The Twelve Tables Ch. 13

"Is he there with you?" Josh asked and a moment later he heard Ben's voice on the phone.

"Take her back to the hotel. Nero is on his way there. Do not take her to the hospital," Ben said urgently. "Nik is on her way there in an ambulance. I'll call you later with the details."

"Fuck!" Josh exploded and looked at Peri, "Change of plans." He instructed the driver to take them to the hotel and held Peri close wondering what the hell happened in that courtroom for both women to have come out of it in such bad shape. His priority had to be Peri though and he held her to his chest as the car changed course and headed for the hotel.

Nero was waiting in the foyer when they arrived and helped take her up to her room. He gave her a light sedative and let her sleep. She had continued to cry more from the heightened emotions of the trial than any real medical concern. He reassured Josh that she would be fine in the morning.

"Do you know what happened?" Josh asked.

"To Nik?" Nero asked shaking his head. "No, but it was chaos back there. I came straight here when I heard Peri passed out."

"I guess we wait then," Josh said thumbing his phone. "Andie should be here soon."

Ten minutes later Andie walked in with Ben. She went straight to Peri's room to check on her and found her asleep.

"I gave her a sedative," Nero said gently. ''She will sleep for a few hours. When she wakes, I will reassess her while she eats something. ''

"We have to go," Ben said without any pleasantries. "Andie we'll call as soon as we know exactly what happened. All I know for sure is that Peri and Nik got into a shouting match about what happened at the facility."

"She's very distressed," Nero said. "I will come back later tonight. Please call me if she wakes and needs anything further." He handed Andie his card and followed Ben to the door.

"I'll call you," Josh said and looked at the door. "Look after her, she was still crying when she finally fell asleep."

*****

Antonia walked into the jail with Joseph and Ben. She knew everything that had occurred during the trial and the incident with Peri the day before had shocked her deeply. She had known that Nik was guilty but the words of the transcript had shown that she had no remorse or even a sense of wrong doing. Joseph had called her a master manipulator, but Antonia believed her to be nothing more than a spoilt princess, who believed that her parents would make the trouble go away, as they always had for her in the past. She had wanted to see Veronica alone but Joseph had insisted on accompanying her. She tried one last time as they approached the meeting room where Lawrence waited with Nik.

"Lawrence will be there and you can wait outside. You need to maintain your distance, both of you so that she knows what I say is true," Antonia said rationally. "She still believes we won't let her be convicted and she needs to know that not even I can stop that now. Let me speak to her alone."

"It is important that she hears it from all three of us," Ben said sadly. "We all had a part in creating this monster." He pushed open the door and held it for his parents, following them into the room.

"Well it's about fucking time," Nik snarled at them. "Get them to take these things off me," she shook the manacles that held her in the wheelchair. "I want to go home."

"We aren't here to take you home, Veronica," her father said sternly, "And if you continue to use that language to me again I won't allow your mother to speak to you as she wishes."

"Fine, I'm sorry Mama, but you left me here so long and you have no idea how mean Peri was to me yesterday in court," she put on a little girl voice as her mother took a seat.

"You almost killed Peri. I think she has a right to be upset with you Veronica," her mother spoke carefully.

"A few bruises are hardly almost killing her," Veronica said off-handily. "This is a nightmare; can we just go home now?"

"No Veronica," Antonia said softly not wanting a scene like what had happened when she was in court yesterday. "We can't and won't help you any more than we already have by engaging Lawrence to defend you. We are not here to take you home." She stopped as Nik stared at her wide eyed for a moment the words sinking in. She saw Nik look at the guards who had followed them into the room.

"You will get me out of here," Nik snarled in a threatening voice.

"No Veronica, I won't," Antonia answered softly. "You can't honestly believe that you are so special that you can take a life and not have to pay for your crime. The drugs, the assaults we could have imposed our sense of family justice upon, as we have done in the past, but you murdered someone Veronica. In cold blood. The family has to answer to the Twelve for that. Our power is diminished by your actions and even if we wanted to help you, we no longer have the capacity. This is not something that can be covered up or made go away. You have brought shame and bad blood to us all, not just to yourself."

