Addiction

Chapter 26

*The day of the trial.*

Eva's POV

I stared at myself in the mirror for a few seconds longer before snapping myself out of the trance.

I wore a simple black dress that was knee length in the front and a little bit longer within the back while Chris wore a fancy, white button up shirt with a red tie and navy blue jeans. We had woken up early because we had been stressing all day and night and yet we had a few hours until we had to officially leave. I didn't know if Ingrid was awake or not since her door was closed still and I decided to go check on her since she hadn't been out of her room. All day yesterday she remained in her room and every few hours she would come out to get water and food before locking herself away.

I snap myself out of my thoughts as I stand outside her doorway. I lift my fist to the white, wooden door before lightly colliding the two. I heard a little bit of shuffling before the door opened slowly. She moved to the side and let me in while she stood in her pajamas. Black rings were under her eyes and I couldn't help but wonder how long she had been awake and or if she had any sleep. She laid down in the open spot that she was laying before I had knocked on the door and I laid down on the right side of the bed while we stared at the ceiling before Ingrid spoke up.

"Are you nervous?" She asked with a shaky breath and soon after I muttered a quick 'yes' to her.

"I don't want him to win." She said and by the tone of her voice she was going to begin crying. I rolled over and caressed her arm gently before her soft sobs came out. I didn't say a word as she heavily took deep breaths. She soon forced herself to stop before getting out of the bed and walking into her bathroom. She wiped the tears that began to stain her cheeks before she came over and hugged me. Our embrace didn't last long and once it was over I left the room and went back to my own.

Once I walked in the room, I saw Chris sitting on the bed awaiting my presence once more. He didn't say a word as I walked over and sat beside him. He grabbed my hand before squeezing it tightly. I could feel his gaze on me, trying to read my emotions, as I stared down at the floor of our room.

...

We sat silently in the hall as we waited for another case to adjourn. The sound of Ingrid's heel clicking from her nervousness began to grow louder within my ears and eventually I had to set my hand on her knee to signal that she needed to stop. She looked at me an apologetic look before I smiled at her and the doors to the court room were opened. A few people walked out, some crying and some not, before we were finally allowed to go in and get ready for the meeting. Our lawyer walked in a few seconds after us which gave us time to go over on how the trial could perhaps go. Jonas walked in with his lawyer (Elias) and his sister sat on the side of him while his mom sat on my side. Isak sat on his side and so did Iben, who for some reason showed up. Not a lot of people sat on our side and soon enough the jury was walking in and taking a seat. The officer that was with the judge walked in slowly before speaking up in a low, raspy voice.

"All rise for Judge Anderson." Everyone rose slowly before the female judge walked in. She sat down elegantly before being handed the file for the case. The jury sat down prominently before examining both sides. A few stared intently at Jonas and the people on his side before switching over to our side.

"This is the trial of Mohn and Gaupseth versus Vasquez. Shall we get started?" The judge said while opening the file and displaying papers in front of her. The judge stared at the two sides before deciding on Jonas and his side to go first. Elias stood and looked at the two of us with a devilish smile before speaking.

"For my first witness I would like Ms. Eva Mohn to come up to the stand." I nervously looked at the lawyer and Chris before standing up to walk over to the wooden seat in front of the microphone. The officer walked over to me so I could take the oath and as I did, I could feel the eyes of everyone on me.

"Ms. Mohn, in the case file it states that you are accusing Mr. Vasquez for child pornography and domestic violence. Is that correct?" Elias states while looking through a file with tons of papers. I can see that he has hand written notes as well and suddenly I realize that the whole room is awaiting my answer. I swallow the lump in my throat before muttering a simple 'yes'.

"Is it true that you are over the age of 10? Actually that's an obvious answer of yes. You see Ms. Mohn, the legal cut off to be known as a child is 10 and yet you are 17 nearly 18, is that not correct?" Elias states while looking at the jury and the judge. He makes little to none eye contact with me and I mutter the same 'yes' before the questioning continues.

"At any point before the sexual intercourse, had you said no and declined Mr. Vasquez?" Elias knew the answer and yet the jury and judge remained on the edge of their seats for my answer. I shook my head no before Elias stated to the room that Jonas hadn't committed the crime of child pornography. I kept my eyes down to my lap before the domestic violence was now the topic. Elias sat down and suddenly the lawyer defending Ingrid and I stood up to question me.

"What was the first incident of domestic violence?" I tried to hold the tears that now started to fill my eyes as I recalled the first incident of Jonas choking me.

"He choked me before throwing me onto my bed after a night out at a party." I stated and the women within the jury grew a certain deadly fire within them as they gave Jonas dirty looks.

"How many other incidents were there?" A file filled with photos, that the detective took of me, was handed over to the judge where she examined my once disgusting bruises and brutal head trauma.

"I would say about 10 at most." I stated. I watched the judge stare horrifically at the pictures before setting them down. She looked over at me with a sense of sympathy in her eyes which distracted me for a second before I realized that I was allowed to leave the stand.

"Next witness I would like to call up is Ms. Gaupseth." Our lawyer stated and suddenly I felt a shift in the atmosphere. It felt as if a weight was being lifted off of our shoulders and by the expression on Jonas' face, he knew that this was the deciding accusation on his sentence in prison.

...

"Mr. Vasquez are there any comments you would like to interject before the jury leaves to decide?" Judge Anderson asked with a nonchalant look as Jonas stared down at his hands and muttered a 'no'. He hadn't said much and the trial didn't last long since all the evidence against him was here and he had a lack of evidence to prove he wasn't guilty of anything.

The jury left silently and suddenly we were escorted out of the room as well. We huddled around the door except for Jonas and Elias who sat on the side. Jonas had tears in his eyes and burst into them which overwhelmed my heart with sympathy. I had grown to love this man for a little more than three years and now I was the reason he would be locked away and have his whole life ruined. The thoughts made my own eyes water up and suddenly I was walking over to him. No one knew what I was doing which left them with wide eyes and opened jaws as I stood in front of him with hot tears streaming down my face.

"Jonas can I talk to you?" I said and he nodded before Elias stood up and left us to our privacy. I sat down in Elias' spot before I set my hand on his shoulder.

"Eva, I'm..I...I'm sorry. I know it doesn't mean anything but I need to apologize." He states which makes my heart ache even more before I finally speak up.

"I've loved you for the longest time and yet it's time for me to let you go. I will miss you but this just happens to be the consequence of everything. I'm sorry to sound so bitchy but it's true. I love you Jonas. I always have and always will." I say before placing a kiss to his cheek. Mere seconds later the officer allows us to go back in, the jury awaiting us.

"If you could all take your seats, then we will say the final decision." The judge says before we all anxiously sit down. We all knew the outcome just not the time period. Finally our unanswered questions were answered.

"Mr. Vasquez is found guilty for rape and domestic violence which gives him a 30 year sentence as well as bail. That is all for this trial. You are all now dismissed." With that the gavel hit the post and Jonas was taken away in cuffs for good. He had tears streaming out of his eyes as his mother tried to hug her baby one last time and his sister tried to hug her only source of protection.