Easter's Lilly (35 page)

The first person she called to the stand was Max. The first question was of course the obvious one; “Mr. Montiago, did you have an affair with your brother’s wife?”

“
Yes,” he answered.

“
How many times were you with her?”

“
Only a handful of times,” he answered. “Back then, anyway.”

“
Did you get her pregnant?”

“
Yes,” he answered. So far everything was pretty straightforward if not ridiculously obvious.

“
When did you decide to sleep with her, Mr. Montiago?”

“
Please,” he said. “Call me Max. There are too many Mr. Montiagos in the room today.”

“
Max,” she continued. “When did you begin the affair?”

“
We did not have a sexual relationship for the first four years,” he answered. We could hear the spectators in the room gasp in disbelief.

“
Why would you wait so long?” she asked.

“
I won’t lie,” he paused and looked at me. “I was madly in love with her from day one. I was afraid for her safety and I didn’t want her to get confused.”

“
Confused, how?”

“
I didn’t want her calling out my name at inopportune times.” The jury giggled.

“
Are you sure you weren’t worried about her calling out
his
name in
your
bed?” I put my hands over my mouth. I couldn’t believe she would ask such a question.

“
No,” he answered. “It wasn’t about my ego.” He paused and looked at me. “It was her safety with which I was concerned.”

“
Why would you worry about her safety?”

He put his hands over his face for a minute. I could tell that the memories were painful. “He abused her sexually and physically,” he confessed. “I just didn’t want to make it worse.”

“
He abused her, you say?” she asked. I started to panic. “Max, did you ever hear Lilly and Diego making love?” She got a look of superiority and began to pace back and forth. Her tone alluded to the fact that the line of questioning before her was somehow giving her some kind of pay back.

“
Oh God,” he said weakly and he put his hands back over his face. Then he removed them and looked at Vanessa. “Yes,” he answered reluctantly.

“
Would you say that Lilly may have enjoyed her sexual relationship with your brother?”

“
I don’t really know,” he answered. “I wasn’t in the room.”

“
I fail to see how a woman screaming out in pleasure is being sexually abused. No further questions,” and she walked off.

“
Permission to redirect.” Mark stood up.

“
Go ahead Mr. Franklin,” she said.

“
Max, please explain how you know she was being abused.”

“
At first it was not that way. Lilly and I stayed away from each other and even though Diego suspected that we might be in love, he didn’t really know until we
did
start…” He paused looking for the right words. “It became harder and harder to hide our feelings towards each other as time went on. That’s when Diego started the abuse. He was punishing her for it, which is why we waited so long in the first place.”

“
I would like to submit these pictures taken by Max the night she was beaten and raped by Diego in a hotel room.” He handed the judge the pictures. “Max, tell us about the night you took those pictures.”

“
We were at a territory party.” He looked at the jury. “A territory party is when the drug dealers who are in charge of specific areas bring their hit men and their ladies to a cocktail party. A meeting for the men and dinner precedes the party. Diego made her stay with him that night in the hotel.”

“
Go ahead…”

“
I went home, and after a few hours I saw her peek her head in my bedroom door. She was beaten up and told me he had raped her. I photographed her for this reason.” He took a breath. “She slept in my arms that night but we did not make love. I didn’t want our first time to be soiled by Diego’s raping her.”

“
What was the incident that pushed you and Lilly together physically?” he continued.

“
Diego made an announcement that he was going to change. He was going to stop forcing her to…” He paused and took another breath.

“
Take your time, Max. I know these memories are hard for you to think about.”

“
He was going to stop insisting that she be intimate with him every night and give her some space. He said he wanted to win her love and start a family. I was devastated.”

“
What did you and Lilly decided to do?”

“
She asked me to father her child. She didn’t want a permanent tie to my brother.” He smiled at me. “So, that is why we have a baby together now.”

“
No further questions,” he said smiling. Max sat back down.

Then they called me up there. My hands were shaking and I could feel that my face was already flush. I walked up to the stand and they swore me in. Then I sat down.

“
How long were you and Diego married, Mrs. Montiago? I can still call you that, right?” I assumed she knew Max and I were married but maybe not.

“
Five long years,” I answered.

“
What was the condition you were in at the time of the marriage?”

“
I was pregnant,” I answered. “He took me in and married me.”

“
That doesn’t sound like an abusive man to me, Mrs. Montiago.”

“
He wasn’t in the beginning. He was very kind.”

“
Kinder than his brother?” she asked.

“
Diego pretty much ignored me the first two years. Max was my bodyguard and we got close. Pretty simple,” I said, obviously irritated.

“
The first time you slept with Diego was two years into the marriage?” I held my breath at this point because I knew what the next question was going to be.

“
Yes,” I answered and I let my breath out.

“
Did you have a pleasurable physical relationship with your husband?”

“
Yes.” I knew my face had gone passed purple at this point. “He was a very generous lover in the beginning. I had only been with one other person before him, and it wasn’t very good.” I looked over at Johnny and said, “Sorry Johnny.” The jury all looked at him and started whispering. Johnny tried to hide his face.

“
This was something you enjoyed then?”