"Liar!" Nik screeched, "You just don't want to help me. "Papa is the most powerful of the Twelve and he always was. You cannot diminish power like that. We are Donati's and people do as we say!"

"NO!" Joseph roared at his daughter making her sink back into the chair. "You are no longer a Donati. You are Veronica Maris and unless you accept the responsibility of your actions you may never claim the Donati name again."

"I did nothing wrong!" Nik hissed through clenched teeth rattling the manacles in frustration.

"If a Battaglia girl was sent to us as a punishment and murdered Josh to escape her punishment would you think she had done nothing wrong? If she had also harmed Emily or Bianca?" Ben said trying to make her see reason. "You have done very wrong things Nik and even if you don't admit to them the jury will find you guilty, and the sentence will be the same if not worse because you lied about it." He sighed. "No one is going to bail you out, this time, Nik, not even Josh."

Nik rocked back in her chair as if Ben had dealt her a physical blow. "Josh will come around, he always does. I was just trying to stop him from making a big mistake. She's not one of us. She never could be," Nik whispered. "Mama you know it's true. Please, you can't leave me here like this," she pleaded tears forming in her eyes, the fight seemingly gone from her.

"If Peri ever forgives Josh for your actions I will welcome her as a daughter. What Peri said to you yesterday was true, it was never her you had to stop from seeing him, it was Josh, he chased her and still does. You've broken your brother's heart by not understanding that," Antonia said trying to make Nik understand how badly she had hurt her twin.

"Then he's a bigger idiot than I believed possible," Nik snapped unable to face her guilt.

"We will not help you evade justice Veronica, but plead guilty and accept your fate and I will ensure you have what you need while you are incarcerated. Continue with this melodrama and you will need to survive on your own," Antonia said and stood. "You will be found guilty, you will be in jail for a very long time, how you survive there is entirely up to you now." She left the meeting room without looking back.

"You confessed in court yesterday. The jury heard that to continue to claim your innocence only makes you seem insane," Ben said before following his parents from the room.

"Well you heard my darling brother, I'm insane. Now get me off, so I can go home," Nick yelled at Lawrence.

"You had a psych evaluation when you were arrested. It is too late to use the insanity defence, temporary or otherwise," Lawrence said in his tight unemotional way. "In light of your parent's unwillingness to help you, I would strongly urge you to change your plea to guilty."

"No, I did nothing wrong," Nik said less confidently than usual. "The confession means nothing I was just distraught because of that bitch."

*****

Peri walked into the courthouse flanked by Josh and Nero. She had woken twice during the night from nightmares. Both of these men had been at her side within minutes. She knew she should be grateful but she felt trapped by them at that moment. Like a condemned woman walking to the gallows.

"We will be waiting with Andie," Nero said stiffly, "Should you need anything."

"Please don't waste your day waiting for me," Peri said. "I won't be speaking with Nik today." She could have stayed at the hotel and no one would have blamed her but she was determined to show Nik that she wouldn't run away like a scared little mouse.

She went to meet with her lawyer taking only Andie with her. She sat as he spoke of the defence not changing their plea after the outburst yesterday and having one added witness to call today. He felt that it would only be a formality before the final remarks and the jury retired to consider their verdict. Which he was sure after her confession would be a swift deliberation.

When they went into the courtroom, Peri noticed that Nik was not on the bench with her lawyer but rather was sitting behind a curved Perspex wall in the corner of the room in what looked like a wheelchair that she was manacled to. Her outburst the day before seemed to have greater consequences than Peri had thought and she was grateful that she was not similarly censured. The judge arrived and the jury was sworn in once again before proceedings started with the chief counsel of the prosecution standing and saying that in light of the events in the room yesterday the prosecution rested its case.

The defence opened with its first and only witness aside of Nik herself. A psychiatrist who had spent time speaking with and observing Nik since her arrest. He diagnosed her with a high functioning narcissistic personality disorder. He spoke eloquently on this topic relating it back to Nik as he went through several qualities of a narcissist.

