"They're dropping the charges?!" Elizabeth huffed, relieved yet angered at the same time. "No. No! This isn't fair," Elizabeth began to rant, her eyes basically shooting laser beams.

Ella blushed, shrinking back in her chair. Her mom was like this and everyone knew that once she started a rant, it was difficult to stop her, but Damien was here, and he had yet to really know Elizabeth.

"Forgive her. She gets passionate about things... a lot." Stefanie whispered to Damien, but Elizabeth had basically raised the three mischievous minions.

"Stefanie! Does this not sound outrageous to you?! First, he sues her! Then, he damages her reputation. As if that wasn't enough, he then attempts to kill her, twice!" Elizabeth screeched out, tears now spilling quickly.

"Elizabeth, come on, mi cielo," Timotheo stepped forward, gently grabbing his distressed wife's arm and pulled her back, attempting to calm her down in another room. Her cries mingling with Timotheo's soothing and low voice was the last thing the rest of the group heard before the door shut, and all three kids sighed in relief, looking at each other knowingly. (My sky, but it signifies the phrase "my world" in Spanish)

"I apologize for her. She's been having a difficult time." Ella apologized to not only Damien but also Kim and Oliver. They had all decided to just go and give the news to Ella and her family in a controlled environment, thinking that it would be better like that.

"No need. She's completely right. He's not going to get away with all of this easily." Damien's voice hardened, his grip on a pen tightening considerably. He was also filled with anger and desperation. He needed that Vanders man, that poor excuse of a man, behind bars for the rest of his life, and Damien wasn't planning on stopping or giving up until that happened. They had messed with the wrong and last girl.

"I agree. This won't be the last of it." Kim nodded firmly, and Ella listened intently as well as Fransisco about what were the next steps. Among those were Ella pressing charges, then attending a couple of meetings with investigators and police officers. That would also proceed to court, where Damien and Kim would come into play, laying down the official law.

"Don't worry," Damien approached Ella, taking her shaky hands into his own. "I'm going to be overseeing this case. I promise I will take care of all of this once and for all." He lifted her hands to kiss her knuckles as Ella sighed, nodding before just moving to hug him. Damien smiled, pulling her closer, tucking her safely just how she liked it. "My little Ella." He kissed her head. It had become a regular that whenever Ella was feeling down or overwhelmed, she became a human koala, clinging onto Damien or her family for hugs.

"Do you think Oliver will feel like I don't trust him?" Ella mumbled after pulling away, feeling much better.

"I think he knows I don't trust him." Damien soothed, fixing a stray hair of Ella's.

Ella chuckled. Everyone now knew that Damien and her were dating. She didn't really feel uncomfortable or with the need to hide it, and neither did Damien.

"I know you don't, dude." Oliver came, almost with a bounce in his step. "I'm just glad I won't have Kim on my-"

"I can hear you, Oliver!" Kim's loud voice boomed from somewhere in the house.

"Good." Oliver yelled back before turning to face the couple. "Crap." He hissed, his brows scrunching as he quickly thought of something to do that would put him back in good graces with his boss. "I gotta go." Oliver almost ran out when he heard footsteps growing closer to them, but Ella could tell that those footsteps belonged to her dad.

"Hey," Timotheo began, and judging by the look on his face, Ella took a deep breath, preparing herself for whatever was about to come out of his mouth. "I'm sorry, honey." Timotheo sighed, running a hand down his tired face.

He had also been affected by this whole incident since day one, and not just because it was his daughter and that day had scared him half to death but also because he was often the one who would wake up in the middle of the night, aroused by sounds that he would hear at night. His paranoia had increased, so he would always go check up on Ella. Multiple times he would find her with the lamp on, either fast asleep, always flinching when she heard even the slightest of breaths that Timotheo took or wide awake, staring blankly at a book in hand.

"Papa, just tell me what it is." Ella was beginning to get scared. She hadn't been receiving a lot of good news lately, and she was coping with it. She would adapt quickly and take care of things, but she hated it when people prolonged expected bad news. It always made her anxious and think of the worst possible things.

