It had been a day since the fire incident at the King mansion. Luckily they had all made it out alive and unscathed apart from the man on Alarick's security detail that was shot, Henry. They had disposed of the dead bodies of the attackers and had rounded up the culprits who were caught. It took them some time to get rid of or repair the damage that was done that night but they pushed on especially when they knew they finally had their smoking gun. The thing that would end Grace. The day of the long awaited court hearing had arrived. Alarick sat beside Charlotte and they both sat some distance away from Grace and her new lawyer. Grace eyed them both still angry at the fact that they had survived the fire. The tables were turned. Now they were the prosecution and Grace was the defense. She was going to be the one to fend off their attacks and just like the night she sent men to get rid of Alarick, she would lose.The tension in the air was palpable and with the agreement of both parti
The judge walked back into the courtroom and the room immediately turned quiet. She took her seat silently and looked at the jury. It wasn't a guess what the jury would pick. The massive amount of compelling evidence that was shown was more than enough to convince everyone in the room of who was innocent and who was guilty. She turned back to the crowd while hitting her gavel. "Court is now in session. I have to ask both sides. Does either the prosecution or the defense have anything else to say in this case?"Both sides of the court shook their heads, no one wanting to come forward and say another word. The judge turned to the jury."Has the jury come to a decision?"A man from the jury stood up."Yes we have, your honor.""Could you read it out for the court to hear?"The man opened the envelope in his hands and brought out the paper. He looked at it and read."In the case of Alarick King versus Grace King, the jury found the defendant, Grace King, guilty of defamation."The crowd i
Noise was one of the things Alarick Blythe hated the most, especially the kind of noise produced by people on the busy streets as they went about their business. Car horns, parents yelling at their children to stay off the road, vendors yelling to attract customers to buy their wares, and more, it was all so debilitating, but he would have to go through it all to get to his destination. With a bouquet of roses in his left hand and an expensive box of one of the finest chocolates in the city, he meandered through the crowd and waved a taxi down.The driver spoke before Alarick even got seated. “Where are you headed, sir?” He asked.“The Grand Bayou Hotel and Suites on Madeline street.”The driver smiled at him and eyed the gifts he held in his hand.“Going to meet a special lady, eh? I bet the madam won’t like you prancing around with girls half your age”Alarick was irked by the man’s words. The driver didn’t know anything about him, yet he just assumed that Alarick was going to a ho
The weather seemed to be part of the grand plan to humiliate Alarick further because immediately he stepped out of the hotel, it began to rain. Or maybe the weather wasn’t actually mocking him, maybe the sky was actually weeping for him because of the humiliation he just endured. Whichever way, he loathed getting soaked, but at the same time, he was glad for the rain because it concealed his tears from passers by that were running to take cover to avoid being wet. He was soaked from head to toe and he was beginning to shiver, but none of it could be compared to how he felt inside. Ashamed, Disgraced, Humiliated, Dejected, these were words he could use to describe how he was feeling but they all seemed so paltry.He was so dazed that he didn’t realise that he had walked all the way from the hotel to the mansion till he saw the gates of the Blythe mansion up ahead. At least he had saved the cab fare, it was literally all he had left, he was basically penniless. He regretted spending his
Brianna shot up from her chair immediately after I finished speaking my mind.“How dare you ask for a divorce when no wrong was done against you? You can’t take care of my needs because you’re poor. Are you trying to humiliate me? What would it look like when it gets to the media that I was divorced by someone as pathetic as you?” She sneered.“I don’t care, just like you never cared when you decided to fuck another man on our anniversary. You don’t even regret what you did, you feel no remorse. I can’t stay married to someone like you!” He yelled.“How dare you raise your voice at my daughter? You should be worshipping the ground she walks on, even her shoes cost more than your pathetic being.” Bruce Blythe said.“I don’t know why we tolerate this street rat in our house, throw him out this instant.” Brock said as he looked at Alarick with disdain.“I agree. Maybe after sleeping on the streets for a while, he will appreciate the shelter we gave to him.” Ben said.Alarick was happy th
After contemplating for a few minutes, Alarick decided to go with the man. Even if it turned out that the man was mistaken and he wasn’t truly the heir, at least he would have a roof over his head this night. It was better than sleeping outside in the cold. He could also try and convince them to give him a job, even if he had to be a janitor. Deep down, he wished it would be true that this trillionaire was his father, but at the same time, he didn’t want to get his hopes up. The man led him to where his car was parked and Alarick’s eyes widened. Jonathan chuckled when he saw Alarick’s expression.“This car was a gift to me from my boss, your father.” Jonathan said.The car was the latest model and only three had been produced in the world. Alarick knew this because his father-in-law, Bruce Blythe had been so angry when the car came out and he couldn’t afford it even though he was rich. Yet, this man who seemed to be a butler or driver was given this car as a gift. Wow!They both got i
His father sighed.“When you were still a child, almost two years old, you were taken from us. I had just started making good money back then, my company was flourishing and I got arrogant. I was warned not to take a particular deal that an older rival company was vying for but I didn’t listen. I felt like I could take them on because I had already achieved so much at a young age. After successfully getting the project started, we threw a party to celebrate the success of the project launch. Your mother and I were in attendance while you were home with your nanny. We couldn’t take you that day because you weren’t feeling well. When we came home that day, you were gone.” His father paused with tears in his eyes and took deep breaths for a few seconds to try and compose himself before he continued speaking.“Our home had been invaded by armed men, they killed all the security guards and the house staff. We searched everywhere but couldn’t find you, then I received a call shortly after.
