Chapter 53

August 21 Court date 7:30 am Demi's POV I woke up an hour ago. Today is tough on us all. We all have to testify Nick, Meadow, Sophia, Jeremy and I. The charges against Maria and Paige are being brought to court today as well. Jordan had a rough night. She woke up at about two, screaming. I woke her up. She began crying and threw up. Then cried herself back to sleep. I wake Maddie up first. "Hey babe wake up. I need you to get ready then get Meadow ready." "Five more minutes." "Come on." "Ugh, Mo-Dems, please.""Come on, get ready." "Fine. Will you set out Meadow and my outfits please?" "Yeah. Mads?" "Dems?" She says with a smirk."This is gonna sound weird, but... You can call me mom if you want. I mean we've always been close." "Cool, I miss having a real mom, but you're good enough. Thanks." "Speaking of real mom, when is the last time you've talked to her?" "I text her 'good night' every night but she doesn't reply. I tried calling a couple of times but she sends me to voicemail. So like a month." "What about dad." "I do the same with him, he replies every night, but won't answer my calls." I nod. I go into closet and pull out her outfit. I decide I'm going to dress them all similar. I pull out Maddie's navy blue sailer dress, white toms, and a white bow. I knock on the bathroom door. "Yeah." I crack the door, "When Meadow is ready come find me. I want to do your hair." "Okay." I close the door again and go into Meadow's room. She's laying horizontally in her bed. She kicked all the blankets off, and two pillows. I chuckle, I sit down on the bed and she turns over facing me. "Meadow." "Morning mommy." She mumbles quietly, in her sleepy voice. "Morning baby, I need you to get in the shower. I'm going to set out your clothes and Maddie's gonna help you get ready." She sits up and moves the hair from her face. "Okay, Mommy. " She drags herself into the bathroom. I go make sure Nick is up. He's fixing his hair when I walk in. "Hey I'm going to wake River up and get her in the shower. I'm going to set out her clothes. Will you make breakfast while I get ready?" "Yeah. " he says. I text Mom and Eddy: Hey, I know you are pissed off at me... Whatever, but ignoring maddie is too much, fucking talk to her, or I will take you to court for custody. Mom replies immediately: I dare you. Eddy replays: There's no need for that. Demi: Challenge excepted. I throw my phone on the bed. "What was that about." Nick asks. "You can read the texts while I wake up River. We'll talk about it later." I go and wake up River. I sit on her bed and rub her back. She groans. "Hey beautiful, I need you to shower." She sits up and hugs me. I give her a hug. Then she rolls out of bed and goes into the bathroom. I lay out her clothes. Then get into the shower.

Nick's POV "River, eat please." I plead. She looks at me irritated and sips her coffee. "I'm not hungry." "Okay." I don't want to push her too hard. "Hey where are y'all's bows?" Demi asks walking in with a curling iron and bobby pins. "Upstairs." Maddie says through a mouth full of yogurt. "Mads, come on." I say "But Da-Nick, I didn't do anything." She says with her mouth full again. "You're talking with your mouth full." She swallows, "Sorry. How you feeling sis?" She asks River. River shrugs. Demi does their hair. Then we pile into the car. I text Demi: We need a picture of them... Ice cream after? She glances at her phone then at me. She texts back:Yeah, if she is up to it. I'm not feeling to well... I'm scared. I read the text at a stop light. I sigh. We pull into the courthouse parking lot. We all step out of the car, all of us except River. I open her door, and hold out my hand. "Okay beauties, here's the deal... We go in there as a family and we come out a family. River, we are in this together. We are all scared, but you know what?" She looks up at me with watering eyes. "You are a warrior. We are in this battle as a team." River walks over to Demi and hugs her. Meadow pulls on my shirt, I pick her up and hold Maddie's hand. Demi holds River's. We meet Mr. Thompson outside the courtroom. We stand silently. A women opens the door and calls us in. We all take a deep breath. Mr. Tompson takes ahold of River's hand. He leads her to the table. They sit and he whispers something in her ear. She nods. I turn and look back at Meadow and Maddie who are sitting in the very last row. I squeeze Demi's hand. The judge enters and we all stand. We are seated after the jury comes in. We start with Paige. River  goes to the stand. The same asshole representing Sam is representing Maria and Paige. He stands and straightens his jacket.

