Learning to Heal

Chapter 20

It was the day of court and Willow was extremely nervous. Every time she would ask Owen about the papers he would just tell her he had everything under control and she didn't need to worry about it because it could affect her nursing. She wanted to believe him and have faith in him but at the same time her mind was filled with so many what ifs that she feared she would make herself sick.

Owen took her hand and squeezed gently. "Just breathe Darling," he whispered. "I need you to just go along with what is being said today, okay?" She looked up at him confused, "It may affect your reputation slightly but remember what I told you in my study?"

"He would have absolutely no ties to me or Kyree ever again," she said softly.

"That's right," Owen nodded. "Can you try your best to not act surprised and just go along with everything that we say in court?"

"I will try my best," She nodded. "I trust you."

"Good, let's go," he said softly as he put his hand on her lower back. She looked back to see Axel, Luke, Kota, Victor, and North following behind them.

She sat beside Owen and his lawyer while the rest sat behind them. She heard Tyler's lawyer gasp then say, "You didn't tell me she had Blackbourne and his lawyer on her side."

"What does it matter?" Tyler asked.

"I wouldn't hold my breath on winning this case," he said shaking his head. "If I had known who I was up against, I wouldn't have even taken this case."

"I'm paying you to take it and to win it," Tyler glared, "It shouldn't matter who it is against."

"It is if it's against the best lawyer in the state," His lawyer threw back.

"Let's begin," The judge said coming into the courthouse. "You may proceed," he said motioning to Tyler's lawyer.

"Your Honor, my client would like to file for divorce and is asking for spousal support and full custody of their child since his wife is mentally unstable," he said void of emotion. "In the years they have been married, he has had to pay all the bills, work numerous jobs to provide for them, supervise her taking her medication, and even put her in the hospital a few times for her own safety. She is not fit to care for a child and he worries for it's safety if it was to remain in her care. He only recently found out that she is living with fourteen men, he does not think that is a safe environment for the child."

Willow clenched Owen's leg and he gently squeezed her hand. She tried to relax but she wished it was already over with. She took a breath and slowly let it out, she had faith in the guys and that is what she relied on at that moment.

"And what do you have to say Mr. Smith?" The judge asked Owen's lawyer.

"A lot actually, Your Honor," He said picking up a pile of papers and photos, "May I present some evidence?" The bailiff came over and took them then presented them to the judge. "Your Honor, first and foremost I would like to show that there is no marriage record in any of the 50 states of the United States. What Mr. Jones is trying to strive for is a common law marriage between him and Miss Williams but she has never even acknowledged him as her spouse. He has an unhealthy obsession with her and has even kidnapped her and given her Stockholm Syndrome. You see, Your Honor, Miss Williams was actually dating Mr. Blackbourne and the Blackbourne Toma team before she was ever with Mr. Jones. There are photographs of her with the team dated a year before she was with Mr. Jones. She was dating the team when Mr. Jones came across Miss Williams and started becoming obsessed with her. He began threatening her and playing on her anxiety. He was very manipulative and got her to leave the team to be with him. He had her believing that could provide for her better than she could and gained control of her money and assets. The team tried their best to get her to realize what was happening but as you know with Stockholm Syndrome it is not that easy. There are records in there of Mr. Jones signing for all her bills, for withdrawing money out of her account, signing her royalty checks from her books and more. If you look closely you will see that there is nothing of her giving him authority to do so and there is even notarized documents from her bank, her publisher, and others saying that they never received authorization from her in person but they took the signed papers as proof after he told them that the signatures don't match due to new medication that she was on. Speaking of which you will see that Mr. Jones was speaking on her behalf with her doctor without her ever going to be fully checked out. Dr. Green has done a check up on her after she managed to get away from Mr. Jones and said there were various medications that she had no reason to be on. There is no reason to have a divorce since they were never married, there is even video evidence from the hospital of her protesting the so called marriage with him and you will be able to see how he gets physically abusive to her. As sick as I am to say, there is even evidence of rape in there from the hospital as well as photographic evidence of his abuse as well. There is even audio evidence of him threatening to harm her and the child if it wasn't a boy. He only wants control over Miss Williams and the child for access to her money. She is not mentally unstable and as you can see with the all the evidence that she was never in a consensual relationship with Mr. Jones."

The judge goes through all the paperwork, looks at the photographs, and watches all the videos and sighs, "If there is no evidence of a marriage then there is no reason for a divorce and no grounds for spousal support. Now when it comes to the child, there is a question of custody?"

"No Your Honor," Owen's lawyer shakes his head.