The next day, he spent most of it looking around the estate. The place was huge, ten times bigger than the Blythe mansion. Where he had slept last night could not even be called a bedroom, it was like a royal chamber in a palace, and he had an entire wing of the house to himself. His main sleeping chamber was almost three times the size of his former room in the Blythe mansion, and his bathroom had the latest technology installed, he didn’t even have to dry himself after bathing even though there were towels. All he would have to do was to step on to the body drier and his wet body would be dry in just a few minutes.His balcony had a pool, and a separate Jacuzzi in case of cold nights, and the gadgets in his room could be operated by the use of specific gestures, controlled by a button, or through his voice that had been programmed into the system that morning. For example, if he clapped twice, the lights would either turn off or on, if he pressed one of the remotes in his room, the
The judge walked back into the courtroom and the room immediately turned quiet. She took her seat silently and looked at the jury. It wasn't a guess what the jury would pick. The massive amount of compelling evidence that was shown was more than enough to convince everyone in the room of who was innocent and who was guilty. She turned back to the crowd while hitting her gavel. "Court is now in session. I have to ask both sides. Does either the prosecution or the defense have anything else to say in this case?"Both sides of the court shook their heads, no one wanting to come forward and say another word. The judge turned to the jury."Has the jury come to a decision?"A man from the jury stood up."Yes we have, your honor.""Could you read it out for the court to hear?"The man opened the envelope in his hands and brought out the paper. He looked at it and read."In the case of Alarick King versus Grace King, the jury found the defendant, Grace King, guilty of defamation."The crowd i
It had been a day since the fire incident at the King mansion. Luckily they had all made it out alive and unscathed apart from the man on Alarick's security detail that was shot, Henry. They had disposed of the dead bodies of the attackers and had rounded up the culprits who were caught. It took them some time to get rid of or repair the damage that was done that night but they pushed on especially when they knew they finally had their smoking gun. The thing that would end Grace. The day of the long awaited court hearing had arrived. Alarick sat beside Charlotte and they both sat some distance away from Grace and her new lawyer. Grace eyed them both still angry at the fact that they had survived the fire. The tables were turned. Now they were the prosecution and Grace was the defense. She was going to be the one to fend off their attacks and just like the night she sent men to get rid of Alarick, she would lose.The tension in the air was palpable and with the agreement of both parti
The group stayed glued to the floor for some seconds when some of Alarick's security detail barged into the room armed to the teeth and lifted them up from the ground. Alarick, who had landed on Charlotte to shield her from whatever was going on, got up and looked away, avoiding the gaze that Charlotte gave him when she stood upright. Scarlett noticed the exchange and bit her lip till she drew blood. She said nothing though, not wanting to incite a fight when they still weren't sure of what was happening.The guards immediately turned around and pointed their weapons at the door as if expecting for assailants to come running in guns blazing. One of the security men shouted over the deafening noise of gunshots coming from outside."Mr Alarick, are you okay?"Alarick gave the guy a nod before the man who was seemingly the head of the security team turned over and asked the same questions to the women in the group."What about you ladies? Is anyone hurt by any chance?"Charlotte, Scarlet
Five days had gone by and there hadn't been a peep from either Grace or the company on the business scene. It had been unusually quiet and Alarick didn't like it. He paced in his study as the sun set with Charlotte watching him while she arranged the papers on the desk. They had finished creating and compiling evidence in their argument for the court hearing that was going to take place in the next two days. All they had to do now was wait. Alarick ran his hands through his hair frustrated. Charlotte knew the feeling all too well. It's not like anything bad had happened but they wanted it to. They needed it for their plan to fully be realized. A few days ago Alarick and Charlotte had come upon a video of Grace commanding someone on the phone to burn Alarick's house down so that he and Charlotte would die in the fire and not be able to make the court date allowing her to legally take the company as her own. Alarick had already put in contingency plans for her attack but him dying and