“
Only in the beginning,” I said. “It was too frequent. It was too much. I started to hate it but he just kept on…” I stopped and started to cry. “Can we talk about something else please?” I could see Max’s eyes fill with tears as he remembered our past.

“
Where is the relevance in this personal line of questioning, Your Honor?” Mark blurted out.

“
I am simply trying to prove that Diego is not the monster they are painting him to be. There was obviously no sexual abuse here. The incident in the hotel was simply after a heated argument and was an isolated incident.” She looked like she was finished but she continued. “I would like to make the jury aware of the fact that there was no police report filed.”

“
I’ll allow it. Please keep it brief,” she said.

“
Did Diego clothe you and feed you, Mrs. Montiago?”

“
Yes,” I answered.

“
Did he pay for all of your medical expenses?”

“
Yes,” I answered.

“
Did you cheat on him and walk away with his brother?”

“
Objection!” Mark shouted.

“
No further questions,” and she sat down.

Mark stood up. “I have here papers that show that Diego was not faithful to his wife during the marriage.”

“
Approach the bench,” she said.

“
These are paternity tests from Jorge’s wife’s baby. They are both deceased. Diego was the father.”

Jorge’s face turned green with horror. He was furious. He stood up and started yelling something in Spanish. The judge started hammering the gavel on the desk and the lawyer tried to get them to calm down. Jorge shouted out some kind of order in Spanish and guns started firing. Max jumped over to where I was sitting and pushed me to the floor. He and Hector pulled out their guns and started firing. “Get down!” everyone was yelling. Finally it got quiet. Diego and his unfortunate lawyer had been shot and I could hear ambulances in the background. The rest of us seemed to be unharmed and Jorge was restrained. It appeared that the only casualties were Diego, his lawyer and the shooters. The shooters were wounded lying on the floor by the door of the courtroom. “How the heck did they get their guns in here?” Max asked Hector. Max looked me over and said, “No damage this time?”

“
I was still feeling panic but managed to say, “I’m fine Max, go.” I knew where he was headed. It blew my mind how he kept saving that satanic sidekick. Hector ran to the shooters and disarmed them. Max ran to Diego, took off his shirt and started applying pressure to Diego’s wounds.

“
Can you please stop causing trouble long enough for me to put you in jail.” Diego laughed and then moaned at the pain. “Quite a few holes this time, bro.” He put his hand on Vanessa’s neck to check for a pulse. “Not as lucky as you are, today.”

“
Lilly?” he asked.

“
She’s fine,” Max confirmed.

“
No, Lilly…” I could see Diego lift his hand and point to me. Max looked up.

I began to feel a twinge of nausea. The next thing I knew I was laying on the floor and I had hit my head on the table. Before I knew what was happening everyone was standing over me and I was looking up at Hector and Max trying to help me stand.

“
Was she hit?” Max asked. “Is she hurt?” Hector gave me the once over.

“
I don’t see any blood,” he said. “Lilly what hurts?” he asked.

“
Stop feeling me up, Hector, I’m just feeling a little dizzy,” I said. He laughed and winked at me. Max grabbed my shoulders and pulled me away from him.

“
It’s an inside joke,” Hector said to him. “Take it easy.”

“
You two have too many of those,” Max argued.

The ambulance came and they took Diego away. Max insisted that the paramedics check me over but I think I just had a panic attack and I had a small lump on my head from where I fell.

We went to the hospital behind the ambulance to check on Diego. We sat in the waiting room and Max filled out a bunch of paper work on Diego’s behalf. “Can’t wait for
my
questions,” Hector said sarcastically. “Those weren’t embarrassing.”

“
Tell me about it,” Max conceded. “What was that all about anyway?”

“
Just trying to make it look like it was a happy marriage that you destroyed.” He looked down at me from where he was standing from the side of the room. “Sure glad
I
told you no,” he laughed. Max gave him a disapproving look.

“
Hopefully no one ever caught you and Olivia… you know.” Max smiled mischievously at Hector.

“
Nope, I was careful. Unlike you two exhibitionists.” I could see him remembering Jorge, Diego and him catching us by the creek. He smiled. “I never heard
them
either. She was quiet.”

“
Not one of my luxuries,” Max said. “But I like it when she cries out my name.” Hector put his hands over his ears. “Too much information!”

“
Maxwell, behave yourself,” I said. “It looks like Diego was hurt pretty bad this time.” We waited to hear that Diego was going to make it and we went home.

The trial went on without me. The dutiful wife questions were over. My part was simply to discredit Max and make Diego look like the long-suffering husband. The DNA test on Olivia’s baby seemed to discredit Diego all by itself and I was off the hook. Diego and Jorge were at odds after that paternity test was discovered. Diego was in the hospital for quite a while and Max was afraid that he was going to try to win immunity by rolling over on Jorge. The FBI called a meeting with Max and Hector to discuss Diego’s current condition. We all knew this was a bad sign. I was sure somehow Diego was going to get out of this. Of course our biggest fear was that he would get immunity and come after us. Now there was more than just us to worry about. Chris, who was not his baby, was to be considered. Johnny had already testified. He wanted nothing more to do with the witness protection program and was getting ready to go back to Sedona but not before the birthday party.