Chapter 31 - Let the games begin

Chapter 31 - Let the games begin

TW - mention of abuses

Jesy pov

It is the day. Leigh-Anne and I stand in the courtroom waiting for the trial against Alex and the other assholes who hurt Pez to begin.

Jade stayed at home with her.

As Agent Jareau had said, Perrie's deposition combined with the hospital reports and Dr. Blossom's evaluation should be enough for the trial without her stepping foot in the courtroom.

Hopefully that will be the case, Perrie has made huge strides, however seeing Alex again could be triggering for her and we don't want her to fall back into the darkness of her mind.

Leigh and I weren't convinced to the last to come here today, there will be talk about everything that happened to her and new details will probably come out that we don't know about.

On the other hand, we couldn't miss the opportunity to see this bastard get sentenced. We may be called as witnesses at some point, but we decided to follow the course of the trial from beginning to end. If we eventually feel it is too much to handle we will leave and only return when requested.

Regarding Pez, obviously her mental state is not the best these days even though she is holding it together, we just hope they don't ask her to come here. Let's hope that all the evidence they have gathered over the past months will be enough to prove the bastard Alex was without her having to tell what happened again.

Simon has managed to keep the rumours about the whole thing quiet, the trial will be held behind closed doors so that as few people as possible will know what is going on.

Hopefully there will be no leaks.

"All rise, the judge is coming in" someone says. We see a man in his sixties enter the courtroom and go to sit in the middle seat, he's wearing a robe and his stern expression tells me he's going to be an asshole. I hope he is towards Alex.

The man checks some papers with an impassive expression before calling the defendants. Silence falls in the courtroom as Alex enters accompanied by twenty other people, the ones they have arrested so far. His smirk makes me want to go up to him and slowly rip his face off until he begs for mercy.

Calm down, Jesy

I feel a trembling hand clutching mine and I turn to see a red-eyed Leigh, tears already streaking her face and I think she won't last through the whole process.

I give her a small smile of encouragement and see her sigh deeply.

"Perrie Louise Edwards v Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and..." the judge starts listing all the names of the defendants and I get nauseous thinking how many they are, knowing what these people have done to her.

"Mr. Judge, the complaint made by Miss Edwards against my client is nothing but lies, we have evidence that confirms the fact that Miss Edwards was in full agreement regarding what took place with Mr. Oxlade-Chamberlain and during meetings with the latter's friends" a man in his forties with greying hair and a well-groomed beard begins to speak, this is Alex's lawyer, I wonder how anyone has the audacity to defend him after all this.

"If you will watch these videos, you will see that Miss Edwards proved to be consensual during intercourse" the lawyer continues and hands the judge some videotapes which we recognise as the ones that were in the trunk we had found at Alex's house, when the video starts Leigh and I have to close our eyes, I feel Leigh's hand leave mine and I see her bring it to her ears, I only turn my head for a moment and regret doing so.

On the screen I see my dear blonde friend tied up while a dozen men surround her, she screams that she likes it but her face says otherwise. Not even a moron would believe this shit.

"As you can see, Miss Edwards never asked the men in the room to stop, but rather demanded that they give her more"

They forced her, you fucking piece of shit!

"If you then check the toxicology reports done on Miss Edwards you will see that drugs were present in her system. Miss Edwards is nothing more than a woman of easy virtue and a drug addict, who first consented to participate in sex games with the defendants, and later for fear that the story would come out and ruin her career, decided to sue them. Judge, the people here are innocent and only victims of the manipulation of a woman who was unable to live with her own choices"

Fuck you, lawyer

How fucking dare you?

How dare you come here and talk about her like this?

How can you even believe a single word you just said?

"Attorney Keating, how do you intend to respond to Attorney Stewart's accusations?" the judge asks, his expression still unreadable.

Now it's our turn!

"Mr. Judge, I obviously do not agree in any way with the allegations made by my colleague, it makes me smile that he cited among the evidence in support of his argument precisely the toxicology done to Ms. Edwards during her hospitalisation. Hospitalization occurred as a result of the severe injuries that the defendant caused to my client" the woman begins and I already know I am in love with her.

