Real Evidence

A week before the court date, Clara Holt arranged a secret meeting with a security guard from Hopton Research Institute.

They were in a busy night bar.

The security guard was young, around her age and looked to be in need of extra cash.

Hence, this "small favor" that Clara is asking is most welcome.

"Are you sure the recording was successfully deleted?" Clara asked in a hushed tone.

The young man grunted. "Of course. I deleted it as soon as you said." His hand itched, waiting to receive the payment.

Clara made sure to search his eyes for any lies. Seeing none, she was relieved.

She then took out her phone and proceeded to send the money through the app.

"Alright. It's settled then. Nobody should know about this. Get it?" Clara tried to sound firm.

"Of course." Seeing that the money is already inside his bank account, the young man agreed readily and left the bar.

Clara leaned back against the stool and took a sip of her drink.

She has just spent a lot of money to have someone do her bidding.

This is only a precaution in case they will use the recording for the case. She realized that if they will start an investigation, one of the things they will check is the CCTVs. She was too anxious at that moment that she forgot about the CCTV in that room.

She has asked the security guard to delete the footage as soon as she remembered that it could be used as evidence. Fortunately, the guy agreed after she relented to his conditions. She had to shell out a lot of money but that's something that could be earned just by working.

She's sure that she was a step earlier than those officers who went to the Institute to investigate. He had already deleted it the night before the officers went to the Institute in the name of investigation.

For sure, they weren't able to get any valuable evidence. They were only trying to bait her into giving a confession. They wanted to make her believe that they found sufficient evidence.

Now that the Security guard has confirmed that the mission was a success, she won't be losing any sleep thinking about the incoming court date.

She is now reassured that charges will be dropped soon.

She sighed in relief once the transaction ended. She left the bar as well.

On the day of the court date, Bryan was early in the courthouse. Clara has not arrived yet.

He has already seen Diana just outside of the courthouse, her lawyer beside her.

He didn't hesitate to approach her, hoping to get a word with her.

"Diana, can we talk for a moment?" Bryan tried to sound friendly. He flashed his bright smile, as if it will erase what he did.

Atty. Pierpont wanted to intervene but seeing Diana's signal, he stopped.

"It'll be quick." Diana told the lawyer.

The latter nodded in understanding.

At this, Diana walked a little to the side so Bryan may speak to her, but not too far that the lawyer won't be able to hear the conversation.

She has learned to be more cautious.

"Diana, why don't we just save ourselves the trouble and just settle this amicably?" Bryan started.

She raised an eyebrow. She wondered how this can be arranged amicably. 'He thinks that it could still be swept under the rug?'

"It's unfortunate how things happened. I admit that I was rash when I terminated you. But you can't deny the fact that what you did was very serious. It really harmed a patient. You were very neglectful with the job. It would have been fine if no one was harmed, but someone did. I don't get why you're the one suing Clara. She was the one who saved your ass when you made those mistakes." Bryan couldn't express his anger and disappointment enough. "So why don't you just save all of us the trouble and drop the case and let's just put this behind us? Hmm? Unless of course you believe that you will not be the one in the losing end? I'm trying to help you out as well, as a former coworker. Can't you see that I'm also looking out for you? There'll be many opportunities for you in the future. Let's just move on from this, okay?"

Diana laughed sarcastically. 'I never knew that this person was such an idiot. How did he even become a manager?'

"With all that, I'm hoping to wake you up with real evidence. Keep your eyes and ears open while in court, then." Diana said coldly, walking away.

Bryan was rooted in place. He couldn't believe that Diana would respond to him that way.

He never thought that Diana would be able to look at him with calm authority. It was so different from his first impression with Diana.

He is still furious at how she answered him but more so, he was now feeling a slight nervousness crept in his body.

'What did she mean with 'real evidence'?'

'She was the real culprit. What evidence could she present, if not to put more nails to her coffin?'

Bryan wondered where she got this confidence from.

'She must be from a rich family. Only them can hire someone like Atty. Pierpont. Evidence? Did they fabricate evidence to pin the blame on Clara, who was innocent in all of this?'

'How could they be so shameless?! Just because they're rich, did that automatically mean they can bully us like this?!!'

'Did they really think they'll succeed?!'

'Diana, I really underestimated you. You really hid the fact that you're family is wealthy...Unless they are not... and you're actually keeping a sugar daddy.. is that why you have been ignoring me? I couldn't be compared to your sugar daddy, huh. Such arrogance when you're just a gold digger!'

'Let's see how far your sugar daddy is willing to help you now..'

Bryan smirked at the thought.

He really believed that Diana was in the wrong and this was only her retaliation. 'She's trying to delay the inevitable.'

'She's trying to take the attention off her and bide her time to fabricate more evidence and blame it on others.'