Chapter 85 Out of Luck

Monday came in a blink of an eye. Zarah and Xavier would be attending the hearing over the case that Nikolai, Franklin, and Carla were involved with.

The first trial was the swindling case against Franklin and Nikolai.

Zarah and Xavier sat down as members of the public.

The case came easy for the prosecution as those executives who were in cahoots with the brothers had testified that Nikolai was the mastermind and they were compelled to do so otherwise their position in the company would be in great danger.

The history of Nikolai's excessive gambling was also presented as evidence that could be the motive why Nikolai Stevens had stolen money from Stevens Group.

Nikolai could not refute that as he was guilty. He was arrested by the police while he was in the hospital after he was beaten up by the thug's people.

Upon further investigation, it was found out that the brothers had established a company overseas under someone else's name and the person was Carla Kent's underling.

With this development, the two brothers, Nikolai and Franklin were found guilty and were resentenced with twenty years and ten years of life imprisonment respectively. With legal damages amounting to forty million dollars each and punitive damages amounting to ten million dollars each.

The company was also transferred to Stevens Group as the source of capital was proven to be fraudulent and was from the swindled money illegally obtained from Stevens Group.

While waiting for the second trial in the afternoon, Zarah received a call from Kelsey that a court order against the cyber libel case that she was filing against Crystal Gil and others, was finally issued.

They were given twenty-four hours to explain themselves before an arrest warrant against them was issued.

Kelsey had presented the evidence that Olivia and Zarah had gathered against them and the judge gave them the court order.

Kelsey went to Silver Oak University to distribute the court order to them.

Crystal was in the middle of the class when Kelsey and the Dean came looking for her.

She was excused from the lecture and went to the door.

"Yes, Mrs. Richard?"

"I'm so disappointed in you Miss Gil," Mrs. Richard immediately said and Crystal frowned in response.

"Attorney Dawson is here to deliver something very important to you," she added.

Kelsey didn't wait for Crystal to react and she gave the envelope containing the court order to crystal.

"My client had filed a formal complaint against you. You have twenty-four hours to appeal or else, you know what will happen."

"Complaint? What for? Who's your client?"

"Zarah Stevens is my client. She had filed a cyber libel case against you in court. This is concerning the slanderous post you have spread against my client on your university forum," Kelsey explained calmly to her.

"What?!" Crystal asked in disbelief.

"This is nonsense! Mrs. Richard! This is slander! Don't believe them!" Crystal's voice was so loud that her classmates inside the room heard her.

Murmurs erupted inside and their professor stopped the lecture immediately.

Should this case not be settled, this might ruin the school's reputation!

"Explain yourself to the authorities. Not to Mrs. Richard," Kelsey immediately intervened.

She then turned around and left with Mrs. Richard following her.

Crystal grabbed her phone and called her mother. At the same time, she cursed Zarah deep in her heart.

Celia Mayer was with her friends when her daughter called her.

"What?!" Celia Mayer exclaimed in shock immediately after Crystal told her.

Her friends were stunned to see her reaction.

"Mom! I don't want to be in jail!" Crystal complained to her mother.

As she listened to her daughter's anxious voice, Celia Mayer excused herself from her friends and talked to her daughter properly outside.

"Don't worry. You won't go to jail. However, you have to be honest with me. What did you do this time?"

Crystal fidgeted for a moment but then she decided to be honest and confess over the phone.

As she listened to her daughter's confession, Celia Mayer suddenly had a headache.

"Why did you decide to target Zarah again? Don't you realize that you could be in deep trouble?"

Celia knew what her daughter was doing at school. She knew the schemes Crystal had plotted against Zarah and how the latter managed to save herself from her daughter's schemes.

They had also paid many students to take the blame for Crystal's sake.

"Mom! Are you on her side? Or mine?" Crystal whined like a spoiled brat Mrs. Gil heaved a deep sigh in an attempt to calm herself.

