2026-01-22 23:36:19
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Chapter 344
The buzzer sounded, calling them back to the courtroom. Ava squared her shoulders, the weary advocate replaced by a legal warrior. She was no longer playing defense. She was about to lay siege.As they walked into the bustling hallway, Gerald leaned close, his final whisper barely audible over the din. “Buy us the night, Ava. Just one night.”She gave a slight, determined nod and pushed through the doors, back into the lion’s den, armed with nothing but a gamble and the fragile, world-changing truth waiting for them at the estate.The murmur in the courtroom as the bailiff called for order was different than before recess. It was heavier, charged with the expectation of a final, brutal round. Sandy Thorne stood poised behind the prosecution table, a sleek predator ready to deliver the killing blow to Julia’s credibility.But before the judge could speak, Ava Rennet was on her feet. She did not approach the lectern; she stood squarely behind the defense table, her posture not of a sup
Chapter 343
Flynn felt the floor solidify beneath him, the aimless dread of the last few days sharpening into a single, laser-focused point.“The shooter,” Priya continued, her voice gaining strength now that the secret was out, “was an asset of the Verdant Horizon network. Not a typical mercenary. An assassin they call ‘The Silhouette.’ A woman. Her operations are… broader than killing. She engineers the conditions for chaos, then vanishes."Flynn’s mind flashed to his darkened bedroom weeks ago, to the glowing screen where his anomaly-detection algorithm had churned. "The thermal signature,” he breathed. Priya took a steadying breath, delving into the memory she’d buried. “My father knew. He’d been tracking Verdant Horizon’s movements for months. He believed they were planning a ‘structural readjustment’—their term for removing key figures and creating blame. He knew Julia O’Connor was a target for framing. The night it happened… he insisted we go to the Whitehall after we had received the in
Chapter 342
The gallery burst into full conversation as Sandy Thorne gathered her papers with a look of smug satisfaction—she had achieved her goal: chaos, doubt, and the tainting of the well. She shot a glance at Ava that was pure triumph.At the defense table, Ava’s hands were clenched into white-knuckled fists on the polished wood. She had won the objection, but she had lost the atmosphere.Julia remained in the witness stand for a moment, a statue of dignified suffering, before the bailiff gestured for her to step down. As she walked back to her seat, her eyes met Chance's. In them, he saw no fear, only a deep, weary resolve, and a flicker of apology—for the mess, for the spotlight, for the fact that her fight for freedom was drowning in a sewer of lies.Chance stood, Chloe's hand on his arm a steadying pressure he barely felt. ***The courtroom footage played on a loop on the news channel—Sandy Thorne’s accusation, Julia’s pained denial, the gavel crashing down. Priya who had stayed back
Chapter 341
The atmosphere in the courtroom the next day was no longer one of legal procedure; it was that of a public hanging. The gallery was packed, the media row bristling with cameras. They weren't here for a murder trial anymore; they were here for the downfall of an empire, and Sandy Thorne was their master of ceremonies.She stood, a vision of sharp, righteous anger. "Your Honor," she began, her voice carrying to the rafters, "the prosecution moves to introduce new evidence pertaining to the character and motive of the defendant, Julia O'Connor. Evidence that has, in recent days, come to dominate the public discourse and speaks directly to her capability for deception, for international subterfuge, and for violence in the protection of her interests."Ava was on her feet before Sandy finished. "Objection! This is a blatant attempt to try my client in the court of public opinion within these walls! The so-called 'evidence' is an unsubstantiated media fabrication with zero bearing on the de
Chapter 340
"Chance. You must have seen the news." Gerald's voice was its usual gravelly calm hard tension vibrating beneath the surface, like a bowstring pulled taut."We're looking at it now," Chance confirmed, moving with Chloe toward the study. "It's a fabrication."“Obviously,” Gerald said, the word clipped. “But that doesn't matter in the court of public opinion, and it’s starting not to matter in the actual court, either. I just got off the line with Ava.”Chance’s grip tightened on the phone. “And?”“And it’s bad. This scandal doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It directly contaminates the Bruce Lincoln case. Ava says the prosecution will argue that the source of Julia’s defense fund is now in question, implying she had access to—and was possibly aligned with—unscrupulous, violent international elements. It paints a motive where there wasn’t one before. A narrative of a woman entangled in dark dealings, capable of anything.”Chloe’s hand found Chance’s arm, her fingers pressing in a silent warnin
Chapter 339
It began not with a bang, but with a digital whisper that became a global scream overnight. The morning edition of The Financial Ledger, a paper known for its staid conservatism, didn't bury the story. It was the story.The headline was a masterclass in destructive implication: "O'Connor Defense Funded By 'Conflict Minerals'? Leaked Documents Suggest Hypocrisy At Heart Of Empire."The article, dripping with faux-outrage and meticulous detail, didn't outright accuse. It "raised questions." It "presented documents obtained by this publication" that showed a complex web of companies, ultimately tracing a multi-million dollar transfer from a mining consortium with notorious ties to warlord-controlled regions, into a legal fund registered to "J. O'Connor Defense Initiative."The documents were perfect. Letterheads, account numbers, timestamps that aligned perfectly with Julia's arrest. Miokun's forger had earned his fee.By 9 AM, it was on every news ticker. By 10, social media was a tsuna
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