Jade and the chief judge walked into the warehouse where Rebekah's hitman was being held, and they both looked down at the man whose hands and legs were tied to a chair.
"I don't think the ropes are necessary. I have no intention of running away," he told Jade, displeased by the illtreatment.
"You say he's the one who did that to my son?" The chief judge asked, and Jade gave him a nod.
"I believe so. If he isn't the one, then he must know who did that to him," Jade assured him, and Rebekah's hitman shook his head immediately.
"It wasn't me. I didn't hurt him. I only moved his body as she asked me to," he rushed to defend himself.
He didn't need to ask who the Chief Judge was, since he had been following the case since he moved Adam's body and called the police.
"Who asked you to do that?" The chief judge asked, his anger blazing angrily.
Rebekah's hit man turned to Jade, and she gave him a nod for him to go ahead, "Rebekah Miller," he confessed, and the chief judge turned to look at Jade in disbelief.
"Rebekah Miller? You mean to tell me that woman did that to my son?" He asked in a loud voice.
"You heard him. He moved the body on her instruction," Jade said, and the chief judge returned his attention to Rebekah's hitman.
"Can you tell me exactly what happened?" He asked, and Rebekah's hitman shook his head.
"I have no idea how it happened. I received a call from her to come take care of something. When I got there I saw your son's body under the staircase," the hitman explained and went on to explain how Rebekah had come up with the plan to set Jackson up and how he had executed it.
"My God! That Horrible woman! How could she? How could she do that to my son? My only child?" The chief judge asked in angry disbelief.
"You will have to ask her that yourself after we lock her up," Jade said and the chief judge looked at her.
"What are you waiting for? An arrest warrant? I'll issue it right away," he said, and Jade shook her head.
"Let's speak privately," she said, and he glared at Rebekah's hitman once before walking away with Jade.
"You do realize that there is every possibility that the issue of her affair with your son could come up after she is arrested, don't you?" Jade asked, and the chief judge looked at her in disbelief.
"What are you driving at? That I subvert justice because of that? I should allow her walk away after doing something like this to my son? I'm sorry but that won't happen! I will find a way to ensure that the issue of their affair does not come up in court, but if there's no way around it, then I will find a way to live with the scandal. Whatever the case is, she must be prosecuted," he said vehemently.
Jade gave him a nod, glad that he was bent on punishing Rebekah, "I'm glad to hear that. For a moment I was worried you would want to hide the truth."
"Can you tell me how you caught him?" The chief judge asked, and Jade shrugged.
"I met with Rebekah yesterday to ask her some questions. She sent him after me to get rid of me, but my men overpowered him," Jade summarized.
"Why would she want to do that?" He asked in confusion.
"Because she suspected that I know about her involvement in her husband's murder," Jade said, and the Chief Judge looked at her in confusion.
"What do you mean? Richard took his life," he said with a frown, and from his tone Jade deduced that he must have been close to Richard Miller.
"Were you very close to him?" Jade asked, and he nodded.
"We used to be best of friends. What do you mean he was murdered? Why would anyone want to murder him?" The chief judge asked curiously.
"I'm sorry to ask, but can you explain further? I mean, when I spoke with your daughter-in-law, she didn't sound like you had a good relationship with her. If she was your best friend's daughter shouldn't you treat her better?" Jade asked, and he sighed.
"I've never been fond of Rebekah. I guess that was one of the things that drove a wedge in my friendship with Richard. It was sad that things went downhill for him. I wasn't happy about that, but there was nothing I could do because he turned down all my offers of help. You see, Richard was a very proud and stubborn man. Rebekah moved out with their daughters and left him alone. When Adam told me he wanted to settle down with Bernice I refused. Not because I had anything against her, but because I did not like Rebekah and I knew she had too much influence over her girls. When Adam insisted on marrying her claiming she was pregnant, I had no choice," the chief judge explained, and Jade got a clearer picture of things.
If they were family friends, that explained how Rebekah must have met Adam and started her affair with him.
"Can you tell me now what you meant about Rebekah being involved in Richard's murder?" He asked again, and Jade nodded and explained her findings to him.
"You mean she was having an affair with Bateman and together they duped Richard and murdered him?" He asked in disbelief, and Jade nodded.
"How evil can she be? Do you have evidence of this?" He asked, and Jade nodded.
"I spoke with Mr Bateman. He confirmed it was all Rebekah's idea. He also gave me Rebekah's old phone which she lost on the day Richard died. It contains the texts she exchanged with her husband before his death. I believe her hitman was also involved. The call she made between the time she received the last text from her husband and the time she called him, was to her hitman. I believe he can also tell us what happened to your friend," Jade explained.
"If that is the case, then I must get justice both for Richard and my son. If I may ask, how did you know all this? And why did Bateman reveal something like that to you when he is involved in it?" The chief judge asked in confusion.
