Chapter 87 - Trial (2)

"She is lying about everything!" Samantha insisted while pointing at Natalie with a glare. If her statement could no longer be used in court, that would be fatal. There was little evidence against Alyssa and she was the only eye witness. If she was discredited and didn't manage to make Alyssa convicted, Jaime would not spare her.

"Speak when you are asked to, Miss Fort. One more word from you and you will be thrown out of the courtroom." The judge threatened and Samantha had no choice but to shut her mouth. She felt as though she was sitting on needles.

"Objection." Jaime's lawyer spoke up against Samantha's dismissal. "Natalie's location has nothing to do with the current case. It's not enough ground to discredit a witness."

As soon as he was done speaking, Desmond's lawyer adjusted his glasses and countered him. "It's only right for us to prove that the witness is saying nothing but the truth. Or else, who knows what other lie she would tell that might be fatal? This case involves people's lives after all."

"Objection overruled." Decided the judge, since Desmond's lawyer made sense. Samantha was officially dismissed from having anything to do with the case. "Does anyone else have anything to say?"

"Allow me to ask Ms. Fort a few questions." Jaime's lawyer requested.

Natalie who had left the witness stand and was back to sit beside Desmond tensed up. "He is up to no good."

The man didn't say a word and only patted the back of her hand, which was a sign for the other person to not worry. She didn't know why he was so relaxed even in the face of a lawyer hired by Jaime, by she sighed and remained silence since she had never doubted him.

"When was your husband murdered?" The procecutor went ahead to start interrogating Alyssa.

It was not the first time Alyssa was hearing this question but she had to answer it every time.

"I don't know. I found him dead when I got back home." Came the words she had said so many times that she could no longer keep count of the number of times she had said them.

"What time was it when you got back home?" The man asked.

"1:10 am." She answered, and noticed that a few people gasped and gave her odd looks. She knew that they were judging her for getting home so late, but she didn't care. The whole nation was judging her for being a cheating wife anyway, this was nothing new.

However, the prosecutor has something else in mind. "Your husband had been dismembered in the living room, and you had the time to check the clock?"

"No. I checked the time when I was at the door before I entered the house, to guess whether or not he was asleep." She explained indifferently.

The prosecutor paused for a few seconds as though gauging whether or not her words made sense, then asked, "And then what happened?"

"When I saw him, I was shocked for a moment. I was yet to call for help when I heard a scream from behind me. I turned around and saw my daughter." Truth be told, at the moment, Samantha's appearance was so sudden that she had almost though that the latter had killed her father. She only realized that she had just arrived when the young woman became hysterical and pointed a finger at her while expressing her disbelief at the fact that her mother had murdered her father.

"Did you have fights with your husband?" The prosecutor asked.

"Yes." She did not lie about being in perfectly good terms with her late husband.

"Did you ever wish for him to get out of your life and never return?" Came the next question.

"What? No way." She frowned.

"You said that he was cheating on you and that he had tried to steal away all the family assets? Were you ever tempted to silence him?" The prosecutor provoked her directly. "Besides, from a few of the things you said and the fact that you were out of the house and sneakily returned at 1am, it almost sounds like you were cheating too. I'm not saying you did it, but what if you colluded with your lover to get your husband out of the way so the two of you could enjoy all the wealth?"

"Objection. My client is being emotionally provoked." The lawyer hired by Desmond spoke up, but Alyssa answered the question she was asked anyway.

"Couples usually have conflicts but that doesn't make us wish each other dead. I am a strong believer that every marital problem can be solved peacefully."

Desmond smiled. He knew that his mother would not be as brainless as Samantha who had trapped herself.

The court was adjourned, and Desmond left the courtroom with Natalie. They initially kept their silence but when they entered his car, Natalie could not keep her curiosity to herself anymore.

"Jaime's lawyer wasn't this easy to deal with the last time. He kept asking your mum questions that appeared to be out of context but were meant to trap her into saying things that could incriminate her. What happened to him?"

Desmond started the car and raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you think that there is such a thing as winning the case as long as you have the best lawyers? Maybe that works in other countries but in Olphire, it's all about who is more generous."

"Wait. You 'shook hands' with him?" Natalie was puzzled when she understood the implication of his words. Desmond remained silent and she took that as a yes. So those tricky questions were only meant for the situation to appear natural. If not, it would be suspicious if the prosecutor was suddenly on the accused's side.

She said nothing more but silently praised Desmond in her heart. Both sides were doing the wrong thing anyway, no one could blame him for lying to give an innocent person justice.

"You did well." He praised her for going along with the plan.

"Do you want to reward me? It's not going to be so easy." She gave him a meaningful look.

"What do you want?" He asked with a side-glance, even though he could already guess what she wanted.

"A presidential suite." She responded with a proud hard-to-please expression.

He chuckled at her antics. "You got it. I will book the presidential suites in one of your family's hotel chains in both of our names, and you will also get one of the top actors in the country as your special surprise guest to entertain you all night. Is it okay to get Jupiter?"

"Don't tease me." She rolled her eyes and looked forward to spending the night with her boyfriend even though it was still early in the afternoon.

"I'll pick you up in the evening." He promised and dropped her off at her house before going back to Preston and Fort Group.

_

"Sweetie, I don't know whether the chances of her being proven innocent are higher but Samantha was dismissed." He reported to Zaria when he returned to the office.

"Good job." She praised him and set the files she was holding aside to pat him on the shoulder.

He looked at her meaningfully. Knowing that he was asking for better praise, she tiptoed and pecked his lips. He smiled in satisfaction.

When she sat down, he pushed her chair far from her desk and faced her with his back against the desk. "On Saturday at the banquet, what did you show Jaime?"

"I deleted it." She knew he was talking about the time when Jaime was about to disown him as a member of the Fort family, but had given up and changed his announcement after seeing the content of whatever was on Zaria's phone screen at the time.

"What was it?" He probed.

"It won't matter anymore." As she spoke, she stood up and tapped him to remind him that they needed to attend a meeting.

"Zaria,"

"Desmond, I'm tired." She interrupted him before he could say anything further. "Could you please prepare yourself to attend the meeting? The interns are already waiting."

This was not the first time she was avoiding his question. Why was she being so secretive?

Knowing that he was displeased, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll show it to you when the time is right, okay? I don't want to put you in danger."

"So you want to put yourself in danger by keeping that information all to yourself?" He knew that his brother would not sit still while knowing that there was someone who knew something grave about him. "Tell me about it, okay? I will protect you." He promised.

She hesitated, so he added, "Then don't tell me. But this time, don't insist that you can protect yourself. I will add more bodyguards to protect you."

"There are bodyguards protecting me?" She was puzzled.

He pulled her into his arms in response. "What did you think? That I was going to let you be targeted?"

She gulped in shock. No wonder she was feeling paranoid lately, as though she was being followed. So it was the bodyguards. She took a deep breath. "It's a video from your family's living room's surveillance camera on the night of your dad's demise. a hacker friend helped me retrieve it."