41. Chapter 41 #2
“And Nolan hated that,” she says softly.
“He hated anyone untouched enough to remind him what he’d become himself.
There are so many assholes in the industry who take someone with a head full of dreams and fucking stomp on them.
I helped destroy a very good person,” she says without hesitation.
“And how Nolan abused me for years…I abused Jude. I hurt him because I was hurt, and because Nolan taught me that love was ownership, humiliation, and power. After I had a bad day, I took from him because I couldn’t stand to deal with anything else.
” Her breathing stutters briefly. “I took a boy with a beautiful heart and helped rip pieces out of him until he stopped smiling.”
Heather quietly breaks somewhere behind us. The sound is tiny and barely even audible. But it slices straight through me anyway.
“I watched Nolan manipulate him for years,” Adriana continues.
“Watched Alexei pour fucking ink in the remainder of his bright soul.” Her voice lowers further now, trembling slightly.
“And by the time we ended up in captivity together after Nolan’s death…
I think part of Jude already believed he deserved it.
He’d been hurt so much that it was just life for him. ”
My jaw locks so hard, pain shoots upward toward my temples.
Emma’s hand leaves her mouth slowly before resting against her chest instead, like she physically can’t breathe.
Adriana goes quiet for several long seconds. “There were nights Alexei would hurt him just to prove he could.”
My stomach twists violently at the nightmare my life had become.
“He’d threaten women Jude loved. Threaten to sell them and send them to Vlad.
Including me.” Her breathing grows uneven.
“And every single time Jude broke himself trying to protect us.” A humorless laugh.
“Why did he even want to protect me? Spare me from suffering? It’s because he’s fucking good. He’s g—good.”
A federal attorney across the room lowers his gaze completely. Nobody is writing notes anymore. The courtroom has become a grave.
“There were only a few times Jude physically hurt anyone directly under Alexei,” Adriana says carefully now.
“And every single time it happened under threat. And fear.” Her voice sharpens slightly through the exhaustion.
“He was not some willing psychopath. He was terrified, and trying to spare other people from hurting. He always did that.”
Micah sniffs behind me, reaching forward to clamp a firm hand on my shoulder. I set my hand over his for a moment before he gently pulls away.
Tears finally spill over despite every effort to stop them.
I wipe at them angrily before giving up entirely when more follow immediately after.
Adela told me that this was how they’d get me out of this back in the hospital.
But I didn’t know this was part of it. That Adriana’s last fucking gift to me wasn’t abuse. It was freedom.
Then Adriana continues. “Jude Graves is one of the brightest stars I’ve ever known.”
The sentence lands so hard inside my chest that it physically hurts.
“He has a beautiful heart and soul. And a moral backbone that confused me. I hurt him so much and he never hurt me back,” she huffs in disbelief. “People like Alexei destroy things like that because they can’t stand to look at something pure without wanting to ruin it.”
Emma’s breath catches audibly behind me.
I lower my head, pressing my knuckles hard against my mouth while my shoulders begin trembling despite every attempt to control it.
Then Adriana keeps talking. “There was a night Alexei even sold Jude’s body.”
The courtroom stills even further, if that’s even possible. And my vision blurs. I’m collapsing inside myself. Out of all of the abuse, this one fucking stings the most. I could always overpower Adriana if I really wanted to. But Henrik? I couldn’t. I was helpless.
“He handed Jude over to a man named Henrik for an evening because Jude had disobeyed him earlier that week.” Her voice shakes now, too. “I remember him coming back, damaged and drugged. He could barely talk. Or walk. They had to carry him in.”
Emma whimpers behind me, finally hearing the brutal reality of it.
“Oh my god,” Heather whispers somewhere behind us.
I close my eyes. I can’t stop shaking.
“I couldn’t help him,” Adriana says brokenly through the speakers. “I just sat with him while he cried about being abused by someone who…who wasn’t me.” She says that last part bitterly, like she hates herself.
The shame inside her voice feels almost unbearable to listen to.
“I think that’s when I realized there wasn’t enough left of me to survive this.”
Silence crashes heavily across the courtroom.
Adriana breathes shakily one last time before continuing more softly. “I took Nolan’s flash drive after Alexei killed him. I hid it because somebody had to tell the truth eventually.” A pause. “Even if it was too late for me.”
My chest hurts so badly now, I genuinely wonder if I might pass out.
“If Jude survives this…” Her voice trembles again, turning into light sobs. “Please don’t let people turn him into the monster they made him pretend to be.”
And just like that, the recording ends.
Static fills the courtroom once more, and nobody speaks.
Emma is crying openly behind me now, one hand covering her mouth. Beside her, Micah exhales shakily through his own tears. Heather’s head is leaned on his shoulder, eyes red and looking at me with so much love.
Rafe remains perfectly still, and Adela’s eyes are watering.
And I sit there silently unraveling beneath fluorescent courtroom lights while the dead finally tells the truth for me.