Jurors Pov "Hello, Jordan." The defendants attorney says. She leans into the microphone, "I go by River." This little girl that looks like she might be nine says with the sass of the sixteen year old. He chuckles."Alright. We are just going to get business." River leans back and rolls her eyes. "Paige is your cousin correct?" "Indeed." "You lived with her?" "Indeed." "Have you guys ever been close?" "Never, she's jealous of me.""How so?" "I'm better than her at athletics.""School?" "She is a straight A student. I am an C average student. She's better at making friends. She's very popular,  I'm not." "Does that make you upset? Having no friends?" "No, I'm not a people person." "Why is it you stole and sold her bike?" "I didn't. She was mad at me because I made a joke about her at school and everyone laughed at her. She told me I would pay and I did. She sold her bike. Then told her mom I stole it. My aunt called the police and I was arrested." "If you didn't do it, why were you arrested?" "I wasn't every credible at the time." "Why is that?" "I was arrest three times before for stealing food, I lied about it. I was also arrested for dealing." "Dealing?" "Selling weed." "What else has happened between you two?""Fighting." "Over?" "Well once she attacked me for stepping on her new shoes. Another for telling her mom that she was sleeping with her boyfriend at the time who was eighteen. One other time because I talked back to her and another for not dying when my parents did." "Okay. What happened the night of Sunday August fifth?" "I had taken my boyfriend out to dinner. I dropped him off and made my way home. I was walking. I noticed a car following me so I called my mom." "Did you know who was in the car?" "No." "Carry on." "I slipped into the woods. I heard the car stop and the doors slam. I began to run. Then Paige began yelling for me. I tripped and she caught me. She punched me. My mom caught up to us and screamed. Sam came out from behind her and pulled out a gun. Paige continued to beat me. I fought back. I got her on the ground. I kicked the gun out of his hands and fell. I called 911 and grabbed the gun and my mom's hand. We ran to the sidewalk and they followed us. I pulled the gun out and pointed it at them. I told them not to move. He took two steps and I pulled the trigger." "Why did you shoot if the police were already on their way?" "I was scared." He hands her a piece of paper, "Can you read the highlighted part?" "Officer Ryan When I came to the scene the male, Samuel, was laying on the ground bleeding from a shot wound through his foot." "You shot him in the foot." "Yes." "Now at this point you had already called the cops, so why shoot him?" "I was afraid he would hurt my mom." "And you?" "No.""Why not? You claimed to be afraid two minutes ago." "I was not afaid for my life because he has taken everything from me. My sense of fear was taken, my virginity, my happiness. " "I have no further questions." She leaves the stand. Her lawyer stands. "May we have a five minute recess?" He asks. "Yes." The judge says. Her lawyer takes her hand and leads her out the courtroom. It's just the jury now. "That basterd." "That poor girl." "She's so brave." "Why do we even need to be here? Why are we putting her through this she's obviously been through enough." They all file back in. We rise as the judge comes in."We would like to call Meadow Clark to the stand." A little girl walks up to the stand. Taller than River but clearly younger. She sits at the stand." "Hello Meadow." "Hi." She whispers. "Can you tell me how you know River?" "She's my sister?" She questions not understanding the question. "How long have you known her?" "Um... since I was three so almost seven years." "Do you know why your here?" "Because of her bad cousin." "How do you know he is bad." "Um, he's mean. Whenever she took me places, he always showed up and made her all weird." "Weird?" "He would come cover to us, and whisper in her ear. Then he would get this weird smile. She would get really quiet and start to cry. Then later that night she would have nightmares. She would scream. 'Stop. Please Sam your hurting me. Or they're hurting me. Help." "Thank you, Meadow." Then his attorney stood. "How are you?" "Good." "You said she had a bad cousin." "Yes." "How do you know he was mean." "I already said how I knew." "Your honor?" The judge spoke. "Meadow, tell him please." She signed and repeated herself. "So you have not actually witnessed anything?" "No." "I'm done." The judge speaks, "Thank you, Meadow you may leave the stand." Meadow stands and makes her way to her seat. "Next witness.""Demitria Lovato." The woman stands and walks to the stand. She takes the pledge then sits. "Demi, how do you know my client?""Demetria. I know him because he was my former security guard." "For how long." "About 3 years." "During his time of employment did you ever have any problems?" "No." "Only after Jordan was in your custody?" "Yes, after River became apart of my family." "How did you come to realize my client and your daughter were related?" "I brought her to