Original subtitles

[siren wails]

REPORTER: Stunning allegations against a New York dad.

He's accused of orchestrating a sex cult

made up of his daughter's college classmates.

DA: Today we announce criminal charges

against this man, Lawrence Ray

who, for nearly a decade, exploited and abused

young women and men

emotionally, physically, and sexually

for his own financial gain.

REPORTER: Authorities say he moved his victims

to Piscataway, New Jersey

where he allegedly restricted their access to food and sleep

and forced victims to work in the middle of the night

and to sleep outside.

DA: Ray was arrested this morning.

Two of the female victims in the indictment

were in the residence at the time.

REPORTER: Do you have any comments?

Any comments? [camera shutter snapping]

ANCHOR: That raid has people around here wondering

what was going on inside this house.

REPORTER: If found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence

of life in prison.

- [speaking Spanish]

[sighs, sniffles]

[soft melancholy music]

[sniffles]

♪ ♪

Felicia. Felicia. [tapping at window]

♪ ♪

CYNDI: I've writ Isabella a couple of letters,

but she doesn't reply.

The police say that if she doesn't want

to see you, she does not have to see you.

Yeah, I miss her.

I miss her every day.

What was it about her that he had to keep her?

And he has Felicia, too.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

FELICIA: I definitely want us to get a dog.

FELICIA: A stress dog? Yeah. [laughs]

Especially now.

Do you think we could have a basset hound?

Or, like--

FELICIA: Oh, really? Well, what if we adopt one?

- A pure basset hound?

FELICIA: Or--I don't know.

I-I--this is how much I know about dogs.

FELICIA: A therapy dog.

ISABELLA: I love animals. FELICIA: Yeah.

All right, so this is the living room.

This is where we worked, hung out, ate.

Larry sat over there.

Um, and then Izzy and I would either be--

Izzy mostly would be on that couch

and then I would be over here.

And we had to pull up all of the carpet.

Um, so that's why there's plastic on the floor.

Um, and there were huge spots of black mold everywhere.

And we had to bleach all of the floors

multiple times, actually.

These are our medical shelves

where we keep all of our medical materials.

There's a blood pressure monitor.

And then these are to help

with the muscle spasms that we get

from-from having been poisoned.

I haven't worked as a practicing doctor

since 2012

because I was poisoned.

I'm sure that they're trying to blame me

not practicing as a doctor on Larry.

But, really, he was always my support system.

[chuckles weakly]

Yay!

LARRY: Hey, happy birthday. FELICIA: Thank you.

Thank you so much. ISABELLA: You're welcome.

Happy birthday. FELICIA: Thank you. [chuckles]

ISABELLA: Cool. - Oh, this is great.

Aw. [giggles]

ISABELLA: Kiko and me dropped the cake before.

[Larry makes kiss sound]

FELICIA: So over here, this is the kitchen.

And this is our Viking refrigerator.

And there is this lock that we had--we have on it

to keep our food safe from strangers.

This is the trommel.

And it's, uh, clearly an industrial-grade

dirt screener.

[trommel rumbling]

The grass was taken up multiple times

because it wasn't put down correctly.

Izzy and I had worked with Larry for a long time.

Like, worked through the day

and then worked through the night

in-into the morning.

If it wasn't done correctly,

he would take it all back up again.

But he always has a can-do attitude.

That's why the Marine Corps called on him routinely.

That's why NATO called on him ro-routinely.

Or, like, that's why Gorbachev...[chuckles]

That's part of why they were so close

and they worked-- they worked together so well

because, well, Larry's, like,

"Okay, you need something done? I'll figure it out."

He's always very encouraging.

Had it not been for Larry, my husband,

I don't know where I would have been.

JAMES: Do you consider him your husband?

- Yeah. He is my husband.

Like, I do consider him my husband.

Like, he's-he's my honey bunny. That's what I call him.

That's what we call each other. [giggles]

I'm his honey bunny lady and he's my honey bunny man.

[laughs]

Um...and, yeah, no. I-I definitely

consider him my husband.

Like, we're-we're, you know, "common law married"

'cause we've been living--

living together for howev--

you know, however many years that we've been together.

Um, and that's what we-- that's what we call each other.

We say--we say we're husband and wife.

I love him very, very much. [giggles]

He's the best.

No matter what people say. I don't care.

They don't know him. I do. [giggles]

- Fel? FELICIA: Yeah? Be right there.