Damien reached to place a hand on Ella's back, rubbing softly while Timotheo took a deep breath. "Jasmine Vanders wants to speak with you."

Ella sighed. That information was much less scary than what she was expecting. She nodded; she could deal with that.

"Okay. Umm... when?"

Timotheo stared at her in surprise. "I... You're okay with that?"

Ella nodded, her kind eyes expressing accepting and tranquil. "I don't see why not. I have a feeling that she thinks it's her fault and... papa, last time I saw her... she needed help." Ella felt her heart squeeze in discomfort. It always hurt her to see other people, especially when they were defenseless, hurt.

"Well, in that case," he puffed his cheeks out while running his hand through his hair. "Does tomorrow work?" He remembered how Kim had emphasized how urgent it was for Jasmine to see Ella.

Ella nodded, agreeing almost instantly.

The next day, for lunch, she settled in a quaint and calm cafe on the outskirts of town. Her sister, brother, and father also went, but they took a different table, not too close but not too far of Ella, keeping an eye out.

Ella could practically feel the embarrassment and sadness oozing out of the middle-aged, European Jasmine Vanders. The woman seemed to be going through it all. She had some disappearing bruises around her face, neck, and arms that she hadn't even bothered to hide as well as the dark circles under her eyes.

"Hi," Ella sat down, ignoring the menu that was sitting right in front of her. Ella actually didn't even have an appetite right now. She was nervous for what Jasmine wanted to talk about because while Ella could take an educated guess, she wasn't a mind reader. Ella's worst fear was that Mrs. Vanders would ask for Ella to drop the charges against her attacker. That was something that Ella would not be able to do for the hurt woman, and Ella desperately and painfully wanted to help Jasmine.

"Ms. Cortesa," Jasmine sniffed, her fidgety hands on the table. Jasmine wanted to reach for Ella's hands and apologize and beg for Ella's forgiveness, but she also didn't want to taint the young woman more than she had already. "I... I'm so, so, so sorry." Jasmine cried, hating herself even more for weeping. She had promised that she wouldn't, that she didn't deserve to cry in this situation. "It's all my fault. I knew what could have happened, and you got hurt because of me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" Jasmine just broke down mentally, physically, and emotionally.

"Jasmine," Ella sighed, her throat closing up as she kneeled on the floor with Jasmine, who was on her knees by Ella's feet. "Get up, okay?"

"No, it's my fault... I did this to you... I shouldn't have gone. It's my fault, I hurt you. Please!" Jasmine shook her head, determined that this entire situation was her fault.

"Jasmine, it's okay. I'm okay. See?" Ella wiped her own tears before reaching for the napkin dispenser on the table and taking some for Jasmine. "It was never your fault what that... person did, okay?"

Ella was never one to give up on people nor to judge them as monsters or beasts, but to see the damage that that criminal had done on Jasmine and herself, Ella didn't know what else to call him. Ella had seen it in his eyes; that person was not going to change his abusive and controlling ways anytime soon. He was a danger to society, and he needed to be put away.

"It is my fault, Ella. I deserve it." Jasmine persisted. Her mentality had been so brainwashed, that she believed that it really was her to blame and that she did something to deserve this.

"Look at me, Jasmine. Look at me," Ella grabbed Jasmine teary and distraught face in her hands, making sure Jasmine was looking at her, "you're safe. I promise, we're both safe, okay?" Ella ignored the tears that falling down her face.

Jasmine still looked wary, her grey eyes jumping from Ella's as she searched for a lie, for hesitation, for hatred or repulsion, but she found none.

"We're safe...?" Jasmine repeated, and Ella lifted Jasmine's hands in hers.

"I promise, we're safe." Ella agreed, hugging Jasmine tightly as the broken woman shattered herself completely, but Ella promised herself that this was Jasmine tearing from the mold that she had been placed in for years. It wasn't time to put the person back together, no. It was too late and painful for that; it was time for Jasmine to grow a new mold, one that was going to be pure, new, fresh, and safe.

