Jossy looked at Hazel with a confused look. Without wasting time, Hazel grabbed the remote from the nightstand and turned on the flatscreen. The image filled the room instantly.. Damien, in his tuxedo, being pulled through the glittering ballroom with his hands cuffed, his mother shoving against the officers, screaming at the cameras. The chaos, the flashing lights, the headlines running at the bottom of the screen, it was all there.
Jossy froze, her breath caught in her chest. Then she covered her face with both hands and crumbled into Hazel's arms, sobs breaking through her body.
"Did I do the right thing, Hazel?" she cried. "Maybe I should've just left quietly. This, this is too much. The process is going to be so humiliating."
Hazel held her tighter, whispering, "You did what needed to be done. Don't doubt it now Jossy. That man needs to pay for what he did to you. He deserves public humiliation."
Jossy's eyes drifted back to the screen, then she snatched the remote from Hazel's hand and searched for the full footage online. The moment she found it, she pressed play, watching the scene unfold again. The detectives striding into the ballroom, Damien caught mid-handshake, his shock frozen on camera as the cuffs clicked shut. His mother's frantic shouting at the media filled the speakers. Jossy's hands trembled as she held the remote, her face buried against Hazel's shoulder. "The whole world saw this," she whispered. "There's no undoing it."
***
Noah gripped the steering wheel tighter as he drove toward the Lennox estate, the news of Damien's arrest still fresh in his mind. He had just watched the footage before leaving, Damien cuffed in front of flashing cameras, his mother shouting,and the gala thrown into chaos. He had expected Damien's arrest eventually, but not like this. Not in the middle of his own gala. It was a public unmasking, deliberate, and brutal. If that's what the SVU was going for, it worked magic.
His thoughts drifted to Jossy. He knew her well enough to imagine the storm she must be in, her heart torn between the truth she had spoken and the man she loved. Seeing Damien dragged away in handcuffs, with the world watching, must have felt like watching her entire life shatter in real time. He couldn't deny the years they spent as a couple. He feared for her.