After only one day in court, my nerves were absolutely frazzled. I couldn't imagine how long this would take in total, but I hoped that the jury would see through Theodore's lies and the lies of those who might cover for him. We laid low that evening, not having much energy to do much else and of course, Nathan advised us to do so anyway. There were too many people waiting to question us about the trial. And of course, now that the trial had begun, Theodore was feeling more threatened than ever so who knew what lengths he might go to in order to silence us?

The next day was a classic sunny winter day, one that was so bright that the sun glinting off the snow almost blinded you. I enjoyed those extra bright rays for the few moments I could before we entered the courthouse, once again swarmed by reporters calling our names and asking questions we were told not to answer.

Once we had gotten situated, the judge entered and Day 2 of the trial began. He addressed Nathan Greenwood first and instructed him to call his next witness. Me.

"At this time, I'd like to call Juliette McGill to the stand."

I walked to the front of the courtroom and stepped up into the box.

"Please state your full name for the court."

"Juliette Maria McGill."

"And Juliette, how old are you?"

"I'm 23," I answered.

"What are your credentials for teaching Special Education?"

"I have a degree in Special Education from Ohio State University. I am also certified to teach Special Education to all ages."

"Why were you looking for a job as a nanny if you just graduated from college?" Nathan asked.

"I wanted to work with a special needs child in the context of home and family life, to get a more well-rounded understanding of what their life looks like outside of a school setting."

"How long were you working with Harry before you noticed that he didn't seem to fit the description of a special needs child?" Nathan questioned.

"Well, obviously, I noticed immediately that he wasn't a child. Within the first week, I noticed that he seemed very bright and eager to learn. He raced through all of our lessons and always wanted more work to do. He wanted to be challenged."

"At which grade level did you run out of material to teach Harry?"

"I had found curricula up through sixth grade on the computer in Harry's school room. He had mastered all of that material by the end of July."

"What did you do next?"

"I asked Theodore for higher level school work for Harry."

"And what was his answer?"

"He said no and that I should just review what we had already done."

Nathan glanced over at Harry and then at Theodore before continuing. "Juliette, did Theodore ever say anything derogatory about Harry?"

"Yes," I said. My throat suddenly felt very dry. "He said that Harry was a...a retard and that he would never amount to anything. He said that even a trained monkey could do the things Harry could do." I hated repeating those awful things.

"That sounds pretty harsh," Nathan responded. "Did he ever say those things directly to Harry?"

"I'm not sure...Wait, Harry told me early on that Theodore always called him stupid, said he was too stupid to do anything."

"Objection, your honor," Samuel Klinefeld whined. "Why are we hearing third-party testimony?"

"Sustained," the judge replied.

"Fine," Nathan answered. "Juliette, did you ever hear Theodore call Harry those things to his face, while you were within hearing range?"

"No," I answered.

"Juliette, can you please tell me when you made the decision to cut back on Harry's medications?"

"I had accidentally forgotten some of his doses a few times," I said. "And I admitted that to Theodore. But what I noticed was that Harry seemed more alert and some of his physical symptoms, like stuttering and twitching, lessened when he went without the medications. I think it was around mid-August when I started researching the medications online. I had to look up each pill by its color and size and the number stamped on it."

"Why didn't you just look at the prescription bottles?" Nathan wondered.

"Theodore repeatedly refused to tell me what Harry was taking," I answered.

"But surely he told you what conditions Harry was being treated for," Nathan said.

"No," I shook my head. "I asked several times but he wouldn't talk to me about it, he wouldn't let me see any medical reports, nothing. He basically wanted me to blindly follow his instructions."

"And did you have problems with following those instructions?"

"Yes."

"What were they?"

"Regarding the medications, when I finally found out what they were, I did some research and found what they were used for and what the acceptable doses were. I um, also asked my brother-in-law for advice since he's a doctor. But I promised him that I would take full responsibility for my decisions regarding the medications since I didn't want him to get in trouble for giving me advice. I decided to systematically reduce the medications, one at a time, and watch for side effects or symptoms of the conditions they would normally treat. By mid-September, I had everything down to what I had found were safe doses and Harry was absolutely fine. Better than fine, actually. He wasn't as groggy and most of his twitching and stuttering went away."

Nathan's questions came rapidly and I was ready for them. I wasn't sure I'd be so ready when Samuel Klinefeld was up. "What happened when Theodore found out that you had lowered Harry's medications?"

"He didn't know at first, but when he started adding new ones, I flat out refused to give them to Harry because I knew he hadn't been seen by a doctor."

"And then what happened?"

"Theodore threatened me. He said that if Harry didn't take all his medications, I would be fired."

"So, did you make him take all of the medications after that?"

"No," I answered. "I actually discussed it with Harry because by that time, I knew he was twenty and felt that he had the right to be included in the decisions regarding his health. So he decided he would keep taking only what he had been taking and we hid the rest."

"Then how did Theodore find out?"

