Fading Away ✅

Chapter Fifty-one (Part three)

She turns to me when the courtroom door closes behind us.
"We have a good chance at winning this. He's going to crumble and even his lawyer knows that. The evidence gave us our victory ticket"

The door barges open and Mum enters. She is closely followed by Addison, Lucas, and Blaze.

"I thought you'd want to see familiar faces before the verdict", she says wrapping her arms around me.

"Thank you, mum"

I engulf them in a hug, their presence bringing tears into my eyes.

I pull away and Addison holds me by the shoulder.
"You are so strong. Sitting there and listening to everything, I wanted to pull you into a hug and at the same time, punch that dickhead in the face"

She pulls me into another hug before letting go. I receive another long hug from Lucas and when I get to Blaze, I waste no time jumping into his arms. I bask into his intoxicating scent no way embarrassed at my tears staining his shirt.

He leads me to the couch and wraps his arms around me. He places a kiss on my forehead and I sigh in contentment settling comfortably into his arms. Exhaustion takes over me and I let out a yawn.
Soon, I'm out like a light.

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"Belle", "Belle", a voice calls.

I blink, sleep slowly clearing from my eyes.

"Mhm?", I mumble lifting my eyes to a familiar beautiful green pair.

"I wish you could continue resting but we have to get to the courtroom"

My heart skips a bit
"Are the fifteen minutes up?"

"Yes", Blaze says, staring at me with concern.

He gives me a peck on the forehead before standing up.
"And Attorney Willow is coming to get you"

"How could I have slept for the whole fifteen minutes?!"

"You needed it"

Attorney Willow barges into the room, a wide smile spread on her face
"I have good news"

"What is it?"

"You know the agent that was sent to trace all the calls and messages?"

"Yes?"

"Well, he found something"

"I thought you gave it up after it hit a wall".

"Yes until he found something fifteen minutes ago and I can with a hundred percent assurance tell you that we are going to win this case"

I sit at the edge of my seat, my heart racing as we wait for the judge and jurors to give their verdict. The judge hits his gavel reminding the murmuring audience that the trial is still in session.

"Can both Attorneys give their closing statements?", the judge calls.

"If I will be allowed, your honor, I have a final piece of evidence that I'll like to present to the court"

"You know new evidence is not prohibited during the conclusion of the trial, Attorney Willow"

"I do but please your honor, this is an important piece"

"I'm sorry Attorney Willow but–"

The bailiff moves toward the judge whispering something to her. The atmosphere in the court is tense, the audience is quiet waiting for the next action.

"You know this is not allowed but the jurors have given me a reasonable explanation to allow you to present the evidence along with your closing statement"

"Thank you, your honor and members of the jury"

"The defendant says he doesn't know my client and is being framed but I have evidence proving that he had called my client months ago threatening her"

This time, she hands a recorder to the court clerk and he plays it. Frozen to my seat, I listen to the conversation that crowned my drowning.

"Lexa"

" How are you? You know I didn't mean to stay long without any form of contact and you know I love you, don't you?"

"Don't you?"

"I do"

"Lexa, darling. It's been so long since I heard your lovely voice. I must admit it's giving me a hard-on right now"

"The pictures aren't a threat darling. I just want to remind you of how much I still appreciate your body and how putting our love in danger won't leave me as the only one with it"

"God, thinking about you makes my hard-on worse than it already is. See what you do to me. I am doing this for both of us, love. Never forget that"

Listening to it and imagining that day reintroduces the feelings that day, except this time I wish I had told someone earlier about what this man did to me.
Tears course down my cheeks as the room remains silent.

During that time, my feelings had been all over the place. I hadn't listened to him. All I knew was that I was doing the right thing because he was satisfied with my answers.

Attorney Willow breaks the silence.
"Are we going to deny that it wasn't Mr. Riz's voice we just heard now or is he going to continually say that this is technology?
Why would these kids want to frame the defendant as he says? Why is the witness, Mr. Carson admitting to sexting knowing that his admittance can place him in trouble? I relay all this to the court and hope that the judge and jurors will give a fair and right judgment"

Mr. Davis walks to the stand and gives a brief closing statement. His expression lacks the confidence it contained at the beginning of the trial.

After another fifteen minutes, the judge speaks up.
"Members of the Jury, have you reached a verdict?"

A lady from the jury stands up and addresses the court.
"Yes, your honor"

"And what is your verdict?"

My heart thumps against my chest furiously and beads of sweat coat my forehead.

"We the members of the jury find the defendant GUILTY of sexual assault,  threatening behavior, and child pornography.

I sit there speechless as loud conversations bursts through the courtroom.

The judge hits his gavel continually to bring back the silence.
"I agree with the members of the jury and thereby sentence Mr. Riz Letterman to twenty years in prison.
Miss Alexa and Mr. Carson, you both get off with a warning. Be cautioned"

I sit still in shock watching as Mr. Riz is handcuffed by policemen and shoved towards the door.

"I did not rape them!", he yells
"They consented to it. They practically begged me for it", he continues yelling as the policeman shoves him out the door.

I am attacked with hugs from behind and it's only then that I'm snapped out of shock. I wasn't dreaming nor was I hallucinating. I let out a sob and for the fourth time today, I let the tears fall.
This time, they are tears filled with joy.

I had fought and I had won.

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A/N: As many if you may or may not know this, sexting that is, receiving,sending and forwarding explicit sexual messages, pictures or videos.

The negativity or positivity of sexting lies in consent.

I have witnessed people who had their nudes spread suffer stigmatization and a whole lot.

To me, sexting has done more harm than good. What do you think?.

Anyways to other matters, there is only a chapter left and an epilogue to end Fading Away. I will continue to thank you all for your continuous support.

As usual,if you liked this chapter.
Please leave a vote.

Till the next chapter.