Easter's Lilly Read online

The trial had already been put off twice, which made the baby seven months old. Dieguito’s birthday passed with not much more than a kiss. We planned to celebrate his 5th birthday party right after the first day of the trial. Hector and I went out and bought balloons, streamers, a cake and gifts for the birthday boy while Max, John and Mark went over the trial. It was amazing to me how time was flying by and we seemed to have no control over it. I was so mad that I had to testify. I really wanted to put this whole ordeal behind us. We walked to the courtroom and met Mark outside the door. “Diego and Jorge are in there, Lilly. Brace yourself.” Hector, Max, Johnny and I all followed Mark into the courtroom. By now we had to hire a nanny to care for the boys. I didn’t want them exposed to any of this ugliness. I was glad when I got there, that little Diego was not with me. Diego and Jorge were in shackles at the front table. I imagine there was some fear about their trying something devious, since they had already escaped once. Hector and Max sat with Mark and John and I sat behind them. The judge came in and we all stood. Then she let us all sit back down. Strange custom, I had always thought. Diego’s lawyer was Vanessa Hernandez; we knew her well. She represented Diego in the divorce hearing. Diego looked at me and smiled. Then he blew me a kiss. I had forgotten how handsome he was, though the thought of him putting his hands on me was still a repulsive memory. I feared getting called to the stand so much that my stomach was sick.

  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.
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  “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.

  The boys left us alone while they went to see the FBI. I sat on the couch completely exhausted. Johnny followed me inside and sat next to me on the couch. He reached out and put one hand on my face. “I know,” he said. “Rule number one, no touching.”

  I took his hand off of my face and took it with both my hands. “Thank you for everything, John.”

  “I hope they both get put away,” he said. “If Diego gets immunity, we could both be in trouble.”

  “When they get back, we’ll talk about the birthday party. I want you to be there,” I told him. “I’ll never forget how you were there for Chris. I will never forget you.”

  “Kind of hard with little Diego running around,” he said. “Although I am really mad about that name.” I laughed, and moved away from him a little on the couch. He was starting to get too close.

  He reached for my face again and pulled me close. “I will miss you more than I could ever tell you,” he said. “I’m so glad we had some time together, even if it was only brief moments. And the kiss…” He breathed in deeply as though he was taking in my scent. “I will never forget the way you responded to me.” I knew I was blushing and that he was delusional.

  Max walked in at that moment with Hector behind him. Hector looked at me with disappointment in his eyes. Johnny pulled his hands away quickly and Max said, “What the hell are you doing?” He grabbed John by his ponytail and hoisted him away from me.

  “He was just saying goodbye, Max, that’s all,” I told him.

  Max pulled out his gun and pointed it at John. “Do it from here.”

  “I’m staying for the party,” John said. “But after the party, I’ll get out of your way. I was just telling Lilly how nice it was to be with them.” He sighed. “Max, I hope you will let me see Dieguito when you get back.”

  “We’ll see,” he said. Max put the gun away. ”I can’t leave you alone for one minute without him putting his hands on you.”

  “It’s okay Max, nothing happened.”

  “What if I was five minutes later? Would you have kissed him?” Hector looked at me as if he too were demanding an answer.

  “No, now stop acting all jealous.” I could feel the agitation showing on my face. “You are the only one for me. How could you doubt me?”

  “You kissed him once, didn’t you?”

  “He kissed me,” I corrected. “Max, I love you, please…”

  “He’s just mad because Diego got immunity,” Hector chimed in. “No
w there are all kinds of guys hanging around who you have slept with that he knows about.”

  “Weren’t there girls before me, Max?” I asked. “We never talk about it, but weren’t there a few here and there?”

  “A few,” he said. “I don’t like to talk about my indiscretions.”

  “Well, I don’t like to talk about mine!” I was starting to get upset about this unfair treatment.

  “You never told her?” Hector blurted. Max gave him a ‘shut up look’ if I ever saw one.

  “Max was a playboy before Darla. Then he quit cold turkey. So, yeah, there’ve been a few.”

  “Thanks Hector.” He blushed a little. “I’m not proud of my behavior,” he said. “But I don’t like this whole thing with you and Johnny.”

  “There’s no Johnny and me. Now tell me what happened at the meeting and how much trouble we are all in?”

  “I just can’t believe five years of torture was all for nothing,” he said. “I could have taken you out of there years ago.”

  “It’s not for nothing,” Hector said. “Jorge will never see the light of day. The organization will be shut down, and you will get a permanent restraining order on Diego. Diego will spill his guts.”

  “Oh no,” I said. I sat down on the couch so as not to lose my balance. I suddenly felt empty inside. “He’s never going to go away. He’s never going to leave us alone.”

  “Yes he will,” Max, said. “If I have to kill him myself, he will.”

  “Everyone take a deep breath. You’re going back to Arizona and Diego will go back to Nevada. You will probably never cross paths again.”

  “What about Dieguito? What if he fights me for custody?”

  “That was part of the deal. No custody.”

  “I don’t know Max, I have a bad feeling about this.”

  “I fought it Lilly, but they had already made up their minds. Diego knows things about Jorge that even we don’t know. Where he gets his supplies, his involvement with Olivia’s father… all kinds of things. This could be big.”

  “When is all of this supposed to happen?” I asked.

  “We need a few days. Diego has asked to see you, but you don’t have to go.”

  CHAPTER 28

  I hated when they did that.