"He saw me on one of the nanny cams, taking the extra doses out of Harry's pill box. Somehow he knew where I was hiding them and he found about five days' worth of extra pills."

"Is that when Harry overdosed?" Nathan asked.

"Yes."

"Can you please explain for the court, exactly what happened that night?"

"Harry and I were watching a movie. Theodore came into the suite screaming. He found the extra pills and asked why I hadn't made Harry take them. I told him that it wasn't safe because Harry hadn't been seen by a doctor. He screamed at Harry to take all the extra pills and I told Harry not to because that was very dangerous. Then Theodore grabbed my shirt and slammed me against the kitchen wall telling me that I would learn to obey him. I begged him to just fire me like he said he would but instead he forced Harry to take the pills." I was starting to feel sick, remembering that night, shaking in my seat.

"All right, Juliette. Just take your time. What happened next?"

"Harry swallowed all of those medications. Five days' worth! As soon as Theodore left, I told Harry to make himself throw up and he did, but then...." I started crying, "then he passed out anyway. I called 911 and then Harry stopped breathing. I...the dispatcher talked me through it and I got him breathing again. A few minutes later, Theodore came in with two big guys and they just carried Harry away. And then he locked me in the suite so I couldn't follow them. I never saw an ambulance or a paramedic."

"When did you see Harry again?" Nathan asked.

"A few hours later, the same guys carried him back in and Theodore told me he would be fine. I stayed awake, by his side all night to make sure. I've never been so scared in all my life."

Nathan paced a little; I think he was giving me time to collect myself. Then he said, "You told me that Theodore shoved you against the wall. Was it hard? Did it hurt?"

"Yes, it hurt. I had a huge bruise on my shoulder after that."

"Were there other times that Theodore physically hurt you?"

"Yes. When he found out that I was asking my brother-in-law for advice about Harry. He slammed my head against the wall and screamed at me. And when I tried to run away, he shot me."

The crowd gasped collectively.

"Were there other things that Theodore did to you that you would consider abuse? Anything cruel and unusual?"

"He always kept the doors to the suite locked. Harry and I were in kind of our own apartment. We were never allowed in the main part of the house and we never joined in with family activities, not that there were any such events anyway. I had to call him to ask about anything because I couldn't just find him around the house since, as I said, the doors were always locked. He kept vital information about Harry from me. He took my laptop when he found out I had sent a video of Harry to my brother-in-law, and he took my phone away after I called 911 when Harry was dying." I gave Theodore a murderous look and he just smirked back at me. "He kept both Harry and me trapped in that place with no phones, no internet, no access to the outside world. One day, he came in...with a gun...and..." I gulped, reliving another terrible memory. "...he made me call my parents and lie to them, telling them everything was fine. He told me if I made any attempt at crying out for help, he would kill Harry. He sat there with the gun in Harry's neck the whole time." I finished in a whisper, choked by my tears.

"And then you said he shot you," Nathan said. "Tell me about that."

"That wasn't the same day. Clive Barrows was Theodore's driver for many years, but he started to help me because he knew something was wrong with the way Theodore was treating me. He was fired, but he came back with a boat - the house is right on an inlet from the ocean," I explained briefly. "Clive came back to try to rescue us since he knew Theodore had us trapped. But Theodore discovered our plan and shot at all of us. I was hit in the shoulder, neither Clive nor Harry was shot, but Theodore took Harry and beat him for several days after he captured him."

"All right, let's backtrack a little. Theodore told us that you were the one who made Harry take all those pills. Can you think of any reason his story is different than yours?"

I shrugged. "He hates me."

"Speculation, your honor," Klinefeld whined.

"Sustained."

"Fine," I said. "All I can tell you is what I remember from that night, and I told you. I remember every terrifying moment from watching him gulp down those pills to finding out he had stopped breathing. Why would I make up a story like that when all I ever wanted to do was take care of Harry?" I finished by pushing a sob back in my throat. I didn't want Theodore to have the satisfaction of seeing me upset.

"Okay, one final question. When you arrived at Theodore's estate, you were under the impression that Harry was seven. When Theodore showed you the new contract, did he, at any time, tell you that Harry was actually twenty years old?" Nathan asked.

"Not even once," I stated and gave Theodore a defiant look. "He insisted, repeatedly, that Harry was seventeen but had the mentality of a seven-year-old."

"Thank you, Juliette," Nathan concluded. "I have no further questions." Great that meant that Klinefeld got a shot at me now.

"Defense, would you like to cross examine?

"Yes, thank you," Samuel Klinefeld said and strode over to me. "Ms. McGill," he began, "you admitted to Mr. Greenwood that you have trouble following instructions."

"I said that I had trouble specifically following Theodore's instructions regarding the medications he wanted me to give to Harry. And to be honest, I took issue with some of his rules for Harry as well."

"Like what?" He asked.

