Here's to Us (Blood Money #2)

Chapter 11- The Last Sketch

The last sketch in my hand was something I couldn't understand. Though, from the very first look it would look like a rose. But there were more prominent lines around the flower, making it somehow symbolic. However, I stashed it inside, thinking of Silas's words when he gave this to me. Unity is the only way, Dawn.

Thinking about this made me anxious.

Trying to clear my head, I sat quietly at the front row in the courtroom. Certain that this was our day, I brought a smile to my face. We had all the evidences & the best lawyer in town. It couldn't be more simple.

A while later, Silas walked in, in a black suit, two armed men following behind him.

The judge finally spoke, "Everyone in the jury may be seated."

The trial started.

The prosecutor was the first to interrogate. He was a man in his forties, a thin structure added with a debatable hairline and metal-framed glasses. His expensive tailored suit spoke of his knack of winning high-profile cases. It could be from bribe money too. Whatever it was, I simply didn't care.

One question kicked me hard in the stomach, taking all air out of me as I heard with nothing to hold on to.

"Mr. Dale, as a teenager you had been under the influence of cocaine several times. Is that correct?"

Silas didn't falter. He only said the truth, his eyes bleak. "Yes."

"You were an addict?"

"Yes."

"How did you get rid of that addiction? There isn't any record of you undergoing any sort of rehabilitation. Perhaps, you could walk us through it."

Something didnt feel right when I caught Desmond's eyes. It felt as if a track had been violated. One thing that crossed my mind was maybe Desmond didn't expect this question. But something happened when Silas and he looked at each other, something passing through both of them.

With a nod, Desmond swooped in, his objection being overruled. Then, he tabled Silas's clean medical reports.

"Isn't it bizarre that an ample amount of drugs had been found in your system approximately 4 years later, Mr. Dale, while you were in Yale School of Art?" The prosecutor continued his questioning.

Again, Desmond displayed some reports from Dr. Kishore, eventually summoning the doctor as a witness.

It was equal from both sides. But then the game changed.

"The cocaine found in your factory along with the other drugs were signed in, Mr. Dale. Those had been delivered there just the way you mentioned on the contract paper you signed with an anonymous Mexican drug dealer. Your honour, this is the copy of those papers." The prosecutor's sickly pale hand thrust a file to the clerk, causing a horrified Desmond to bring up the fact that without authenticity those papers meant nothing.

That was a point. I furrowed my eyebrows and watched.

"Mr. Maxwell, our handwriting experts have already turned in the reports whether it was Dale's signature or not. It came out positive." His thin lips were pressed into a small derisive smile when he watched the report passing to the judge.

I couldn't convince myself that it was a nightmare. Not anymore. This was the reality. Only thing that I could think of was Adrian's words. The trial won't go well.

And I turned to Adrian who sat on the next row. Our eyes met and I saw how victorious his words were.

And the trial didn't go well.