"I do not think it is fair that the toxicology report is the only evidence among all the reports of Drs. Monroe and Montgomery, please also check the report of the injuries suffered by Miss Edwards which see the formation of fractures, bruises, cuts, burns and internal damage repeatedly experienced for months. Now, who would believe that Miss Edwards was consenting to being treated like a punching bag?"

"Furthermore, the presence of drugs in her system in no way constitutes evidence of Miss Edwards' addiction, but the defendants' further abuse of her by forcing her, unsatisfied, to take drugs to make their games more pleasurable"

Fuck yes!

"In relation to the video that has been shown to us, I would like to counter with another video included in the evidence presented, the one dating back to the date of the first rape suffered by Ms Edwards when she was at Mr Malik's house. Please, let's watch it now" Keating hands the judge the 'famous' video of the first rape Pez suffered, again Leigh and I close our eyes and I regret not plugging my ears like my friend did, because hearing Perrie's screams again is probably the most heartbreaking thing that could have happened.

With every one of her sobs, cries or pleas, a piece of my heart is ripped apart.

"As you can see, Ms Edwards repeatedly begged Mr Oxlade to stop and let her go, but he did not. We can all see the desperation in the victim's eyes as the defendant forced himself on her, now I would like to show you another video, received from the victim's friends about a month after the assault"

Keating delivers another video, "As you can see, we are watching the same video where all of Miss Edwards' pleas have mysteriously disappeared and only the moments where she says she likes it remain. Now, I guess everyone in this courtroom has figured out that the same trick was also used in the videotapes shown earlier by attorney Stewart" at this point I look at Alex's lawyer, the colour has disappeared from his face as he loosens the knot on his tie, I guess he didn't see it coming.

Something tells me Alex hasn't been completely honest with him.

Who knows what he'll come up with next?

"Thank you lawyer Keating, I would like Dr Monroe on the witness stand now" the judge says, inviting him to sit in the witness box.

Things are getting good, I know Alex has no chance to defend himself against what the doctor will say. I look at him, and unfortunately the smirk has not yet left his face. I wonder how he remains so calm. Slowly anxiety creeps into my body.

It's not possible that he's hiding some trick up his sleeve, right?

"Dr Monroe, Miss Edwards was a patient of yours, correct?" Keating asks.

"Correct, counselor. Miss Edwards was admitted to me as soon as she arrived at the hospital following internal bleeding caused by a punctured lung due to a fractured rib. Her condition was critical and the chances of her waking up were extremely low, especially following three cardiac arrests that occurred during the ambulance transport and surgery" Monroe replied and I could see the sadness in his eyes. He saw Perrie at her worst.

"I see, I imagine that at the time of the operation you realised that the injuries sustained by Miss Edwards were greater than a broken rib"

"Absolutely, as soon as we saw Miss Edwards we prepared to operate on her to save her life, afterwards we proceeded to check all the injuries sustained, major and minor, we drew up a detailed report and called the police immediately because the severity of the injuries confirmed the hypothesis of an assault"

"Can you explain to us in detail what you discovered during the drafting of your report?" now it is the judge who is speaking. His expression is no longer so impassive, there is sincere curiosity in his gaze.

"Of course, Judge. We found evidence of fractures to ribs, wrist and fingers and from the healing of these we were able to confirm that the violence had been ongoing for about 15 months-"

"Objection your honour, there is no evidence that Mr Oxlade is the cause of the various fractures, Miss Edwards may have been injured in other situations not involving my client" Alex's lawyer retorted.

Oh, shut up!

"Objection sustained"

Fuck!

"Please continue, Dr Monroe"

"Countless bruises at different stages of healing were found on the victim's body, along with superficial and other deeper scars. There were also small burns attributable to the use of cigarettes on her body, as well as deep cuts and scars on the victim's back, probably caused by the use of a belt as a whip" Dr. Monroe pauses and sighs deeply before continuing.

"In addition to this, the victim's condition was extremely critical, not only because of internal bleeding caused by the puncture of the lung, but also because of profuse bleeding caused by lesions inside the victim's vagina that were certainly caused by a brutal sexual assault that had taken place a few hours before her admission. Old, similar injuries were also revealed, some of which had healed spontaneously. Those still open, including those formed during the last sexual assault, required the use of internal stitches to stop the bleeding"

"Objection, Your Honor, there is no evidence to say that the rape was committed by Mr. Oxlade-"

"Objection, Your Honor, Dr. Monroe found the defendant's DNA during the rape kit, do you confirm Dr. Monroe?"

