GAIAI did believe Javon. I was reasonable. Even though I hated him, I also hated injustice and lies and that was what I was seeing right now. He had been set up somehow and I was going to find out how. Time was running out. Right now, I have just six days left to find out the truth in time for the trial. And I was nowhere close to getting proof. “What are you going to wear?”I looked at Bella as she stood in the kitchen..“What are you talking about? Wear to where?”She stopped cooking and turned around to look at me. “Seriously? The gala is tonight!”Shit! The gala! How on earth could I have forgotten that? “It completely slipped my mind, Bella. I'm so screwed.”She walked away and stood at the bottom of the stairs. “Juan! Come down for breakfast!” Then she walked back to me. “You’re not screwed. There's still time. It's just eight am. I have a person for things like this, so I'll call the makeup artist and hairstylist to be here while we go shopping, and when we get back,
GAIABella had asked if Mr Quinten would be picking me up but I had no idea. I would have liked to think that, but we hadn't spoken about it earlier, so I had no idea. So I asked Evan to drive me there. It wasn't my first time attending a gala or a social event of this kind but I was nervous. My phone rang while I was in the car. It was Mr Quinten. “Where are you, Miss Everly?” ”Oh um, in my car on my way to the event. Are you there yet?”Was I late? I could have sworn that he said seven pm. “No, you're not late.” Did I say that out loud? “You’re just in the wrong car. I should be the one driving you to that event. How do you think it will look if we show up in different cars ?”It wasn't my fault he didn't say anything about picking me up. I felt like I was being scolded. “Where are you right now?”I looked outside the window. “We’re close to the venue, but not exactly there yet. Are you close?”“Tell your driver to stop. I'll make my way to you.”He ended the call before I c
GAIAHe led me down a flight of stairs with my hand in his and everything in me recoiled at his touch and I just wanted to remove my hand from his and just run away. But I decided to be calm and just wait for the right moment. He led me to a group of men who were laughing loudly. Almost everyone in this circle had white hair, was pot-bellied, and had a woman on his arm. I kept telling myself not to mistakenly blurt out something because of my anger. “Gentlemen, the kid has arrived.”They all turned to look at him, and I watched him shrink in front of them. He looked so stiff. “Good evening, gentlemen. I'm delighted to have been invited to dine with you.” Nobody said anything and they noticed they all looked to one man for a response. The man stepped forward, clutching a wine chute in one hand. “Jacob, you made it.” He shook Mr Quinten's hand firmly, not letting his eyes waver for a moment. The air was intense. He walked back to where he was standing before. “Gentlemen, this
GAIA I came out of the room first, looking around to make sure that no one saw me. When I made sure, I ran, forgetting that I was supposed to be coming from the toilet so I made my way back to the toilet so it would look like I was coming from there. As I entered the toilet, there was no one there so I quickly washed my hands and cleaned the stain off the dress. Thankfully, it was a black dress, so the stain wouldn't show,, but I had to make it believable. As I stood there, I thought about what Javon and I had spoken about and it made me think about what we had planned to do. The door to one of the stalls opened and out walked the woman in the vomit dress. What were the odds? No one said anything as we washed our hands and we locked eyes in the mirror several times. Why was she looking at me like that? Either way, it was none of my concern. I grabbed my purse to walk out and that's when I heard her voice. “You know you're divorced right?”At first, it didn't sound like she wa
GAIAA couple of minutes before….“Why did you call me up here? Don't you know someone might see us?” I scolded Javon.”I'm sorry. I just knew I couldn't speak to you in person or on the phone and I needed to tell you something.”Well, I need to tell you something as well. “That makes two of us. Sit.”Knowing that he was innocent changed things because I now felt like I was the reason this case went this far. But now wasn't the time for regrets. I would fix this. “Who did you come here with?”“Jacob.”He didn't have any expression at first, but then he raised an eyebrow, indicating that he didn't know who I was talking about. “Jacob Quinten. Your step-brother.”His realization took a minute and he suddenly looked away when it clicked. “Jacob. How did you meet him? Are you guys now dating?*I scrunched my face. “What? No! No way in hell.”I would rather remain single than date that asshole. It was very obvious he wasn't trained to treat women because if he was, then he would know
GAIAEvan dropped a file on my table and I looked up from my laptop. “What is this?”Without waiting for him to answer, I picked up the file and brought out its contents. They were pictures. Pictures of Jacob and Mr. Upperman talking. “Those were taken last night. Jacob's life is riding on this and that is probably why he's being very jittery. If this plan doesn't work, they'll kill him and apparently, he signed some agreement to state this. He's collected money from Upperman for this and it has to work.”It's no wonder Jacob was going too hard and making my life hell. Well, I wasn't the one who signed that contract.The next group of pictures was of Jacob with Sergeant Clay. I knew it! I knew Clay had someone behind him and from the way he was behaving when Jacob walked into the building that day, I should have known there was something. But I wasn't prepared for the next picture. It was a picture of Clay being shot, right in the head. “What the hell happened?” I asked Evan.“J
GAIAKnowing how today was going to go got me shivering. My hands and feet were cold and my palms were sweaty. I could barely get any sleep at night because of how shaky I was. Was I sure I could do this? There was something in me that made me doubt but I just had to kill it because I couldn't back out now. As I walked in, the first person I saw was Jacob and Mark and some of the other men filling out one seat. They were here to make sure things went according to plan. As if that was not enough, the media had been called in. I was sure that was the work of Upperman. He had asked that the media should cover the case so that the news of Javon being arrested for theft would be broadcast immediately. Javon's lawyers were already here and I wanted this to be the final straw. The final day. Being that Clay was dead would be to my advantage but I didn't know how to bring that in yet. Perhaps I could wait a bit and let it be an element of surprise. His lawyers opened today's argument.
GAIA“That can't be a coincidence, can it?”Judge Clearwater spoke up. “I request for a thirty-minute recess.”At this point, he was now a suspect, and he didn't exactly have the time to say anything, so the jury was in charge now. “A thirty minute is granted, within which time Judge Clearwater would be held in custody along with his other accomplices while another judge is brought in to handle the case.”That should be good. They wouldn't be able to communicate with each other. As Jacob was being dragged away, he tried to speak to me. “You think you've won? I'll get you back for this! I'll get you!”His other friends were too stunned to say a word and they took all of them outside. Javon crossed the room to meet me. “That was good right?”“Yes, it was but we have to wait for the jury and the new judge to say something. Hopefully, the new judge won't be on Upperman’s payroll again.” That was my fear. What if he was working with one of them again? “I need some fresh air.” I wal