Hell Hath No Fury (ReWrite)

The Price of Control

The courtroom buzzed with hushed whispers as the next witness was called to the stand, an old friend of Jonathan Monroe's from his youth. A man in his early forties, well-dressed but visibly uncomfortable, shifted in his seat as he was sworn in. His name was Patrick, a former college friend of Jonathan's who had seen more than his share of the chaos within the Monroe household.

Elaine wasted no time getting into it. She needed to show the jury what Teresa endured after the miscarriage, how Jonathan's behavior devolved from bad to worse.

"Mr. Thomas," Elaine began, "can you tell the court about your observations of Jonathan Monroe's behavior in the year following Teresa's miscarriage?"

Patrick adjusted his tie nervously, glancing briefly at Teresa before speaking. "Yeah, I... well, Jonathan wasn't the same after that. He... he didn't want to be around Teresa anymore. I mean, we all noticed it. It was like he couldn't stand the sight of her. He'd come to the bar with us, blow off steam, and, honestly, he just seemed angry all the time."

Elaine nodded, pacing slowly. "Angry? Can you elaborate on that? What exactly did you see?"

Patrick sighed, clearly uncomfortable but committed to telling the truth. "He drank a lot. He'd stay out until three or four in the morning. Sometimes he wouldn't even go home. We'd ask him about it, but he'd just say things like 'I can't be there,' or 'She makes me sick,' or... worse things I don't really want to repeat here."

A murmur ran through the courtroom. Elaine remained calm but focused. "Did he ever talk to you about why he felt that way? Why he couldn't stand being around his wife?"

Patrick nodded slowly. "Yeah, he'd say she wasn't the same after the miscarriage. Like she wasn't doing enough, wasn't... I don't know, making him feel the way he used to feel. He talked a lot about wanting a son, like that was the only thing that mattered to him. He'd say she failed him by losing the baby."

Teresa looked down at her hands, her heart heavy with the memories. Those words had echoed through their home for months—You failed me. You failed us.

Elaine stepped closer. "Did he ever express any guilt or remorse for the way he treated her?"

Patrick hesitated, then shook his head. "Not really. He'd complain about her, but if anyone suggested he was being too hard on her, he'd just shrug it off. I mean, there was one night..."

Patrick paused, clearly conflicted about what he was about to share. Elaine urged him to continue. "Go on."

"One night, after a lot of drinking, Jonathan told me and a couple of the other guys that things had gotten physical. He said they had a fight, and... well, he hit her. Hard. He didn't go into much detail, but he seemed... almost indifferent about it. Like it wasn't that big of a deal. The next day, he acted like it didn't happen, showered her with gifts, took her on a shopping spree, but... I don't know. It didn't feel right."

The courtroom fell silent as the weight of Patrick's words hung in the air.

Elaine's voice softened, but her line of questioning remained sharp. "You're telling the court that Jonathan Monroe admitted to physically assaulting his wife, and then he tried to cover it up with gifts?"

Patrick nodded. "Yeah, that's what happened. He always tried to fix things with money. He bought her jewelry, clothes, whatever he thought would make her forget about it. But when we were alone, he still talked about wanting another kid—another son. Like he was just waiting for her to get over it so he could try again."

Elaine stepped back for a moment, allowing Patrick's words to sink in with the jury.

"Mr. Thomas, was there any indication that Jonathan regretted his actions, or was he just focused on moving on and having a son?"