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| 30 | The Verdict |

 It was all I could do to stay in my seat during the rest of the trial when they brought Sebastian onto the stand and then some of his friends and then his brother who were all absolutely so dumbfounded at the "allegations" I had made. They all raved about him, how he was the nicest guy, how he respected women his entire life, especially his girlfriends.Apparently I just wasn't good enough to be included in that group of lucky women.

"Where the hell did he get that video?" I spewed as Liam and I walked into his apartment.

"I don't know," he sighed, shutting the door behind him and running his fingers through his formerly neatly brushed hair, "Nobody but the maids had access to that hotel room Liv." 

"That hotel is getting sued," I grumbled, "I put on a damn skirt, I shimmied my way into fucking pantyhose, put on respectable looking heels, bought a two hundred dollar purse just to have my entire character assassinated on that stand and have a video and pictures of me kissing my boyfriend in a private hotel room shown to a jury, a judge, an attorney, and whoever else was in that courtroom by a scumbag attorney who wanted them to believe that I was about to have sex," I said, angrily kicking off my shoes and throwing my purse across the room.

"That was bullshit," he sighed.

"Oh, I know!" I fumed, trying my best to try to peel the pantyhose off of my body as tears streamed out of the corners of my eyes.

"We can leave," he said, watching me fail miserably at getting out of the damn court clothes, "We can go back to Aladine, or we can go somewhere totally new. We don't have to stay here now."

"I wanted this to work," I cried, "I wanted this cute little town to be my home and now I just want to leave because it's been hell. What happens when everyone back home hears about this? Oh my gosh, my mother is going to kill me." 

"Hey," he said, grabbing my fumbling hands and pulling me in, "You're going to be just fine, everyone back home knows you, they know you wouldn't lie."

"How do I deny those pictures, Liam? How do I deny the video that not only had a clear video of my face and body but audio that makes it so obvious that it was me?" I asked.

"Your privacy was not respected, it was infringed upon. And that asshole is going to get sued," he replied, wrapping his arms around me.

"I don't have enough money to sue that bastard, it's not worth it," I replied.

"I'll make sure it happens," he said, kissing the top of my head.

"I just want to leave," I sighed, my head buried in his chest.

"I know babe," he sighed, rubbing my back as we stood there in the middle of his apartment, "Do you still want to go to the final part of the trial tomorrow?" 

"I need to hear whether they find him guilty or not," I sniffled, "I need to know how long he's going to be in jail."

"Alright," he said, "Then let's go to bed because it was a long day." 

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I laid there in bed for a half hour while Liam cleaned up the dishes from dinner and took a shower before getting up to find my phone charger. I had no desire to be on my phone at all, it barely got taken off the nightstand or out of my purse when we weren't at home. I'd gone the last three days without charging it, so I figured it probably needed it tonight.

I'd sworn Liam said he'd put my charger, yellow of course, in the nightstand drawer on his side of the bed.

I dug and dug through the drawer before finding the cord, pulling it out from a mess of various things like old pucks and pens and the occasional memo pad.

But I didn't expect to find what the cord was stuck to.

It was a velvet box, a black velvet box, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. At first I thought it was the box that my necklace came in all those years ago, he'd kept it around because he kept the necklace I'd given back to him the night we broke up.

But it wasn't empty, it had a ring in it. A beautiful diamond ring.

It was the ring.

I couldn't believe he kept it, if I was him I would've wanted to chuck the thing into the ocean after what I did to him.

But he kept it anyway, he kept it around for two and a half years through three different cities.

I heard the shower turn off as I stared at the ring in its box, so I quickly closed the box and put it back in the back of the drawer where it belonged.

"You okay?" Liam asked as he came out of the bathroom with his wet shaggy hair and old flannel shorts.

"Yeah," I smiled as he crawled in bed next to me.

"We're going to be okay," he said, pulling me in close, "I'm not going to let you go again."

"And I'm never going to leave you again," I sighed, resting my head on his chest.

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The final part of the trial was basically the jury telling everyone the verdict, followed by a recess if he was found guilty before the judge sentenced him.

There was extra security at the courthouse today, the guards said there was a high profile case having the verdict read and sentencing after Sebastian's case so they were doubling down on everything to stay safe.

I sat through two other cases before they finally brought Sebastian in.

"Case number 2271359, Florida versus Sebastian Luther. How does the jury find Mr. Luther?" the judge asked, turning to the jury.

"On the charge of rape in the first degree, the jury finds the defendant, Sebastian Luther, not guilty," the forewoman said.

"Oh my God," I said, my chest tightening up and my throat closing.

"There's still more charges," Liam said quietly, squeezing my hand.

"On the charge of one count of felonious assault, the jury finds Mr. Luther guilty," the forewoman said next, "And on the count of sexual misconduct, we find the defendant, guilty."
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the state of Florida thanks you for your service, you are dismissed," the judge replied, "Mr. Luther, you will be sentenced to six months to one year in the Lee County Jail."

Six months to one year in county jail? Jail? The son of a bitch was getting off easy.

"You good?" Liam asked as we walked down the hallway and out of the courtroom.

"Yeah," I sighed, "I'm going to go to the bathroom first."

"I'll go get the car," he said.

I sat in the bathroom stall for three or four minutes before splashing water over my tired face. It was so obvious that my eye socket and the surrounding areas were black and blue and bruised still because I didn't put makeup on today. I was staring at my reflection in the mirror when the tears started to escape my eyes and my head started to feel cloudy as my chest tightened and I struggled to get a breath out.

"Liv, are you coming?" Liam asked, knocking on the door.

"Y-yeah," I stuttered, wiping the tears from my eyes as I opened the door.

"You're white as a ghost, are you okay?" he asked as I met him out in the hallway.

"I-I'm-" I began to say before my legs gave out and everything went dark.

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