"A High function narcissist is someone who can maintain gainful employment, marriage and relationships. Interaction with narcissists like Veronica Maris can be confusing, even bewildering at times because the reasons for what they do are not the same reasons that a perceived normal person would do the same things. In fact, treating them like a normal person, for instance, appealing to their better nature or giving them a chance to apologise and make amends will only make a bad situation worse," he explained. "What you see is what you get, they have no better nature. The fundamental problem here is that narcissists lack empathy."

"It is my belief that Veronica Maris is quite capable of knowing wrong from right, and understanding the laws of our nation. If she believes herself innocent of what she is accused of, then she will not change her mind," he said finally after a long session of questions and answers about the diagnosis.

"Thank you, Doctor, for that full and clear explanation," said the chief counsel for the prosecution. "I will keep my questions brief. "You said that she would understand the laws of the nation, do you believe this personality trait would allow her to hold herself above them or beyond them?"

"Indeed, if she believed that what she did was for the greater good, that being her perception of the greater good, she would not feel she had done anything to be held accountable for," he agreed.

"Yet she would hold others accountable for the same actions," The prosecutor pressed.

"Yes she understands the law and that justice must be served," he said in a professional tone.

"Is it your expert opinion that she understands why she is on trial here today?"

"It is," he nodded. "But like many narcissists, she simply believes that the laws do not apply to her."

"Thank you, Doctor, no further questions," he took his seat again.

Nik gave her testimony from behind the Perspex wall. She spoke clearly and concisely as she relayed her carefully prepared alibi about a fellow patient at the rehab facility called Anna. Anna was the drug crazed murderer and she had been scared witless and run away before Anna murdered her as well. She had no idea why Peri was lying about her being in the library. She had excuses and alibis for everything that happened at the rehabilitation facility. Lawrence did not press her too hard for fear that she would contradict herself as she sat speaking confidently about her innocence.

The prosecution though tore each alibi and excuse to shreds. There was no record of anyone by the name of Anna at the facility during her time there. She was seen in the security tapes at various places in the facility other than where she should have been and she had been found in possession of Peri's phone and identification.

"Are you a moron? Did you get your degree from the University of Wallamaloo? Nik raged as he caught her contradicting herself yet again. "Listen to what I am saying and stop putting words in my mouth!"

"Tell me again how you came to be in possession of Miss Wells wallet and phone?" he asked calmly in the face of her rage.

"She didn't show up to meet me so I went to her room to find her and it looked like she had left in a hurry so I took them for safekeeping," she said through clenched teeth.

"Where did you think Miss Wells had gone without any money or ID?" he asked inclining his head as if trying to understand.

"How the fuck should I know? She's a simpleton. She probably planned to hitch her way home," she seethed barely containing herself.

"So you were just trying to help this simpleton by stealing her identity and leaving the facility because you were scared of Anna or to find Miss Wells and help her?" he asked turning his back to her. "I am afraid I am confused by your ever changing stories, Miss Maris."

The questioning went on after lunch with Lawrence objecting to every line of questioning he could and Nik being caught in the web of lies she wove around herself and the events that occurred on the day Giorgio died and Peri was hurt. When it was done, the defence rested.

"There will be a short recess and I will hear final remarks today," the judge said and left the courtroom looking unhappy about the farce that had just occurred. It was bad enough that the girl had recounted her confession claiming emotional duress but the convoluted testimony made no sense to him at all.

Peri sat with Andie in a meeting room within the courthouse picking at the food provided. She had listened to all the nasty venomous things Nik had to say about her without a word and tried to rationalise how awful they had made her feel. If Josh had just dated Sabrina, none of this would have occurred, but then he might have ended up like Dante, bitter and regretful. Her brain tried to come up with a way the family might have gone on happily if not for her presence. She could never really know if Nik wouldn't have self-destructed anyway or if Josh would have found a woman who loved him enough to enter into this bizarre world.

Just the thought of Josh with someone else, living happily ever after at the winery made her sad but she wasn't sure they could every fully move past this now and that thought just made her sadder.