the studio to meet my crew." "And what happened?" "She took one look at him and had a full blown panic attack." "She didn't see him again till when?" "When he kidnapped her." "Right the kidnapping... How exactly do you explain that?" "My daughter was upset and went for a run. She got lost and waved done a car she thought she knew and then he took her." "Didn't you give him money?" "Yes, money to get her back. I would do anything to get her back ." "He was in jail until the trail began?""Yes." "During this time you saw Paige." "Yes, once at Target." "What happened." "She started to call River names." "And the other times?""She beat my daughter up in the bathroom of Panrea. The next time was when they tracked River down in the woods. Paige sprained Jordan's ankle and stabbed her. Samuel pulled a gun on us." "Thank you." He sat down. Her lawyer stands. "No questions." "Thank you Demetria. Sophie, please take the stand." The judge says. She takes her pledge, "Hello Sophie. Can you tell me about your time with Samuel?" Mr. Thompson says. "He is my brother. He's five years older than me. When I was about five he started touching me. I told my mom. She did nothing. A year or so later my parents divorced, he was about thirteen. He began to rape me and beat me. I countinued to tell my mother and she did nothing. I went to my dad's for a weekend and told him everything. I've stayed with my dad since then. When River's parents died we tried to find her. My mom didn't want us to go to the police with the things he did to me. When we got a call from the hospital because Samuel was shot. They told us who shot him. We went to see my cousin. My mother was there and very angry about the fact that my dad and I were there for River and not Sam. She attacked me. That's why I am here." "Thank you." "No questions." His lawyer spat from his seat. "Thank you Sophie. Mr. John your next." He takes the pledge and he sits. "How do you know these people." "That is my ex-wife Maria, Her son Samuel, and his cousin Paige." "May I ask why you got divorced." "Absolutely. My ex-wife here is a cocaine addict. When I found that my entire savings for a surprise vacation to Disney world was stolen and spent on her habit. I left." "Did you have any system for the kids." "We did. I got the kids for a week at a time. For awhile it was going well, until Samuel broke Paige's arm. He came over less and less. Then it was just Sophie. She told me about the molestation. I drew the line and cut contact." "Thank you no further questions." "Any questions?" She said to his lawyer. He waved his hand. "Alright lastly we have Mr. Jonas." He takes the Pledge and he takes the stand red faced and emotional. "Mr. Jonas I'm going to make this short and sweet, is there anything you have to say?" "My daughter River Jordana Mendez-Lovato-Jonas has been through too much. As her father, it's very dufficult not to tackle that man and end his life. Not only for the pain he has inflicted on my daughter, but for the many things he has done to Sophie. I hope the jury will bring justice to my family." He clears his throat, and tears begun to fall. "Mr. Thomson I have held my daughter while she's cried herself back to sleep. When she wakes up from nightmares of being kidnapped. I have held her hand through the mall because she is terrified of men. " "Thank you." "You may leave the stand. Closing statements." "This man, my client has made many mistakes. But he is not capable of these horrific crimes. With that I rest my case." "As you can see my client River and her family, have been tested with these aweful treatments. Since the death of her parents at the age of four she has been abused, mentally, physically, sexually... Now she found the courage to trust. It is now up to you to punish these people for the pain they have inflected. I thank you for your time. I hope you can come to the right decision." With that we were dismissed to discuss. As soon as the door closes I say,"Those who think Maria, the aunt, is guilty raise your hand." We all raised our hands. "The daughter Paige?" They raised their hands. "Samuel?" They all raised their hands. I knocked on the door the officer opens it."That was quick." We followed him to the courtroom. The judge comes back in. "Your verdict for the case against Ms. Maria Chavez?" "We find the defendent Maria Chavez guilty of assault and child endangerment." The judge nods, I sit. "Ms. Chavez is sentenced to four years in California's Women's State Penitentiary." She begins to cry. "Your verdict for the case against Miss Paige Mendez?" "We the jury find Miss Mendez guilty of the charges off battery, assault and attempted murder." "Miss Mendez is sentenced to three years in California's Juvenile Detention Center." She gasps. "Your verdict for the case against Mr. Samuel Chavez?" "We the jury find Mr. Chavez guilty of the charges of kidnapping, battery, assault, rape, pandering, harassment, and attempted murder." "Mr. Chavez you are sentenced to twenty years in California's Men's State Federal Prison. The state of California thanks you."

Jordan's pov Its over.