JAMES: So where was Larry

the morning of the FBI raid?

- Uh, in the room. In my bedroom.

FELICIA: They were pounding on the door.

"FBI! FBI! Open the door."

And then they stormed in.

They took me back into my room.

Then they questioned me.

It was six hours.

They're assuming that we were abused

and mistreated and manipulated

and extorted and...

used by Lawrence.

And that couldn't be further from the truth.

They asked about how much did I sleep.

Did I eat?

ISABELLA: I wasn't asked about how many hours I slept.

- Oh yeah. - At least not that I remember.

- [giggles] Yeah. - Lucky duck.

No, I was asked about-- mainly about prostitution...

FELICIA: Yeah. - And finances.

It was mostly things related to sex and money.

FELICIA: Yeah. Sex and money.

ISABELLA: When I think about Lawrence,

it's like my heart's breaking

because he's in prison innocently.

It feels like a Twilight Zone.

Really.

The prostitution-- they're telling me

this is what occurred even though I know it didn't.

JAMES: What are they saying you're a victim of?

ISABELLA: Of Lawrence.

Sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse.

- That's very frustrating

because then I'm just, like, this person

that Larry Ray, like, did something to,

brainwashed, whatever it is that they're gonna say.

Like, they asked my parents.

And, like, I haven't spoken to them in years.

Like, many, many years. And for good reason.

Like, they participated in poisoning me.

They participated in hurting me--

in hurting me and my family.

Which is-- like, this is my family.

- Yeah. - I am a victim of poisoning

and Claudia, and Santos, and Yali, and Kerik,

and my parents.

That's who I'm a victim of.

I'm not a victim of Lawrence.

- Right. FELICIA: I'm prepared

to do everything I can to make sure

that the right thing happens here.

Like, I will not stop

until everyone knows the truth

and justice is served.

[moody music]

♪ ♪

[dog barking]

[water running]

ISABELLA: Felicia, on a Friday,

she told me, "Hey, can we talk tomorrow?"

I said, "Sure."

[timer clicking]

She tells me on the advice of her attorneys

she thinks it's better

if we don't live together anymore.

I don't know why.

But I think she's doing it

because it looks better for her.

I mean, I've always been,

regardless of what anybody wants to say,

independent.

Um...

So this is just another version of that, I guess.

You know?

So, like, this shirt I got him,

I have for a couple different reasons.

One, this is what I just associate

with Lawrence wearing the most.

You know, I guess it makes me feel

a little less sad at how fucked up

the situation is.

I think it just is, like,

a symbol of a certain type of hope

that, you know, it's gonna be okay.

And, two, if he does get bail,

this could be one of his shirts.

And it's gonna really wrinkle it

if it's folded.

[door hinges creak]

[stream burbling]

[geese honking]

Early this morning, my attorneys and I

had a meeting with the prosecution.

And the prosecution made it clear to me

that there's nothing stopping them

from bringing charges against me.

They do believe I was victimized by Lawrence,

but also I was a willing participant

in his illicit activities.

So then I'm faced with the decision

either cooperate with the prosecution's effort,

which is...based on these completely false allegations,

or risk being charged

along with Lawrence as a co-conspirator

and risk myself

up to life in prison if convicted.

I believe it could happen.

Do I believe it will happen? I don't know.

I definitely believe it could happen.

But...

Okay...

So what? I don't know.

Then my mind kind of stops there.

[heavy music]

♪ ♪

[wipers thudding]

FELICIA: I was advised by my attorneys

that it would be better to live on my own.

[lock clicks]

I am in charge of my own time,

my space, my food.

JAMES: And there's no lock on the fridge.

FELICIA: Yeah, no. And I can open it myself.

And I don't have to be worried

about somebody coming in and doing something.

For so long, I had Larry

in my ear or in my face

telling me what was real what was not,

what was me, what was not.

I have no idea what's true.

Other than what I saw myself

that I can remember right now in this moment,

sitting here talking to you,

I don't eve--I mean, you know, even part of that--

How much was--of that was real or true

or was it, you know--

JAMES: Can I ask you one question?

- Yes. JAMES: Do you remember

meeting Bernie Kerik?

- When I was little, yeah.

'Cause they knew my family. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

JAMES: Okay, so you remember meeting Bernie Kerik.

But is there any way

that that could not be true?

- That's very unlikely.