Crystal was a pampered princess in their household. She was used to being the best. However, ever since Zarah showed up, the latter had stolen the spotlight hence Crystal hated her.

They allowed their daughter to bully her as they thought Zarah didn't have solid backing. However, the tables have turned and Zarah was no longer an easy target.

Now she had to make sure that this would not blow up otherwise her daughter might not be able to graduate.

"Where are you now?" Celia Mayer asked her daughter.

"I'm still at school. Why?"

"Where's Zarah?"

"Why are you looking for her?" Crystal asked in annoyance.

"Don't complicate things. Try to avoid her should you encounter her in the hallway," she advised.

"But mom! Why--"

"Just listen to what I say! I'll call our lawyer to make a plan. We have to settle this otherwise you might not graduate this year or never Crystal! " Celia Mayer cut her off and this time Crystal understood the consequences of her action.

"Make sure that Dani Chong will not confess that it's you who was behind this."

"I understand Mom."

Crystal didn't go back to class and went to look for Dani Chong.

Much to her surprise, Dani Chong had taken a leave of absence from class for a couple of days.

Of course, it was part of Zarah and Kelsey's plan.

Dani was innocent. She only wanted to get Crystal's good side.

Sunday morning, Kelsey went to Dani's house to talk to her and her parents.

She explained to her parents what their daughter had done and the trouble she was in.

Since Dani created the post, she would be the scapegoat. Her dream to graduate from Silver Oak University would be over the moment she was expelled from school.

Of course, Dani faced her parent's disappointments because of what she did.

No parent would want their child to do something that would hurt other people.

Dani was not raised like that.

Dani tried to explain to them why she did it.

She started regretting it the moment she saw her parents' disappointed faces.

"I wanted to please Miss Gil for Daddy's sake. And also she was treating me well and even promised that I'll be under her wing should I complete the task."

She was only trying to be filial to her father at the same time she wanted to have a safer university life.

Dani Chong was a freshman and was from an average family.

Her mother owned a small business while her father was an executive at Gil Corporation.

It was very easy for the family to compel her to take the blame for Crystal for the sake of her father's position at the company.

However, Kelsey explained to the family that should Dani cooperate with Zarah, she would not be expelled from Silver Oak University.

As for her father, he was offered a top position in one of the Stevens Group subsidiaries. His salary would be higher than the pay he received from Gil Corporation.

All he needed was to resign first before the Gil Family would fire him.

The Chong father and daughter had agreed to this arrangement and Mr. Chong immediately submitted his resignation letter to CEO Gil.

Of course, Joel Gil asked why he wanted to resign all of a sudden.

Mr. Chong made a believable alibi and Mr. Gil had no other choice but to grant the resignation.

Of course, Kelsey waited for Mr. Chong to finish the procedure before she went to court to file the complaint.

Celia Mayer called her husband regarding the situation and she wanted Mr. Chong to convince his daughter to volunteer as the scapegoat.

However, she was surprised when her husband said, "Mr. Cho resigned today."

"What?! Did you approve his resignation?! Stop him, honey!"

However, Joel Gil helplessly replied, "What's done is done. Let's think of another way. Let the school interfere with this matter. I'm sure the campus director could mediate this matter and might convince Zarah to stop the case. After all, this would hurt the school's reputation."

"I have already done that!" Celia Mayer said in frustration.

"Then, what did they say?"

"The campus director and the disciplinary committee would not intervene. They would let the court decide whether our daughter is innocent or not."

This baffled not only Celia Mayer but also her husband, Joel Gil.

"Aren't they afraid that this might hurt the school, too?"

"This is under the order of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. She wanted the school to be neutral. And there's no better place to settle this other than in court."

Joel Gil had fallen silent.

"Then let us seek Zarah and ask for her demands. We cannot let our daughter suffer like this," he said after giving it some time.

They were in a tight spot. Although he had not seen the court order, no judge would produce a court order unless he or she had seen enough evidence presented by the complainant.

In the afternoon, the second trial for the murder case commenced.

