Page 103 of Protecting Christina

I didn’t need Will to stay, but I wanted him to. “Yes. We are all meeting inside the prosecutor’s office. Follow me.”

I led Will and my sister to the District Attorney’s office. When we all sat down, he started asking her questions immediately. She wrung her hands while she spoke. Without questioning whether it was a good idea or not, I put my hand in hers and rubbed her skin with my thumb. With a nod, I said, “You’ve got this. You can do it.”

She licked her lips and nodded, too.

When the prosecutor asked her if Simon had assaulted her, she hesitated. “I never told him no, even though I wanted to. But he has assaulted other women in the past.”

My sister looked up at me, and heat rushed from my neck to my cheeks. I felt their eyes and their judgment on me, and I wanted it gone. I wanted to crawl beneath my chair or hide.

Donna hadn’t done it on purpose, but that one look was enough to point the finger at me.

I cleared my throat. “We can’t bring in evidence from past crimes if they are unrelated to this one.”

“Well, we do not know if it is unrelated,” said the prosecutor. Sure, now he was trying to do his job.

I looked him square in the eye. “It’s unrelated.”

“All right,” he drawled.

“Ok, let’s go over some of the questions the defense will likely ask.”

The prosecutor and I went over the questions with Donna, reassuring her that she did not have to be ashamed of her responses. She looked down at the floor and bit her lip. I grabbed her shoulders and turned to face her, waiting for her to look at me.

“You are not the one on trial here, do you understand?” I said. “You have nothing to be embarrassed of. He is the guilty one. Not you.”

She swallowed and nodded.

Looking at his watch, the prosecutor stood from his desk. “It’s time to go.”

Donna inhaled and stared at me. “Thank you.”

My brow furrowed. “You have nothing to thank me for.”

“I do. For helping me when no one else did and prepping me, even though I’d left you and my friends behind. I may not deserve a second chance, but I hope you’ll give me one.”

Tears welled in my eyes, and I embraced my sister. “I think we both were to blame for our distance. But I forgive you for your part and hope you will forgive me for mine.”

She nodded and buried her head in my neck.

When she sniffed, I pulled her away. “Go get him, Donna. Show him that he didn’t break you. Show him he should have never messed with you.”

She smiled. “You always were the badass.”

“Nah. I just never knew when to shut my mouth.”

She laughed as we walked back inside the courtroom.

Will grabbed my hand as we sat down behind the prosecutor and waited for him to call Donna to the stand.

I watched Simon stare at her with a tiny smirk on his face and I wanted to wipe it off of him.

He turned to me and said, “You and your sister have shit on me.”

I ignored him, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing his threat had me worried. If he got away with this, what else would he do? His crimes kept escalating and the line of women he hurt was growing. It had to stop. Today.

“Ms. Polito, you were the first woman he contracted, correct?” the prosecutor asked after Donna was sworn in and introduced to the jury.

“Yes,” she said, softly.

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