[chuckles]

So--but you see-- JAMES: But it's possible.

- Right. But you see where I am now.

JAMES: Yeah. - What's real?

What's-what's the truth?

I don't know. [chuckles weakly]

FELICIA: So I just put these out last week.

They were in a box, and they've been here, but...

I wasn't ready yet.

So this is me dipping my toe in the water.

It's been over five years since I've seen my family.

In Larryland, these were all the bad people in my life.

It's very hard to undo what he did.

So I'm still very scared of my parents.

My brother, my sister, I want to talk to.

I just don't know how I'm gonna do that right now.

Um...

According to Larry, they had also tried to kill me.

But...so it's-it's--

It's a process.

♪ ♪

With a picture, the whole memory comes back.

I'd see the picture and think about how sad I was.

We were poor,

living in a one-bedroom apartment, ten people,

in the basement of a house in the Bronx.

Every year there was some chaos,

some crisis that we had to deal with.

Then I think about the Christmas

that my parents went to Venezuela.

They brought me back this really pretty dress.

I was going to show the dress to both of my parents,

but I'm most excited

about showing the dress to my dad.

And...I come out,

and my dad's not there.

And, um...

actually, I want to change what I'm saying.

[lightly edgy music]

This is Larry brain.

So because the story with that picture...

Is that...

This whole drama about me showing my dad the dress

may have happened or may not have happened.

Larry was using my own memories,

but then he twisted it,

and then he turned it into...

whatever-whatever was gonna suit him.

♪ ♪

JAMES: [chuckles] Oh, my God. - [chuckles]

Yeah. Yup. That's what happened.

JAMES: How did you figure that out?

- I couldn't--because it wasn't coming naturally.

It was com--it was--

I was hearing Larry's narrative.

Look--like, Larry telling the story.

And he told it so many times, that I learned--

I mean, I "learned" it, right?

JAMES: What was Larry's version?

FELICIA: That I was so sad and that this crushed me

and, like, ruined my relationships with men

for the rest of my life.

That this was the moment where...

Felicia is, like, broken.

It's starting to build a foundation

for the concept that I'm alone.

But Larry will be there for me. But Larry will take care of me.

But Larry loves me.

♪ ♪

ISABELLA: Oh, these were in storage

in one of, like, some random box or bag of mine.

I threw myself the birthday party.

I forget how old I turned. Maybe ten?

I baked my cake and everything.

Did the invitations.

It was Scooby-Doo.

My mother sure as hell wasn't gonna throw one.

She just, like, completely at a certain point--

really, after she had me--

went off the deep end with, like,

medication abuse and et cetera.

So...

JAMES: Were there ever good times with your mom?

ISABELLA: Of course.

It was never all bad.

I have good memories for sure.

But I also have a lot of shitty ones.

And...that's that.

JAMES: You don't wish you still had,

like, family in your life?

- I do have family in my life.

JAMES: Blood relatives?

- What difference does blood make?

JAMES: Okay, you don't miss your family from Texas?

- No.

♪ ♪

CYNDI: There's certain things that I coulda done more,

but I-I can't change the past.

Sometimes at home it wasn't the best of environments.

It was chaotic at times.

Isabella was, like, three when we divorced.

There was a-a lot of stress

'cause half the time he didn't wanna pay child support.

Half the time he didn't pick 'em up when he's supposed--

you know, just the same old same old

that every, just about, divorced woman in America

has gone through. That's all I can tell you.

♪ ♪

JAMES: Was drugs for you just, like, a--

CYNDI: Escape.

I thought it made me feel better

is all I can say, but it really didn't,

but I thought it did.

And that's why it was kind of easy

to give it up before Isabella was born.

JAMES: And what about drinking?

CYNDI: Yeah, till she was seven.

She's never seen me drunk since she was seven.

Next month'll be 22 years.

♪ ♪

ISABELLA: People often described me as shy

when I was little. I-I would never talk a lot.

I was always very quiet.

Like, I felt like everyone was a part

of an inside joke except me.

Like, everyone just knew something I didn't.

It was always kind of there on the periphery

that I want to just, like, get away from here

and start my life.

Like, a clean slate almost.

I had never left Texas before.

I was very hopeful going to Sarah Lawrence.

But I felt very quickly

just so...out of tune with everyone.

I just--I shut down.

♪ ♪

It's like, "This was supposed to be different,"

I thought to myself. But it wasn't.

