Chapter 5: The Final Verdict
The courthouse was a circus. News vans lined the block, and the gallery was packed to maximum capacity. It was the final day of Olivia Monroe's trial.
Olivia sat at the defense table, wearing a demure, pastel dress meant to make her look innocent and fragile. She wept silently on cue whenever the jury looked her way. Her high-priced lawyer had spent the last three days trying to paint Sophie as a manipulative gold-digger who had doctored the video to steal Nathan's fortune.
Sophie sat in the witness box. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap. She looked directly at Olivia, refusing to let the defense attorney intimidate her.
"Miss Sophie," the defense lawyer sneered, pacing the floor. "Isn't it true that you had hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt before the wedding? Isn't it true that after you 'conveniently' interrupted the ceremony, Mr. Sterling bought you a café? Sounds like a very profitable setup for a humble maid."
"Objection!" the prosecutor snapped. "Relevance and badgering!"
"Overruled," the judge sighed. "You may answer, witness."
Sophie leaned into the microphone. "Mr. Sterling helped me, yes. But I didn't ask for it. I recorded the video because I saw a woman trying to drug an innocent man. My bank account doesn't change what is on that footage."
"Footage that can be easily manipulated with modern technology!" the lawyer fired back. "You have no proof she crushed anything dangerous into that glass!"
At that moment, the heavy courtroom doors swung open. Nathan Sterling walked in. He wasn't alone. Beside him was the lead detective of the city's fraud division, carrying a sealed evidence bag.
The defense lawyer froze. Olivia’s face lost all its color.
The prosecutor stood up with a triumphant smile. "Your Honor, the prosecution would like to submit new, compelling evidence obtained just last night during a raid on the Monroe estate, legally permitted after an attempted arson at the witness's property."
The judge frowned. "Proceed."
The prosecutor took the evidence bag. Inside was a secondary burner phone. "This phone belonged to Victoria Monroe. On it, we found text messages between Victoria and the defendant, Olivia Monroe, dated three days before the wedding. I will read them for the record."
The courtroom fell dead silent.
"From Olivia: 'The pills arrived. Are you sure they will knock him out long enough?' Response from Victoria: 'Yes. Once he drinks the juice, he'll be incapacitated for at least six hours. You will guide his hand to sign the trust transfer. By the time he wakes up, the Sterling assets will be legally merged with ours.'"
A collective gasp echoed through the gallery. The jury looked horrified.
Olivia jumped out of her chair, sobbing hysterically. "No! That's not true! My mother made me do it! I didn't want to!"
Her lawyer buried his face in his hands. The case was completely, utterly destroyed.
The judge banged his gavel fiercely. "Order! Order in the court!"
The trial ended precisely forty-five minutes later. The jury didn't even need to deliberate for long. When the foreperson stood up, the verdict rang through the silent room like a thunderclap.
"Guilty on all charges."
Olivia Monroe collapsed, screaming as the bailiffs approached to put her in handcuffs. She looked back at Nathan, pleading, begging for mercy. But Nathan didn't look at her. He wasn't even paying attention to the woman who had almost ruined his life.
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He was looking at Sophie. He walked up to the wooden railing that separated the gallery from the witness stand, reached over, and gently wiped a stray tear from her cheek.
"It's over," he whispered, a brilliant, warm smile breaking across his face. "You're safe."
