He Terminated My Lease So I Terminated Our Wedding Chapter 20
When the prosecutor filed charges, Owen was the first to apply for a plea agreement.
His lawyer wrote that he was willing to admit he had taken my phone and left me on the island, but hoped I would provide a statement of leniency confirming that he was, “at heart, not a dangerous person.”
Soon after, Cass submitted a request of her own.
She was willing to admit she had driven the boat and taken my backpack, but wanted me to confirm that she had once taken me in and had “long shown me kindness.”
Placed side by side, the two letters were nearly identical.
They still believed that if harm was given a different name, it could become a misunderstanding. That if kindness was mentioned often enough, it could cancel out consequences.
My lawyer asked, “Do you want to respond?”
“Respond to the prosecutor. Tell them I won’t interfere with any lawful plea negotiation, and I will not provide a statement of forgiveness.”
Before the hearing, Owen and Cass were seated on opposite sides of the courtroom for the first time.
They were not allowed to speak. All they could do was look at each other across the deputies.
Owen kept his head lowered as the prosecutor read the facts of the case.
When the prosecutor reached the words the victim was rescued in a state of moderate hypothermia, he suddenly broke down, sobbing.
“I really was going to go back for her.”
Cass’s head snapped up.
“He’s the one who told me to wait!”
“You were waiting for her to apologize, too!”
The judge cut them off.
“You are both very eager to explain who bears more blame. Neither of you has explained why someone who clearly said no lost her phone, her coat, and her right to leave.”
The courtroom went silent.
When it was my turn to speak, I brought only a single page to the stand.
“Three years ago, they decided where I would live. They decided how my savings would be used. They decided to end my lease. In the end, they decided how long I should stay afraid on an island.”
I looked toward the defense table.
“I am not asking them to understand me. I am asking only that they never again treat another person’s refusal as an emotion to be corrected.”
Owen lifted his face.
“Lila, I love you.”
The judge motioned for him to be quiet.
I didn’t answer him.
The charge he had admitted to would not disappear because he said those words.
And the roof Cass had once offered me would not have made that storm any warmer.
When the sentence came down, Owen was convicted of unlawful restraint and reckless endangerment. Cass, as a co-conspirator, also received a criminal sentence, though a shorter one.
Both were ordered to complete psychological intervention, reimburse rescue and medical costs, and comply with a long-term no-contact order upon release.
As Owen was led away, he kept looking back at me.
Cass, meanwhile, stared only at him.
At last, they had lost the ability to walk away by simply pushing the blame onto each other.