JAMES: How did things start to change?

♪ ♪

ISABELLA: Oh, shit.

So this was September 25, 2010.

So the week he got out.

JAMES: A receipt? ISABELLA: Yeah.

'Cause this was the first grocery store trip.

I went with Lawrence.

[moody music]

♪ ♪

I'd never seen anybody

buy that many groceries in my life ever.

♪ ♪

When I pick something up and then he's like,

"Oh, you like that?"

You know, like, a chips or something.

I'm like, "Yeah."

He's like, "Oh, well, put it in."

I grew up where you went grocery shopping,

you very much, with food stamps especially,

couldn't buy seemingly whatever you wanted.

You know, it-it caught me off-guard.

It was crazy to me.

♪ ♪

JAMES: When people ask you to describe

the nature of your relationship,

how do you even do that?

- He's someone-- Lawrence is somebody I've--

I trust...completely

in all different contexts--

personally, sexually--

just in whatever context you can think of.

I trust him.

And I care for him very deeply.

JAMES: You ever do things that you regret

as a result of trusting Lawrence?

- No.

JAMES: Or to compromise your integrity...

- I've never compromised anything for Lawrence.

CYNDI: The last time I talked to her was 2010.

When you say it out loud it sounds like so long.

I just-- it's just so overwhelming.

[heavy music]

♪ ♪

FELICIA: If you had told me one year ago

that I would be in the Bronx looking for my parents...

I would have been like, you're crazy.

Like, there is now way I would ever talk--

Like, what are you talking about?

I would never talk to those people again.

I was thinking about...

kind of being excited about maybe seeing them.

And then Larry comes back like a default thought

that I'm doing something bad.

That I'm-- that I'm betraying Larry.

I don't want anyone to recognize me.

Oh, my God, that's them.

That's my dad and that's my mom.

That's them. That's both of them.

[groans, sighs]

[whimpers]

Oh, my God.

They're so close.

Like, they're right there...

But so far.

I mean, I'm scared now, right now...

[sighs]

Just thinking about, like, spending time with them

or, like, going to talk to them

or even sitting down with them anywhere.

Just not ready.

[soft, uneasy music]

♪ ♪

I'm getting a lot of flashbacks lately.

I get overwhelmed.

My time with Larry-- I don't have a chronology.

It's just like I remember random things.

One of my goals, now,

is figuring out for myself

what actually happened, what's actually true...

Giving myself a narrative.

I got file folders

and I labelled them each with a--with a year.

So I started with the year that I met Larry.

As I remember things,

I just write it down.

I remember it was the second year of residency

on in-patient psychiatry.

I lived in LA. It was gorgeous.

I made tons of friends.

I really liked my residency program.

I loved my boss.

I'm finally gonna start living life

as an individual, as an independent person.

Then...I met Larry.

He was so interesting.

And then I was attracted to him and his mind.

And I loved how we were always learning

and he was so inquisitive.

And...it was exciting.

You know, growing up,

everything was falling apart around us constantly.

As the eldest, I ended up

with a lot more responsibility--

helping to take care of my siblings,

helping with their education,

helping to keep them on track.

But I'm allowed to be vulnerable with Larry.

He's now the one that takes care of things.

I would come back to New York for the weekend.

And, of course, Larry's very extravagant.

So we stayed at these fancy hotels,

and we had fancy dinners.

[indistinct chatter]

I mean, it was...[sighs]

This, like, balloon of happiness.

FELICIA: I was weeks away from taking my exam

that would say that I was

a fully-licensed medical doctor.

And then...

this is the beginning

of, like, everything falling apart.

- There is a plot against Larry.

And I was somebody that they could come after

in the hopes of getting to Larry.

FELICIA: He wanted everything recorded.

"September 2012.

FR..." Meaning me, Felicia Rosario,

"Threatened, beaten, and raped in California

"by men who identified themselves

as associate of her father's."

But it's...

like, it doesn't feel real.

Or, like, I don't know...

I don't know what's true.

- I couldn't believe it.

I was--not that I couldn't believe--

I'm like, "I guess?"

FELICIA: He would be so persistent

and so aggressive that until--

Like, he would not leave me alone

until I told him some sordid story.

- People were following us.

Then they were trying to kill him.

Then they were trying to kill us.

- I was working, like, ridiculous hours.

You know, like, 12-, 14-hour days...