"He had a list of rules for Harry. One of the rules was that Harry should obey his nanny at all times. If he didn't, his punishment was solitary confinement, in his room for 24 hours, and the nanny was not allowed to check on him. That would be considered cruel and unusual punishment by any school, daycare, or any entity entrusted with the care of children. Another rule was that we weren't supposed to show Harry any physical affection whatsoever."

"A rule you had no trouble breaking," he mumbled softly enough that only I could hear him. "But we'll get to that."

Nathan heard him muttering, however and stood, saying, "Your honor, I'd like to request that Mr. Klinefeld speak up so that everyone can hear him."

Klinefeld gave the judge an innocent look and said, "Oh, I apologize. I must have been thinking out loud. Bad habit." Then he turned his attention back to me. "Juliette, did you ever do anything illegal inside of the Blake home?"

"Yes, I suppose that I vandalized his home when I set the fire," I answered. I wasn't going to deny that. "But I did that in order to get the attention of the police or firemen since we were being held captive."

"So you admit that you set a fire that annihilated an entire wing of Theodore's home," Samuel continued.

"It's not Theodore's house!" I growled, but then I caught myself before I revealed anything about Anne.

"Oh, right, it belongs to Harry now, doesn't it?" Samuel chuckled. "Didn't you also break all the nanny cams?"

"Yes, I did."

"Why?"

"When Theodore first had Harry and me trapped, we tried using the cameras as a way to communicate our needs as Harry's medications and food ran low. As I told Nathan, we had no phones and no internet. But Theodore hardly ever responded. Then, after I was shot, I was reminded that Theodore was watching me at all times and I just got frustrated, I guess. So I took a baseball bat to them."

"Are you normally a violent person?" He asked.

"Not at all."

"What about any other kinds of crime? Breaking and entering? Does that ring a bell?"

"It's hardly breaking and entering if it's the house I'm living in," I muttered. "No breaking was involved but yes, I used Theodore's keys to access his files while he was gone. Is that what you're referring to?"

Klinefeld turned towards the court reporter and said, "Let the record reflect that Juliette McGill freely admitted to several acts of vandalism as well as unlawfully entering Theodore's office and accessing his files." Perhaps I could have argued that it wasn't really unlawful since Theodore never specifically told me not to get into his files but I figured I had to save my energy for more important matters.

Klinefeld went back to his table, took a drink of water and turned back towards me. "Ms. McGill, did you have any kind of sexual contact with Harry Styles?"

"Not while I was still a paid employee of Theodore Blake," I answered in complete honesty and I could tell my forthright answer shocked him.

"Can you tell me, when was the first time any kind of sexual contact took place?"

"After Harry overdosed, which was around October 1. I had already discovered that he was really twenty years old, I had already cut the doses of his medication and I already knew that he wasn't intellectually disabled."

"Oh, so you became a doctor and diagnosed Harry as being completely normal?"

"Objection, your honor," Nathan stood. "We've already ascertained that Harry is a full capable, intelligent adult!"

"Sustained," the judge said.

But Klinefeld wasn't having it. "With all due respect, your honor, the point I'm trying to make is that it would have been inappropriate for Juliette to have sexual contact with Harry if she believed him to be intellectually disabled."

"And she just stated that she knew he wasn't!" Nathan yelled.

"Yes, well I wanted to make sure she knew what she was talking about." He gave me an evil smile that no one else saw. I swore he had been fucking brainwashed by Theodore, just like everyone else he came into contact with. He continued, "What was the first sexual encounter you had with Harry?"

"Your honor, why is this relevant?" Nathan objected again. "We already know he wasn't a minor and that he was not disabled!"

"There are still rules of propriety in the workplace," the judge told him. "Please sit down."

"The first of any kind of sexual encounter I had with Harry was after the overdose. When he woke up the next day, I kissed him. And I asked him if it was okay and he said yes."

"At that point, you still had a nanny-child or student-teacher type relationship with Harry," Klinefeld stated.

"I hadn't been paid in over a month, Theodore threatened me and slammed me against the wall, in case you weren't listening earlier," I growled through my teeth. "And he had confiscated my laptop and phone, and he had locked us into the suite. None of those things would be defined as a normal working relationship. As far as my relationship with Harry, we had become equals, fighting together for freedom from Theodore."

"Did you ever do anything besides kiss?" Klinefeld asked.

"Not that day, but yes, eventually," I answered, being purposely vague.

"Was there penetration?" Klinefeld asked.

"Objection!" Nathan shouted in frustration. "Your honor, please. This is not a case about sexual molestation."

"Counselor, please move on with your questioning," the judge instructed Samuel Klinefeld.

"I only have one more question, Juliette. Are you and Harry still involved in a romantic relationship?"

I laughed, actually laughed out loud before I answered. "Yes, Mr. Klinefeld. You could say that."  I glanced over at Harry and grinned at him. Then I turned towards Theodore and waited until I held his eye contact. "Harry and I are going to get married when this is all over."

* * * * *

What do you think Theodore's reaction will be???