The Sanctuary✔️

36

John hadn't plead guilty. He hadn't said a word to anyone, which lead to Gina being able to question Ashley.

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"Ms. Nicholus, can you please tell us when you met John McAllen?" Gina, Ashley and Gabriel's lawyer, smiled at her as she spoke. looking at Ashley who was shaking in the chair she sat in.

Sitting in front of everyone, all eyes on her as they waited. Sitting in that famous chair where people were questioned by lawyers and judged. She sat up in the booth-like chair where Gina had started to ask Ashley questions.

"Sometime in my second year of college. Around 2015." Quietly, Ashley spoke afraid to answer questions again. Her voice slowly got louder as she spoke through the first anwer she gave although she had become more tense. They were the same questions over and over again over the past months but it still had effects on her. They still were scary to answer.

Even more so when everyone is watching you start to break down again. When your abuser is sitting ten feet away from you, watching with sad yet deathly eyes. When your friends are a mere stand away from you and your lover is sitting there, watching you biome the most vulnerable you could be.

"So you've known this man for roughly six years now?"

"Yes."

Pacing, Gina looked at Ashley who fiddled with her hands still "When did his abusive behavior start? Towards you or anyone you know?"

"A year or two after he graduated from Medical school. H-He...he started drinking then. It wasn't horrible at first, I would have to get him from bars and his friends houses when he was almost blackout drunk. He started drinking because of events at the hospital he worked at."

"What did this drinking cause John McAllen to do? To say?"

"A lot. Most of it was just him saying horrible things, at first it would be about his friends or co-workers at the hospital he worked at. It was a lot of me listening to him say horrible things. T-Then it started coming at me, attacking me. His words I mean. He would...just tell me how worthless I was to everyone, how no one wanted me and that's why I was with him. That I was a waste of life a lot of the time. He would attack my appearance heavily, then my emotions and personality. A lot of it came out when he was drunk, he w-would tell me these things and then blackout. I never thought much about it because he was drunk. But...he was always drunk or drinking."

"These things that he said to you, can you go into more detail. About what he said about others too. As much as you can."

"Um...towards other people. He would just say how much he hated them and wished they'd drop dead. How much everyone was stepping up in life and he was a hard worker but never got anything. J-John would tell me...tell me how he planned to get rid of them. How he would get them fired or make them disappear."

"Did he ever get anyone fired or make them go away?"

"Objection! how is this relevant to this case between this couple?" Johns lawyer had cut in, standing up and staring at Gina grossly.

"It's not only about this girl's safety, your honor, but others that John surrounded himself with as well."

Nodding, "Continue." The judge sitting there let Gna continue her questions and gave a small nod to Ashley who looked at her with a solemn face.

"Ms. Nicholus, did he ever make anything ill intended happen to anyone else?"

"Not that I am aware of. I think...I think he would tell me that in one of his drunken states if he did. He was very blunt and open when he would get drunk, I don't think he would be able to keep a secret like that from me."