"I confirm, I was able to find the DNA which I promptly handed over to the police along with all the reports and which later turned out to be compatible with Mr. Oxlade's DNA."

"Objection, Your Honour, the fact that Mr Oxlade's DNA was found in Miss Edwards, does not mean that he was the perpetrator, only that the couple, and I repeat the couple, had sexual intercourse the night before the admission. You cannot deny the possibility that Miss Edwards was subsequently sexually assaulted by another person"

"Objection overruled, counsel Stewart. All the evidence so far presented is in favour of Miss Edwards' claim and I find it highly unlikely that anyone else was a perpetrator of the violence"

Go for it!

"Dr Monroe, what happened after Miss Edwards' operation?" Keating asks.

"During the writing of the report we also noted that Miss Edwards suffered an abortion months prior to her admission, it was impossible to identify the specific period, but we know that the cause was the injuries and stress suffered by the victim. In addition, severe signs of malnutrition were present, resulting in a condition called Amenorrhoea, which means the inability to menstruate. All of these injuries worsened Ms. Edwards' condition" Monroe pauses again.

"Following the operation, she suffered several seizures resulting in heart attacks and organ failure that required emergency operations and a period in intensive care, Ms. Edwards was then placed in a medically induced coma to wait for her body to recover before trying to wake her up again. The coma lasted about a month, after which it was necessary to wait another month before the patient woke up"

"I see, but when Miss Edwards woke up she was referred to another doctor, Dr. Montgomery, correct? Can you tell us why this decision was made?" Pez's lawyer asks.

"Right, at the time of awakening Miss Edwards' mental state was highly compromised and it was my decision to request Dr Montgomery's presence, figuring that the fact that I was a man might frighten the patient"

"I see, thank you very much Dr Monroe" Keating says.

"Dr. Montgomery, please come to the witness stand" the judge politely orders.

The redhead we met so long ago walks down the aisle to the seat indicated and gives us a warm smile when she sees us.

"Dr Montgomery, how did you meet Miss Edwards?" Stewart asks.

"As my colleague Dr Monroe said, I met Miss Edwards on the day she woke up after two months in a coma. A few minutes after my colleague had seen Miss Edwards, he felt it necessary to call me and entrust her to me, he detailed her clinical situation and we agreed that given the probable trauma, the presence of a woman might put the patient more at ease" she replies confidently.

"I see, can you tell us how Miss Edwards reacted when she woke up?" Keating asks.

"Of course, the patient was confused and frightened, the shock was obvious and every little contact terrified her. We decided that no one should touch her except for urgent reasons, even the staff were specially selected and trained to behave in the most correct way towards the patient. On the day she woke up, I had to perform tests on Miss Edwards to make sure she had not suffered brain damage. Miss passed the tests very well, however during one of them she had a severe panic attack which required the patient to be sedated and the intervention of Dr Blossom, a psychologist working in the psychiatric department of the hospital"

"Can you tell us what the test consisted of and why it triggered such a reaction from Ms Edwards?" the judge asks.

"The test only involved me touching her legs to make sure her reflexes were present. Miss Edwards was terrified of anyone approaching her, even more so of anyone touching her. The moment I touched her thighs, Miss Edwards cowered and begged me to stop. I believe at that moment she relived one of many assaults"

"Objection your honour, a doctor's personal opinion is not evidence we can rely on" Stewart retorted.

I'm starting to hate you, man

"Objection sustained"

"I agree, Judge, I would like to call Dr Blossom as a witness, if you agree" Keating says. The judge nods and calls Cheryl.

"Good morning Miss Blossom, you are Miss Edwards' therapist, do you confirm?"

"I confirm"

"You were assigned to assess Miss Edwards by Dr. Montgomery, what can you tell us about that?"

