldn't do it last minute. The phone disappeared. I really thought Trina did it."

Felicia smiled and reached for her hand. "It's okay. You're doing really good. And I'm proud of you for stopping last minute."

"You—you believe me?"

"Yes, I do."

"No one else would. Not even Spence. He even pretended that—that he still loved me, but it was just to prove Trina's innocence. I—I wanted to cover my tracks so I wouldn't be blamed. That's why I tried to seduce Oz. But he was creepy."

"You must have felt used by Spencer and felt you had no one else to turn to. And while you might have tried to seduce Oz, like Nikolas, he's the one who should've known better. I would like to talk about this again when we have more time."

"I didn't sleep with Oz. But… I guess I did have someone to turn to. Nikolas was compassionate with me."

"I know, but he shouldn't have even taken you to his motel room. And Nikolas…." Felicia pressed her fist to her mouth. "I'm still furious with him. I do want to talk about this more, but we need to keep going. You told me before that you didn't frame Trina. Did you drug her?"

"No…" she released more tears. "But I was planning to. And fantasized doing it."

Felicia nodded. "It's okay. You couldn't go through with it, and that is huge. Did you stalk Ava or set fire to her car?"

She stared down.

"Esme? You can tell me." Felicia sighed when Esme didn't respond. "We'll discuss this more with Nora. But I still strongly suggest that you confess to the Wyndemere break-in. And if you are guilty of anything else, confess that too. Then we can get a plea bargain." She checked her phone. "But really need to get going." She got up and hugged Esme from behind. "I'm so proud of you. I'm going to be with you every step of the way."

GHGHGH

Felicia and Esme left the attorney's lounge with Nora and walked into the courtroom. Mac, Cody, Robin, and Emma were already seated on the defense side, while Carly, Josslyn, Dex, Elizabeth, Cameron, Curtis, Portia, Trina, Ava, and Spencer sat on the prosecution side behind DA Arden. The young adults turned to look at Esme.

Felicia rubbed her arms. "Just ignore them. Focus on what you're going to say."

They headed to their seats.

Kevin and Laura walked in next and Kevin glanced over at Esme.

Laura squeezed his hand. "If you want to sit on Esme's side. I understand."

He sighed. "But Spencer and Cameron…."

"I know you're in a hard spot. But it might help keep the peace for Ace's sake."

Kevin nodded. "And Esme has less on her side, so I'll sit with them." He kissed her cheek, then sat behind Mac, while Laura sat with Spencer.

"It's okay," Felicia said. "Just remember what we talked about."

Esme turned when Maxie stepped into the courtroom and stared at them.

Felicia went over to her and hugged her. "Oh Maxie, I'm so glad you came to support your sister. Come sit with us."

Maxie pulled away from her. "Actually, Mom, I'm here to support Esme's victims." She sat behind Laura and Spencer.

Felicia frowned.

"All rise for the Honourable Judge Naomi Carson," the court clerk announced.

Everyone stood and Felicia moved to the row behind Nora and Esme. She squeezed Esme's shoulder.

After everyone sat again, the judge looked at Nora and Esme. "If the defendant would please rise."

Esme shakily stood beside Nora.

"One count of criminal harassment, one count of arson, two counts of administering a noxious thing without someone's consent, one count of unlawful surveillance, one count of cyber sexual harassment, and one count of frame-up for the last two counts. Ms. Prince, how do you plead?"

Esme felt like her chest was going to explode. She could feel all eyes on her and could hear Felicia's voice: "I still strongly suggest that you confess to the Wyndemere break-in. And if you are guilty of anything else, confess that too. Then we can get a plea bargain." Esme shut her eyes and pictured her beautiful boy's face and the warm feeling of being at home with her mom and Ace. And she remembered all the years she searched for her mother and finally found her. She couldn't be separated from them. She couldn't lose them. She slowly opened her eyes and said in a trembling voice, "Not guilty."