Running on, like, no sleep.

I was stressed at work.

And then the only person

that I'm talking to outside of work is Larry.

[phone buzzes]

And that's, like, morning, noon, and night.

[pager beeping]

FELICIA: After weeks of this,

I started to believe what he told me about me.

[tearfully] I'm scared!

I think people are chasing me.

I end up barricading myself in my apartment.

He has me drag my mattress into the living room

and buy some webcams.

- It's really that bad?

Larry sent some guy--

he said he was a former federal agent--

to pick me up at my house

and escort me all the way back to New York.

[siren wails distantly]

[dramatic music]

I'm a Harvard-, Columbia-educated physician

who had already started her psychiatry training,

and I'm living in this shithole apartment

with these other people's crap everywhere.

And I'm sleeping with him and this other woman.

It was the three of us in the bedroom--

me, Larry, and Isabella.

He did not allow anyone to sleep with clothes on.

Larry sleeps in the middle, face up.

And Isabella and I are each on one side.

Isabella sleeps like this...

With her hand on Larry's genitals.

So I come in there,

I'm supposed to be this guy's girlfriend.

And then I'm sleeping

with him and this girl.

And this girl has her hand

all up in his stuff.

And I'm su--and I'm just supposed to be okay.

He's like, "Oh, she's just more comfortable that way."

"Like, what's the big deal?

Like, aren't you like a smart, liberated woman?"

[sighs]

It hurts my head still, like, thinking about it.

He brought me back here.

I got evicted from my apartment.

I got dismissed from my job.

He got me

right before I became a full doctor.

He tore up my documents

from residency,

and he threw them out the window.

I needed those documents to be able

to even start trying to crawl my way back to work.

FELICIA: Then Yalitza confesses that

she and my mother

had poisoned me with mercury.

My parents wanted me to die.

My mind couldn't take everything that was going on.

So then I had to turn it all off.

And I was operating on, like...

like a child.

Aah! Aah!

Aah! Aah!

- Sit.

- I wanna sleep!

[Felicia moaning]

- Please! Please!

FELICIA: It was so shameful.

So embarrassing. There was so much guilt.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

So much fear....

That I couldn't even try.

And...he left me on the ground.

Then he was the only one that came over

and picked me up.

[screaming]

No! Aah!

[screaming and moaning]

FELICIA: He took away my career,

my friends,

my family.

He took every piece of me away,

and that all that was left was...

Me to him.

There was no, like, Fel.

There was n-no-- like the rest of me just...

[somber music]

♪ ♪

There was no rest of me.

[water splashing]

ISABELLA: Well, I recently got a job at Amazon,

and I'm just one of the warehouse workers.

It's not intellectually stimulating or anything,

but it's a job, especially during this time

with COVID and my circumstance.

But, yeah, I interact with people,

and they ask, oh, do you have Instagram

or do you have, you know, Facebook?

I'm like, I'm not into social media, you know, um...

It's hard to really fully integrate with people

without like kind of busting open

this huge fucking, um...

I don't know what you would call it--

kinda is like a Jack-in-the-box, almost.

[rhythmic sound]

The prosecution, they're also now

specifically referencing that I participated

in some of the allegations

that they're accusing Lawrence of.

That line is now drawn.

I'm Associate-1.

They're saying I participated in interrogations,

I participated in furthering the sex trafficking.

Claudia--she termed it as "she wanted to make repairs."

That's what she called it.

For the damage she had done to our lives,

and more specifically, our quality of life.

Because had we not been poisoned,

I have no doubt Talia would have gone to law school,

I would have gone to medical school,

and Lawrence would have succeeded at any career

he was choosing to go down.

ISABELLA: She then started escorting.

She said it was the fastest way

she could make money.

[dark music]

That was her explanation as to why

she chose prostitution.

FELICIA: At the beginning, Claudia was applauded

for her efforts in making reparations.

But then whenever she stopped paying him,

he started escalating.

[dramatic chords]

[car engine starts]

FELICIA: One night, Larry was like,

we're gonna go stake out her apartment.

And we're gonna get my money,

and we're gonna get her to confess

to all that she's been doing to us.

We ransacked the apartment.

I was very upset.

I didn't wanna be there doing

what we were doing.

I hated having Claudia do this video.

She admitted to doing all these horrible things to him,

so that way he had more leverage over her.

"Do you want me to post that on the internet?