It had taken two grueling days for Charlotte to draw up a defamation lawsuit to give to the court and incidentally the court date was set to take place in a week. On the same day as Alarick's real birthday, the day he was actually born before he was stolen from the King family, not the day he thought was his birthday, given by whoever had found him. But even though that was the case Alarick wasn't enthusiastic about it.Alarick and Charlotte sat in the study and like most times went through some documents that could further increase their chances of winning the case. They had gotten over their little misunderstanding that day in front of the courthouse and planned to just win it all and then move on. As they worked in silence, Alarick's phone rang. He looked for his phone as it continued to ring out amidst the vast amount of documents that covered the desk at the time. In another second or two he found it and checked the caller ID. It was one of the members of the board. Jameson Clay
Alarick and Charlotte walked out of the courtroom together. The reporters rushed towards them as the duo stepped out, and they were also swamped by the crowd that gathered outside the building. Alarick's guards did their best to keep the crowd away from the both of them and they succeeded in that, but they weren't successful in quickly taking them through the crowd and to their car because the bystanders were just too much.The light flashing from the several cameras partially blinded them as they tried to leave the premises through the steps but when they found it impossible to, they decided to stay back and answer the questions of the masses so they would be allowed to pass through. Alarick spoke to his men and told them that he wanted to stay a bit and speak to the crowd and the guards relented, opting to just shield him rather than try to break through the impenetrable wall of the people who wanted answers. Just as the group had stopped their descent, the questions came flying."M
Everyone that was in the courtroom before the break was called back in as the court was about to be in session. They all took their seats anxious for what was to come next. Some bit their nails and some sucked in a breath, nervous. This was the time that the verdict would be given. Would the prosecution win or the defense win? What would happen if the verdict didn't go the defense's way? What would happen to the company that so many people respected in the business world, not to talk of the King family if the allegations were indeed true and they were involved in shady business? All these were questions that the crowd in the court had. Everyone including the prosecution and the defense. Alarick and Charlotte took their seat as they shared glares with Grace and her lawyer. The tension in the air was palpable. A knife could cut it in half. They were all on their toes. The jury had to decide on this case and all they could do was hope that the verdict went their way.The door opened up
“I won’t waste any more time by going through the process of how the evidence was found. Instead, I’ll show everyone the proof and allow them to make a decision for themselves. This is exhibit A.” The lawyer for the prosecution took a file from off his desk and showed it to the whole room. He brought out a copy and gave one to the judge and then another to the jury to peruse. He crossed his fingers and gave it some time before he continued. “In the file that you were given you will find the dealings between the King Corporation and a well-known notorious cartel headed by Lorelie Mandan. This was for the shipment of a large number of guns and possibly explosives to an undisclosed location somewhere in the Mexican desert. The drop off was made by the company and the cartel picked it up. If you still have doubts then I would like to call a witness to the stand.” The lawyer turned to the judge and he gave his go ahead for the witness to be called out to the stand. “I call Matteo Sanch
Just as Alarick had predicted there was a huge trial that was going to be held due to what Grace had released to the press. It had only been a day after her false announcement when he had gotten a letter saying that he had to be in court for a hearing concerning his company’s activities. Surprisingly, Charlotte was ready for the hearing. The zeal to crush Grace at her own game had pushed her even more to provide everything that they needed or might need when the court case held. Alarick had also prepared until he was ready to face Grace again and confront her.The day of the court hearing came and the buzz of how the day might end filled the television stations, news outlets, media rooms and even gossip mills with so much anticipation that the hearing was allowed to televise live due to the pressure that was put on the courthouse. The press had used the excuse of trying to educate the masses to get the exclusive content but everyone knew the truth. Everyone knew that no matter what ha