Franklin Nikolai and their mother Carla were trialed for the murder of Abigail Lockhart, Xavier Lockhart's mother, and the kidnapping case of Abigail and Xavier Lockhart. The rape case was not pursued since his mother was already buried and there was no autopsy conducted on the dead body.

And besides, the prosecution was confident that it was enough to convict these three of the crime.

The evidence was presented and the next day, Xavier was asked to come in as a witness to the crime since he was the only surviving victim.

Zarah sat beside Xavier and she could feel his hand trembling during the entire trial despite being held by her.

From start to finish she didn't let go of his hand as she knew how important this matter was for her husband.

She also applied for a leave of absence from school. However, she reassured the Dean that she would attend the summit on Thursday.

The first trial came to an end and the succeeding trials were scheduled a day apart except for the weekends and public holidays.

The news of the trial eventually reached Timothy and Joseph Lockhart's ears later that day.

They were furious after finding out that Abigail died because of murder and not by the real reason of the initial investigation written by the police.

Of course, Xavier had found this odd from the very beginning.

The Lockhart power and influence were not limited to Country A. Should they want to, they can penetrate Country Z, too.

He suspected that the Lockhart family was also involved in this. Whether they were directly or indirectly involved, Xavier would surely find out.

That night, inside the Gil Family villa, Crystal and her parents had gathered around together with their lawyer to discuss their approach to this case.

"I've read the complaint and they have a strong case against Miss Gil. So, I advise that we should seek the complainant and settle this first before the court."

Crystal was about to lash out at the lawyer as she thought his proposal was ridiculous. However, before she could speak, her mother stopped her.

"But that would mean my daughter is guilty, Attorney Lee."

"Well, technically, yes. Miss Jansen's side had not only gathered evidence to prove that Miss Gil was behind this current rumor but also the past slander incidents. I reckon the plaintiff must have patiently gathered every piece of evidence over the years and had waited for this right moment to come," he explained to them.

Crystal was finally out of luck this time.

'What if Zarah made unreasonable demands?'

As she thought about this, rage erupted inside her heart.

"No! Let's not do that!" She expressed her objection to the idea.

She then turned to her mother and said, "Let's ask for Uncle Ben, yeah? Perhaps he could help us. I want to file a countersuit against that woman!"

The three people around her looked at Crystal in disbelief.

Crystal then continued, "Instead of helping us to solve the problem, you kept on rambling nonsense instead. Should you be my defense attorney, I'll lose this case before the trial even begins."

Atty. Lee didn't take her outburst to heart.

He packed his bag and the documents he brought for this meeting and said, "Well, you're free to look for your defense council."

Without waiting for the couple's reaction, Atty. Lee got up from his seat and left.

"You want to leave? Fine! We don't need an incompetent lawyer for this case!" Crystal bellowed and Atty. Lee only smirked.

He then grabbed his phone and contacted someone's phone number.

After one ring, the call connected, and a woman's confident voice sounded from the other line.

"What's the matter, Atty. Lee?"

Atty. Lee chuckled in response and then playfully said, "Kelsey, you damn woman."

Kelsey chuckled from the other line and responded, "What's the matter, Rick?"

"I almost became the defense lawyer of Crystal Gil. Good thing I dodge the bullet before we meet inside the court."

"You're thinking so highly of me, Rick," Kelsey laughed softly.

"I'm only stating the fact, Kelsey," he seriously said.

Rick would never go against someone like Kelsey in court. He would never dare.

"The first time I read your name I thought it was odd for a top-level lawyer like you to accept a defamation and cyber libel case."

"Well, your ex-client is courting death without realizing it."

Atty. Rick Lee thought that Zarah Jansen's background should be not simple as it seems.

"Where are you now?" Atty. Lee asked.

"I'd rather not disclose such personal information to you, Rick. Don't worry, I'll drop by your firm to say hello."

"I'll wait for that, then," Atty. Lee said reluctantly.

***