You'd better get to work."

LARRY: Everything's going up on the website--

everything.

Everything's going up on the website

because it's the truth.

FELICIA: He really wanted me to help him,

and...I wasn't willing

to blackmail Claudia.

He tried to get me

to give him information on my sister and my brother

so he could make websites on them

the same way that he did on Claudia.

He's like, "This is the only way

you're gonna redeem yourself...as a Rosario."

This is the only way you're not gonna be a Rosario anymore.

That you're not gonna be part of that, like,

dirty criminal family.

And I just wouldn't do it.

[moody music]

Somehow, I had enough of me left

to question what was going on around me...

but I just didn't have any way

to do anything about what was happening.

[heavy music]

♪ ♪

Well, he doesn't get anywhere with me,

so that's how Isabella ended up

doing all of this stuff with Claudia.

ISABELLA: I know my process. I would meet Claudia

at her hotel, and just pick it up.

She would say, "Oh, this is 3,200?"

But, 'cause I didn't trust her,

I would always count it and verify.

I even noted that in my ledgers and notes.

JAMES: Do you remember how much a year?

ISABELLA: 700,000 and change,

and I forget what the other year was.

FELICIA: One night, Larry and Isabella leave

to Manhattan because Claudia was behind

in her payments.

I go to bed.

They get home in the morning, and...

start telling me about

the night that they had with Claudia.

ISABELLA: "On one occasion, the defendant and Associate-1

"came to female Victim-1's hotel room.

"During that visit, the defendant hit Female Victim-1,

"told her to strip and tied her to a chair,

"placed a plastic bag over her head

and threatened to kill her."

JAMES: You have zero memory of this?

- Correct. I have zero memory.

'Cause to my memory and knowledge, it never occurred.

JAMES: Is this scenario completely made up,

or is there something that Claudia is--

- It's completely made up.

It is completely made up.

FELICIA: When I first met Izzy...

she had a very well-formed moral compass.

As time went on with Larry,

it wasn't goodness anymore.

Her true north became Larry.

He could say the sky is red,

the sky is purple--

it wouldn't matter.

If he said it, it was true.

It was as if God had said it himself.

She wanted to be a psychiatrist.

She wanted to be a child psychiatrist, no less.

You know? She wanted to help people.

[somber music]

I would hear her

be like, "I can't do this anymore."

"I can't do this anymore.

I can't live like this anymore."

And she would get so sad.

They would have fights. They would argue.

LARRY: What makes you think you're getting in here?

Stupid! This is wrong, Izzy, it's wrong.

And if you're not gonna behave right,

there's no chance.

Get a grip on yourself!

FELICIA: Then Larry would talk her through it,

and they would just go back to how they were.

That's what's so scary, because

someone who's a truly good person...

Lost their own

sense of self,

their own sense of right and wrong.

That just speaks to how

evil Larry is.

That he was able to just--

to so fully destroy someone.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

[pounding]

- FBI, open the door!

[pounding]

Isabella Pollok, open the door. FBI!

[pounding continues]

AGENT: FBI! Open the door!

- I'm coming.

- Come out, come out, come out.

Come to me. Take my hand.

ISABELLA: Whoa, whoa, whoa! AGENT: Come out, come out.

[indistinct chatter]

AGENT: FBI!

[melancholy music]

♪ ♪

ISABELLA: I have four charges.

Extortion...

sex trafficking,

money laundering,

and racketeering.

The only one that carries the mandatory minimum

is the sex trafficking.

That means we-we can be found not guilty

in every single other fuckin' charge.

If we're found guilty in sex trafficking,

bam--mandatory minimum.

No parole, no probation. 15 years in prison.

JAMES: What happened in the arraignment?

ISABELLA: My lawyer's-- who oddly enough,

called me Ms. Ray.

The court had to correct him.

Um...said that he

had substantial reasons, or whatever he called it,

to believe I may not be competent.

There's two aspects to legal competence--

one, that you're able to understand

the charges against you, which he acknowledges I do.

Two, if you're able to participate

in your own defense, meaning aid your attorneys

in conducting your defense.

It's the second part, according to him,

that he has reason to believe that I may not be competent.

It feels shitty

when somebody, especially my own attorney,

questions my competency.

The message being the only reason you think he's innocent

is 'cause he manipulated you and brainwashed you

and you don't know any better.

That's what they're saying.

