I never thought i'd live to see the day a sitting president would surrender his own son to the law.
But today, I did.
And the moment felt so heavy, even the air in the courtroom refused to move.
I sat beside Aurora, her hand trembling in mine, eyes fixed on the wooden doors that Julius would walk through any second now.
She was pale, silent, like the world around her had collapsed into this single, harrowing moment. And i couldn't blame her.
She wasn't just witnessing the trial of a criminal.
She was about to face her stalker. Her almost killer. Her childhood friend turned living nightmare.
And i was sitting next to the woman i loved, praying to every god i never believed in that Julius Evangelista would never see the light of day again.
The courtroom wasn't full, but it was packed with tension.
NBI officers, Aurora's personal guards, a few media members, carefully screened to avoid leaks. Nico sat a few rows behind us. Selena, now under protection, had already given her statement.
Her testimony played on the record like a haunting lullaby of everything that could've ended in a massacre.
And then the door opened.
Julius Evangelista, flanked by two security officers, stepped into the courtroom in full orange jumpsuit and cuffs.
He looked… normal. Clean. Composed. Even smug.
And that's what scared me.
There was no remorse in his expression.
No flicker of shame. No sign of the man who used to laugh beside Aurora under the sunlit halls of their university days. Just… blankness. As if this entire trial were an inconvenience, a mere delay.
He didn't even glance at the President, his father who sat near the prosecution table, head bowed.
The man looked ten years older than the last time i saw him on TV. Stoic. Devastated. Broken.
And still, brave enough to hand over his only son to justice.
The judge began speaking, but my mind filtered the words like static.
All i could hear were echoes of what we found inside that room.
Aurora's photos. From when she was sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen.
Every outfit. Every smile. Every public event she attended.
There was one photo of her sitting in a café—unaware of the camera.
Another at a beach, laughing with friends.
Some even from inside her old condo, ones she never knew were taken.
The walls of his bedroom were a timeline of her life.
His obsession wasn't sudden.
It was years in the making.
And beside those photos were disturbing scribbles. Plans.
Crossed-out names of people who had gotten "too close."
Luis' name. Mine. Even Aurora's old makeup artist.
And one note, written in red marker across the board:
"IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU, THEN NO ONE WILL."
I shivered remembering it.
That wasn't love.
That was delusion.
The prosecution stood and formally began the hearing.
Charges were read. Attempted multiple homicide. Stalking. Kidnapping. Obstruction of justice. Accessory to murder. Drug possession with intent to incapacitate.
Selena's testimony was reread aloud for the court record.
How she was abducted while on her way to the NBI.
How she overheard the plan to wipe out everyone present at Luis' party.
How Julius and Bianca had originally planned to drug Aurora, kill her, and then blame Selena for everything.
How Luis had accidentally overheard them, and how they silenced him with MDMA.
Aurora flinched when the details of the drugging were brought up.
I held her hand tighter.
She was trying so hard not to cry.
And i was trying so hard not to lose control.
Julius still showed no emotion.
Not even when they showed him the photos from his own room.
Not even when Selena, brave and visibly shaken, entered the courtroom under tight protection to stand as witness.
"I was locked in a small room," Selena said, voice barely above a whisper. "No windows. No contact. They moved me every few hours. But i listened. They were planning something big. Bianca… Bianca was obsessed. And Julius… he didn't care about anyone except Aurora."
The judge nodded.
And the questioning began.
"Mr. Evangelista, do you deny the existence of these photos?"
"No," Julius said calmly.
Like he was being asked if he recognized a pair of socks.
"Do you admit you monitored Ms. Aurora Rodriguez for over a decade?"
"She was the love of my life."
The courtroom fell into stunned silence.
"Love?" the prosecutor asked. "You call this love?"
Julius smiled.
"It's not my fault she didn't see it."
Aurora stood up abruptly.
I grabbed her hand to keep her steady.
"She was mine," he continued, eyes finally shifting to her. "But all of you took her away."
"Enough," the judge said.
But Julius kept going.
"All of you, Luis, Lance, her fans, her managers, you made her forget. But she and I… we were always meant to be."
He sounded proud. Confident. Deranged.
I stood. "Your Honor, I request the witness stop addressing my client directly."
"Request noted. Sit down, Mr. Angeles."
I obeyed. Barely.
"Do you regret what you've done?" the prosecutor asked.
Julius tilted his head. "No."
The judge stared at him long and hard.
Then turned to the President.
"Mr. President, do you wish to give a formal statement?"
The man stood up slowly.
His voice cracked slightly.
"My son is sick. And the nation deserves better. I surrender him not just as a father but as a citizen. I support the full weight of the law."
Silence again.
Even the media reporters forgot to breathe.
It was a moment i'd never forget.
A father choosing the country over his own child.
And Julius?
He smiled.
Still smiling.
Like none of this mattered.
Like he believed this courtroom couldn't hold him forever.
I leaned closer to Aurora.
"I won't let him near you again," I whispered.
She looked at me, tears silently falling.
"I know," she whispered back.
The judge adjourned the session for the day, setting a final sentencing hearing next week.
Julius was escorted out. No handcuffs could ever bind a man like that mentally. But physically? He was done.
I watched him leave.
And for the first time, I didn't feel relief.
Not yet.
Because monsters like Julius don't die easily.
They haunt. They linger.
But at least now, he was behind bars.
And we were one step closer to peace.