THE SPITEFUL BRIDE: Marry To Rival's Son novel Chapter 186

Chapter 186

The courtroom was so quiet you could hear the soft hum of the air conditioning. Mia sat in the witness chair, her hands folded over her growing belly, her voice steady as she faced the jury.

She had been on the stand for over an hour, methodically destroying the image of Samuel Meyer piece by piece.

"Mrs. Sterling," the prosecutor said, adjusting his glasses, "can you tell the court how you first discovered evidence of your father's crimes?"

Mia took a deep breath, her eyes briefly finding Stefan in the gallery. He nodded encouragingly, his face tight with barely contained emotion.

"I was at my friend, Elena's room about weeks ago. She had stepped to take a shower, and her phone was sitting on her bad when it buzzed with a message notification."

Mia's voice was clear, but those who knew her could hear the underlying tremor. "I glanced at it without thinking, the way you might when someone's phone goes off near you."

Samuel's lawyer, Marcus Wright, one of the most expensive defense attorneys in the state, leaned forward at his table. His client sat beside him in prison orange, his face a mask of controlled fury.

"What did you see?" the prosecutor prompted.

"Files and photos in-between, It showed my mother's car after the accident, but..." Mia paused, swallowing hard. "But there were also pictures of the brake lines. Close-up shots showing where they had been cut."

A murmur rippled through the courtroom. In the gallery, reporters scribbled frantically in their notebooks.

"What did you do then?"

"I acted like I hadn't seen anything. I put the phone down and pretended everything was normal when Elena came back." Mia's hands tightened slightly. "But inside, I was falling apart. Everything I thought I knew about my mother's death was a lie."

"Did you confront your father immediately?"

"No." Mia shook her head. "I knew if I confronted him directly, he would deny it or find a way to cover it up. So I pretended to be the same naive daughter he thought I was, while Stefan and I worked with Detective Martinez to build a case."

Samuel's jaw clenched visibly. His lawyer whispered something in his ear, but Samuel waved him off with an angry gesture.

"Mrs. Sterling, did there come a time when your father attempted to have you killed?"

"Yes. He hired Grey Chen to kidnap and murder me. He wanted it to look like I had been killed during a robbery gone wrong."

Mia's voice never wavered, but tears gathered in her eyes. "My own father ordered my death because I was getting too close to the truth about what he did to my mother and because I built a construction company that was winning over his."

The prosecutor nodded grimly. "Thank you, Mrs. Sterling. No further questions."

Marcus Wright rose for cross-examination, his expensive suit immaculate, his silver hair perfectly styled. But as he approached the witness stand, Mia met his gaze with steel in her eyes.

"Mrs. Sterling, isn't it true that you have harbored resentment against your father for years over business decisions regarding how he named his son heir over you?"

"No, that's not true."

"Isn't it convenient that these supposed 'photos' appeared just as Ethan was positioning himself self to take control of Meyer Industries?"

Mia's laugh was bitter. "Convenient? You think discovering that my father murdered my mother was convenient for me?"

Wright pressed on. "These photos you claim to have seen on Ms. Elena Santos phone, do you have any proof they actually existed?"

"Elena will testify about how she received them. As will the person who sent them to her."

The prosecutor stood. "Your Honor, the State calls Elena Santos to the stand."

Elena rose from the gallery, her face pale but determined. She walked to the witness stand with her head held high, though her hands trembled slightly as she was sworn in.

"Why did you follow him?"

"The cops had told me he'd taken my mom's phone from their custody, so I followed him that night.." Ethan's voice grew stronger as he spoke. "I saw him meet with a man I'd never seen before but still looked familiar.""

"What happened then?"

"They started having issues, the next minute I saw Samuel shoot the man and disposed his body." Ethan glanced at his father, who was staring at him with unconcealed hatred.

Few people screamed, the judge had to silence them

"Court order!!!"

"I started suspecting him, so the next day I entered his room and saw my mom's phone in his desk drawer."

The courtroom was completely silent now. Even the reporters had stopped writing.

"What did you find on the phone?"

Ethan's hands were shaking so badly he had to clasp them together. "Text messages. Evidence that Cassandra was having an affair with Dad's right hand man."

A murmur ran through the gallery. Samuel's lawyer whispered urgently in his client's ear, but Samuel seemed frozen, his face a mask of rage.

"Did you read all of these messages?"

"Some of them. She was planning an hotel meet up and..." Ethan swallowed hard. "She was planning to kill Elena."

The courtroom erupted. Judge Harrison banged his gavel repeatedly. "Order! Order in the court!"