Recently, my aunt and my mother

have reached out to my lawyer.

Oh, they're worried about me. They're there--

they're here for me, whatever.

I told him please tell them

I do not wish to speak with them

or any other member of my family

and to please refrain from reaching out to me

in the future.

And he did.

[moody music]

♪ ♪

FELICIA: Hair is a big thing for Dominican women.

My mom has this amazing hair.

It's, like, down to her waist, it's, like, gorgeous.

Thankfully, I inherited her hair.

With Larry, I was so out of it

that my hair was...a ball.

Like a bird's nest.

He watched me grow this knot

and did nothing.

And then he was like, "Okay, now I'll rescue you."

And he combed out all of the knots himself.

"See how I take care of you?

"I spent a whole week taking that--

"those knots outta your hair.

That's how much I love you."

That's what he would say to me.

As I get more clarity about what he did to me,

that has helped me

see my parents more clearly.

[soft, stirring music]

♪ ♪

[line ringing]

MARITZA: Hello? - Hello?

MARITZA: Hello?

- Mami. - Huh?

MARITZA: Oh, my gosh!

- [laughing]

[both speaking Spanish]

MARITZA: Oh, my gosh.

- [laughing]

- Si.

[sniffles]

- Um...

- Si, claro, Mami.

- I love you. Bye.

- Con Dios. Bye.

[sniffling, crying]

[melancholy music]

♪ ♪

[footsteps]

FELICIA: Hello.

[Maritza speaking Spanish]

[light laughter]

[both sniffling]

[Felicia crying]

[soft, stirring music]

♪ ♪

[whistling]

JAMES: So you were having trouble sleeping last night?

ISABELLA: Well, I woke up at 3:00.

I mean, potentially it coulda been

'cause of the status conference today,

but it just happened seemingly randomly.

JAMES: What happened at the status conference?

ISABELLA: A psychiatrist concluded

that I am competent to stand trial.

But my lawyer filed a motion to withdraw as my counsel

due to disagreements in legal strategy.

So...

But I was hoping after this competency evaluation happened

it would kinda give him relief in any doubts

that maybe I was being brainwashed, manipulated,

or whatever.

It didn't.

"Her speech was fluent, articulate, and precise.

"Ms. Pollok was able to provide a coherent narrative

"and discuss the pertinent facts of her case

in a logical and reality-based manner."

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

SANTOS: Once I accepted that I was in a cult

for ten years, effectively,

I had been living in a shelter system,

I was meeting people at work.

Except I had to become very, like,

adroit at dodging any type of personal question

because... like, how can I, like--

"Why didn't you graduate school?"

How could I answer that?

Like, "What about your parents, what about your family?"

Uh...I don't really talk to them.

They're not-- they're not good people.

♪ ♪

I was just kind of...

existing... but barely by a thread.

Me and Felicia started re-engaging as siblings.

Our lawyers had told us both don't talk about the case.

Even though there was this elephant in the room,

like, it was still, like... nice to be able

to talk to each other and have each other.

SANTOS: Hey, hey. FELICIA: Hey, dude, what's up?

SANTOS: I'll have a sip, but I'm on a diet, though.

FELICIA: Oh, diet Coke. That's right.

It's past 12:00.

[both laughing]

My brother's an incredible human being.

I've been thinking about reaching out to Yali.

There's no reason why we shouldn't be talking anymore.

Larry's in jail.

He can't hurt us anymore.

And...we love each other.

And he tried to break that.

And...I--

I just want my sister back.

[doorbell rings]

[ding-dong]

[knocking]

- Hi!

Hello?

It's Fel.

- Hi!

- How are you?

- I love you.

I miss you.

[sighs]

- I love you more and I miss you a lot.

- I'm here for you.

- I'm...well...

- I love you so much,

and I'm so happy to hear your voice.

Like you don't know.

I've been dreaming about you every night.

I get it if you want to talk to your lawyers

and ask them if we can talk.

- I just--I love you so much, and I'm so sorry.

YALITZA: Okay, yeah.

- I'm so sorry! [Yalitza crying]

I love you.

[melancholy music]

♪ ♪

[Felicia crying]

YALITZA: I get a knock on the door.

Felicia's standing right there,

and the fucked up part is like it triggered me.

By the child-like demeanor, like the desperation--

like in my head, it was like, oh, my gosh,

she's still like she was in Pinehurst.