After finally pulling Jasmine from the floor and talking to her for a good hour and a half, Ella left feeling much better and relieved. Jasmine had agreed to continue her therapy sessions with Ella. To be completely honest, Jasmine felt as if she would never get the opportunity to meet another helpful and strong as well as pure and innocent soul as Ella, and call her selfish but Jasmine wanted Ella in her life. Seeing someone like her in that world reassured Jasmine that not all people were monsters. Jasmine could rest easy at night knowing that there were good people who still laughed and smiled freely.

Damien, who had been keeping tabs on Ella through Timotheo as soon as he found out Ella was meeting Mrs. Vanders, was relieved to find that the meeting went through without a catastrophe. At this point, crying women wasn't really a problem compared to the other ones that life had thrown at him.

"Leaving already?" Kim asked Damien as Damien left his office, suit jacket and suitcase in hand.

"Yes. I've got something I need to take care of early today." Damien checked his watched as he closed his office door behind him.

"Ella?" Kim teased, following Damien to the elevators.

Damien didn't take the bait. Actually, Damien didn't even see the bait.

"No. My mother." As soon as the elevator doors opened, Damien stepped inside, pressing the basement floor level.

"Oh," Kim almost grimaced in dislike. Kim didn't have anything against Damien's mom, it was just that to Kim, having a relationship with his actual, blood-related family would be more problematic than one episode of Gossip Girl.

"I know." Damien agreed as the doors began to shut. "Goodnight."

Kim, in shock that Damien had wished him a good... well, a good anything still left Kim and the office team in shock. Damien wasn't the type to say such things, it was usually always the other way around, but now... it was all Ella's doings, Kim decided. Damien would never spend his time by doing something so minute as chit chat or even giving farewells.

"Ella is good for him, and he is good for Ella." The older paralegal, Ms. Barnes noted to Kim having heard their conversation and having seen Kim's face.

Kim agreed. "That they are, Miss Barnes."

While Kim had initially been wary about their friendship, fearing it might escalate, now, he didn't seem to worry about it all that much. It seemed as though he had underestimated Ella's ability to make people so at ease with her and Damien's ability to become soft and kind for someone like Ella.

Indeed, they made a good match.

Another person that was also beginning to see how good of a match the couple was, was Celeste, Damien's mother. She and her husband had heard the news about it all, and she was actually quite ashamed and embarrassed at how silly and uneducated they must've looked in front of Ella. She knew that she had overreacted and been just plainly disrespectful, but she wanted to remedy that.

"No," was Damien's response when his mother brought up the topic of brining Ella over for dinner.

"Damien, honey. I just want to talk to her. I want to get to know my son's girlfrien-"

"Mom, I said no. She's doesn't need this right now." Damien set his foot down here. No one else that could possibly hurt Ella was going to get close to her if he had a say in anything.

"Damien! Non la faro del male!" (I'm not going to hurt her) Celeste took an exasperated breath. She could understand how her past behavior could seem aggressive, but she wouldn't actually do anything against the little lady.

Damien clenched his jaw, holding the glass of water in his hands tightly.

"I met her parents recently." Damien began, a bitter smile on his face as he looked at his mom. "Do you know how they treated me?"

Celeste's face went from confusion to straight annoyance. "If they said anything, Damien, they had no right! You're a catch-"

"They were amazing, Madre." Damien shook his head, another bitter laugh coming from him. "They were kind and warm. I see where Ella gets it from now, you know. She's been through it all, and after what happened, she has never once cried in front of me. She's stubbornly strong, and I know that if I asked her to come to dinner with the people who pushed her to the side, who disapproved of her because of fake rumors, she would agree... I'm not going to do that though. I'm not going to let you hurt her. I don't... want you to make me bring her here because I know that whatever happens, I'm choosing her, Madre."

Celeste's eyes filled with tears. Without flinching, she asked, "do you love her?"

"Without a doubt." Damien responded. He didn't even have to think about it.