"The first time I saw Miss Edwards was the same day she woke up, after the test done by Dr Montgomery. It was immediately apparent that her mental state was impaired and that severe trauma was present as a result of her experiences. Following the examination, I was able to diagnose Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Ms. Edwards experienced hallucinations and dissociative episodes that caused her severe stress. The patient repeatedly relived the trauma triggered by small gestures such as certain words used and sudden movements. In addition, a desire not to be saved and severe depressive stages with suicidal thoughts were evident" I see Cheryl sighing audibly and realise she needs a break.

"The patient's mood was unstable and caused her episodes of anger followed by others of apathy. The patient is still being treated at my practice to overcome the trauma, she has made great improvements but eradicating the beliefs imposed on her by Mr Oxlade is extremely complicated. The patient's entire emotional sphere is compromised. She was inculcated with erroneous beliefs that she should be physically punished for every little mistake and that it was normal to be repeatedly physically and sexually abused because it was an indication of love. The physical and sexual abuse is only a small part of what Miss Edwards suffered during the months of her imprisonment, the psychological abuse is what really worsened the patient's mental health" Cheryl concludes and I see her look of hatred towards Alex, I then remember that she is probably the best informed of all about what happened to Pez.

"Thank you Dr Blossom, you may go" the judge says.

"Mr. Judge, at this point I would like you to listen to the recording that Agent Jareau made when she interviewed the victim. Hopefully the recording will be enough so that we don't have to force Miss Edwards to come to this courtroom and relive the trauma"

I hear Perrie's voice fill the room and listen to her recount everything that happened with Alex. Every time her voice breaks, a piece of my heart does too. Jade had told me the story, but hearing it in full as told by Pez, it has a whole different effect.

It is devastating

She is devastated

Leigh silently gets up and walks out of the courtroom. She can't take it anymore. And I am so close to following her.

"I'd like Agent Jareau on the stand" the judge orders and immediately I see the blonde I had met in the hospital the day Pez was admitted.

"Good morning Agent Jareau, you are not only a police officer but also a criminologist, correct?" Jareau nods.

"Can you tell us the facts?"

"Of course, my department was contacted by the hospital on the day Miss Edwards was admitted and my colleague, Officer Morgan, and I were assigned to the case. When we arrived, Dr Monroe showed us the report and we later spoke with the victim's family and friends. Misses Thirlwall, Nelson and Pinnock had found Miss Edwards near death on the day of her admission. They had gone to the hotel where Miss Edwards was staying because they had found out the day before about the abusive situation the victim was in and were willing to help her report the perpetrators. We later discovered that not only was Miss Edwards being abused by her boyfriend, Mr Oxlade, but also by thirty other people, who paid Mr Oxlade to have non-consensual sex with the victim. As evidence of this, the videotapes, photographs and group chat on Mr Oxlade's phone, where the defendants commented on things they had done to Miss Edwards during what they called parties"

"As you can see, Mr. Judge" Keating brings to the judge several sheets of paper on which the messages and photos found on the phone are printed, "It is clear that Miss Edwards was the victim of the people here, her eyes showing the terror and pain of what she was suffering. There is no possibility that this was all consensual play"

"How did you get hold of the phone, Agent Jareau?" the judge asks.

Okay, now it's our turn

As the blonde answers I send a message to Leigh telling her to come back in, hoping she'll read it and come right over.

"It was given to me by Misses Thirlwall, Nelson and Pinnock who had found Mr Oxlade's phone the day before Miss Edwards' admission and found out what was going on" JJ replies decisively, giving me an encouraging smile as our eyes meet.

I feel a hand squeeze my shoulder and see Leigh sit down next to me, her red circled eyes tell me she has just stopped crying and I squeeze her hand warmly.

"Thank you, Agent Jareau, you may go. I request Miss Nelson's presence on the stand" I hear the judge say.

I slowly stand up and take a couple of deep breaths before walking towards the witness stand.

My gaze crosses with Alex's. The stupid smile hasn't left his damn face yet.

Let's see you keep smiling now, asshole

"Good morning Miss Nelson"

Let the games begin 

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A/N - Hope you enjoyed the chapter and see you at the next update! ❤️ Feedbacks are always appreciated so, if you want, comment and share!

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Thank you for reading and take care 🌈🍪

- C