Loved By You

Fifty-six

Omniscient

1 month later

Christoph trial had been in full swing for the past month. You couldn't turn the news on without seeing Christoph or Maja's face. For a month has been under the protection of the state after her house was broken into and trashed. The only people who knew where she was were her parents, her uncle, and Angelo. For Sami and Maja's protection, their only form of contact was over the phone. Although she missed her daughter she knew this was for her own good. Tomorrow, however, was the day she was going to essentially tell the whole world what happened to her.

Maja

I was staring out the window as Angelo drove to the courthouse. I let out a shaky breath as my heart picked up at the thought of talking about Richard. "Baby!" I looked over at Angelo to see him looking at me. "Yes?" I asked softly. "We're here." He said. I looked out the window to see arrow sitting outside the courthouse. Donny and Adrian came and stood by my door before Adrian opened it. We made our way inside where I was met with my family and friends. My sisters and mom came over embracing me into a hug. I was surprised when I saw my stepmom, Eliza, and my step sisters, Hilary and Blair. Eliza gave me a look and for the first time, I realized she was probably the only other person who understood what I went through.

"Are we ready?" My uncle asked. I nodded my head before we started walking out.

~

"Alright, Maja can you tell us your relationship with Richard." Uncle Dre asked. "Richard blackmailed me into a sexual arrangement to promote my father to his position. For three months he physically, sexually, emotionally, and mentally abused me..." I paused looking down taking a breath. "She's lying!!" Christoph snapped. "Mr. Joseph sit down." Judge Kelso said. "Please continue Maja."

"So, this all started after I had Samiya. My relationship with my dad was shaky but around this time he was working on trying to rebuild it. He was spending more time with me and it felt like I was getting the chance to have a dad. For about three weeks or so things were going well until he invited me to his office where he and Richard were. He basically told me that in exchange for the Lieutenant Governor position Richard wanted me." I said remembering everything like it was yesterday.

"I, of course, said no but Richard isn't the type of man who hears no. He threatened my daughter and her father, his son, and me, and with pull he had, I knew he meant it. He gave me a day to think about it basically leaving me no room to agree. He had one rule that fanned out into the dozens of mini little rules he had. I was supposed to do what he wanted when he wanted." I looked over at the jury to see all their eyes staring me down. "He was so rough and aggressive that I always had bruises covering my body when he was done with me. If I didn't do something right he'd punish me. When he was entertaining guest he made me dress up as a maid and serve them. If he thought I was flirting with one of his friends, which I never did. He used to tie me up in the most uncomfortable position for hours before he would inflict his actual punishment." I said.

"Now Maja you come from a large family how were you able to hide what was happening to you from them?" I sighed. "My sisters and brother were in school. My friends and family had significant others and their own lives they were worried about. I also went the extra mile to hide everything that was going on. I was ashamed and embarrassed and I thought who would believe me over the Governor." I explained.

"What was one of your worst memories with Richard?" "Richard always had me followed and I wasn't supposed to have any interaction with any other man who he hadn't approved of. One day I ran into an old guy friend and he hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek, It wasn't anything I thought Richard would have spazzed over, but I was wrong. I got to his place that night hoping he would be in a good mood but when he called me into his office. He was leaning against his desk with a glass of dark liquor in his hand. He pointed towards the tv on the screen before he pressed play. It was a video of me and my friend and from the angle, it looked like we were kissing. I tried to explain but before I could even speak he slapped me. He grabbed my hair and dragged me down the hall to his bedroom. He hit me, again and again, yelling about how I was ungrateful and that I shouldn't be giving away what was his." I shivered as I touched my side.

"He fucked me nonstop that night and for the remainder of the summer, he made sure to come in me every time. I tried to get a plan b but like I said he was always watching me, and I ended up pregnant." "What?" We all looked to see an older black woman with a look of shock on her face. "I had no idea I was pregnant. I mean I gained weight but I assumed it was just the freshman 15. It was until I was actually in labor that I knew I was pregnant. After I had my son I didn't think keeping him would be what was best for me and most specifically him. I wanted nothing but the best for him but as I held him in my arms he looked up at me. He had my eyes and then he wrapped his little hand around my finger before he closed his eyes and a cute little content smile fell on his face." I sniffed as I wiped my face. "That first night I stayed up the entire night just watching him sleep and I knew giving him up was right but I want to still be in his life. So I gave my son to this amazing couple who agreed to an open adoption."

Uncle Andre nodded his head. "Now tell us about your relationship with Christoph and how you found out what happened to you." I looked over at Christoph to see him staring at him. "He's my step-brother," I said plainly. "I found out about what he did to me about two months ago. I was called to Richard's old place where all three of his sons were there waiting. Zachary was holding Dimitri back from lunging at Christoph. Once Dimitri calmed down Zachary told me what was happening. Zachary told me that we hadn't slept together, that Christoph had put something in our drinks that knocked us both out." I paused looking down. "Christoph raped me while I passed out. Once he was done with me he placed Zachary and me in the same bed and when we woke up we thought we slept together. Then a couple weeks later I found out that I was pregnant. As soon as it was possible I had a DNA test done to rule out Zachary which it did and for the past 6 years Samiya's known her father to be Dimitri." I said.

"As you know we ran a DNA test on Sami." MY uncle Dre said as he passed out a paper to the judge, Christoph's lawyer, and finally me. "Maja can you tell the jury what you're looking at?" I looked at the paper. "It the DNA results," I said. "Can you tell us what it says?" Uncle Dre asked. I took a breath before looking across the room before looking at Dimitri who had tears in his eyes as my mom and his mom rubbed his back. "It says that Dimitri isn't the father," I said watching as Dimitri dropped his head into his hands. I wiped away a few of the tears that had slipped out. "And the rest of it?" "Christoph is Samiya's father." I said looking down at the papers.

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