Oh, my God, is she still, like...

in-involved with Larry,

is she still, like, in that mindset?

It's like a war in my head:

can I trust her?

But at the same time, I really wanted to...

I've been missing her so much.

Like thinking about her every day

and, like, how much I miss having my big sister around.

But then th-the shit

that got in the way of that moment, you know?

And then...

I was afraid.

But then, a few weeks later, I hear the knock,

I see Felicia and Santos

through the peephole, both of them.

SANTOS: And then we just hear a gasp like: Ohh!

And then she opens the door and she's like, "Oh, my God!"

It was nice. It was very nice.

YALITZA: Are we all doing the same?

Same-sies? Kay. SANTOS: Yeah.

SANTOS: Do we have aprons?

FELICIA: You know what? Stop! - No, I'm serious!

It'll be fun.

YALITZA: The uncertainty of, like,

are they still involved with Larry?

That didn't really matter,

'cause they're there in front of me,

and I was like... I am whole again.

SANTOS: Yo, you talking shit? Yalitza: No!

Come on! [Felicia laughing]

- The kitchen's too small for three.

FELICIA: We're talking about how great you are.

SANTOS: Uh-huh. YALITZA: You're the best.

Don't forget. SANTOS: [laughing] Shut up!

YALITZA: Despite all the shit, like...that doesn't matter.

They love me, ha, and I love them.

And that's the most important thing.

And now it's like, okay, I know who I am,

and I have my people.

Let's go, force.

[stirring music]

♪ ♪

ISABELLA: I don't feel like myself recently,

and I don't know what it is.

All I know is that there is something wrong

with me right now.

And I, like, grew up with a shitty circumstance.

Then Lawrence is indicted.

I'm indicted.

I'm accused of being incompetent.

How much worse can it fuckin' get?

But it's like I know this is not me.

I don't even recognize myself.

I don't know what to do.

[crying] I don't.

[continues crying]

[continues crying]

I'm processing,

to be honest, the terror of being put in prison.

If I keep sinking into this

discomfort...

You know, will I render myself,

ironically, incompetent to participate in my own defen--

Like, who knows? Who knows what the mind's capable of?

I don't wanna find out.

[bird twittering]

JAMES Are you optimistic about

your new lawyer?

- I am, yeah.

It's been limited interaction, but...

the interactions we have had, he's...

been very, um...

open, straight-forward.

JAMES: You're hopeful.

- Of course I'm hopeful.

At times I think about in the future,

if we get through this,

Talia and, like, Lawrence and me watching, like, TV,

and, like, Talia's with her kids and I'm with mine.

Things like that.

You know, it's like a "what if?"

But things like that make me feel better.

[quiet, moody music]

♪ ♪

FELICIA: Being here now,

I almost can't believe that I made it out...

And that I'm here,

free...

mostly.

I say mostly because...

The conditioning...

of Larry is still there, so...

Like, he's still there.

So I'm not totally free.

I hope he stays in jail forever.

JAMES: You want Isabella to go to jail?

- I don't want her to.

Because she's gonna use jail...

being in jail and being prosecuted

as a reason to be angry,

as a shield.

And she's not going to...

confront the actual situation.

But if she didn't go,

she has to live with what she did,

on her own.

But I don't know if she spent so much time with Larry

that she's just gonna go spinning on

what he already told her.

I pray that she starts to care about herself

enough to honor herself

and honor the truth of what happened.

To her and to the rest of us.

CYNDI: I'm not judging her. She can tell me anything.

I still love her, and I want her back.

I know this sounds odd, but

sometimes I think she, like, walked in

or I think she's, like, on the other--

like the love seat, and I'm on the couch.

I know that sounds weird, but it's--I don't know why.

It's like... I think she's, like,

when she's gonna come and tell me somethin'.

[soft, hopeful music]

[indistinct chatter]

♪ ♪

FELICIA: I feel like a new person.

I have a family. [laughter]

I have...a past.

[singing "Happy Birthday']

I have a future... which I didn't have before.

ALL: ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

[all cheering, clapping]

- I had been...trapped

for so long...

Closed off from everyone.

[father speaking Spanish]

It feels like I'm coming out and...

there's...light.

♪ ♪

[end chords]

♪ ♪

[trilling notes]

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

[laughter]

- And, like, he believed like the fake names,

and I'm like...really? [laughter]

[trilling notes]

♪ ♪