"Because like you, he is a father and he's doing his best to save his son," Jade explained.
"What do you want from all this? Why did you choose to look into Richard's death?" He asked, and Jade shrugged.
"Because I was asked to. Your daughter-in-law and her sisters asked me to look into their father's death. They wanted me to help prove their mother's involvement his death," Jade said, preferring to claim she was doing this because of them rather than for personal reasons.
"Why did they choose to look into it after all this time?" He asked, still feeling very confused.
"They believe their mother is responsible for what happened to Adam. And they received a message from their maternal uncle claiming their mother murdered their father," Jade explained giving him the details she had.
"If you know all this, why haven't you asked for the release of your client and asked for an arrest warrant for Rebekah Miller?" He asked curiously.
"You are in a better position to do that. But for the time being Jackson Bateman should remain in police custody. And the case of Mr Miller's death should be reopened next week and the arrest warrant for Rebekah Miller issued at the same time. I will let you know the exact time," Jade said thoughtfully knowing she had the upper hand between them and he would do as she demanded.
"Why next week?"
"You will see when the time comes. Everyone will see," Jade said with smirk.
She was getting closer to her goal. She couldn't wait to witness Rebekah's downfall. She would make sure Rebekah got nothing less than a life sentence in prison.
Away from there, in Tom's bedroom, long after he had slept off, Lucy remained snuggled in his arms in a spoon position as she listened to the sound of his even breath and tried to think about everything that was weighing heavily on her mind.
She wished she could move from the bed to get her journal and pen, but she didn't want to move and disturb Tom's sleep. He seemed really exhausted.
She wished she could talk to either Lucas or Sonia about this new development and hear what they had to say. She knew that like Harry they would encourage her to stand by Tom, which was what she intended to do, but still, she needed to talk to someone else about it. Her own person.
Even though she had selfishly suggested he adopts and takes care of the kid alone, she realized that it would be difficult for Tom to raise a kid without a woman by his side.
Kimberly wasn't even an option, Lucy thought with a scowl. She might not be sure about a lot of things, but one thing she was certain about was that as long as Tom wanted her in his life and not Kimberly, she wasn't going to give him up either. She loved him too much to give up.
She focused on the possibility of Dawn being Tom's daughter. If Dawn was Tom's daughter, and Tom had no desire to be in a relationship with Kimberly, then it was almost the same as though Dawn was being adopted, but the only difference would be that Kimberly would be a part of their lives and Tom wouldn't have exclusive right to Dawn as she would have to keep going between both Tom and Kimberly.
As nice as that sounded to Lucy on a personal level, because it would give her and Tom time to be alone, she wasn't sure it was such a good thing for the kid.
Although she didn't have any experience with divorced parents, but from the little she had read and seen in a couple of movies, she knew that moving to and fro between one's father and mother wasnt something any kid would want to be faced with. Kids needed a stable and loving home and environment.
And for Dawn's case it would even be more complex since Tom was practically a stranger to her. She had no doubt that Tom would love the kid and be a great father, but she wondered how the first couple of weeks or months would be for them. It would probably be best if Kimberly would be there with her daughter to help smoothen the bonding between father and daughter.
Lucy heaved a sigh. She knew she was thinking too far ahead, but she couldn't help it. This was exactly who she was, and now that this new development had come along and it was clear to her that she wasn't going to end things with Tom over it, she needed to start preparing herself for the future changes that would happen so she wouldn't be caught unaware.
If Dawn was Tom's daughter, she knew deep down that she would love and accept the kid on default just as she believed she already did.
She loved Tom, and if the kid was a part of him, then nothing else had to matter. He did not have an affair or cheat on her. This happened in his past after all.
Maybe if she knew he had a kid before she fell so hopelessly in love with him, she could have walked away, but she couldn't see herself walking away from him because of this.
She had not merely decided to visit the kid's Instagram page on a whim. She knew she had been drawn to it like moth to light. And the reason was because from the moment she saw the child's picture a part of her already believed she was Tom's little girl and she wanted to know her and do her best to love her as she should.
She didn't consider herself maternal or anything close to it, but she could treat the kid the way she treated Jamal. She hadn't considered herself the relationship type until she met Tom either, yet here she was. She would do her best to take it all one day at a time and see where it leads them.
She smiled when Tom's hand caressed her back sleepily, "You're not sleeping, are you?" Tom asked and she adjusted so she could look into his face.
"I'm not, but you should keep sleeping," Lucy said as she patted his face.
"If you're not sleeping, I should stay up…"
"No. You still need to rest. There's still time before the party. I will rather pick up a book from my handbag to read while you sleep," Lucy said as she used that opportunity to get out of the bed to get her handbag.
Tom yawned, "You must have been bored," Tom said as he tried to sit up, but she shook her head.
"I wasn't. I enjoyed listening to your breath," Lucy said as she returned to the bed, and Tom chuckled.
"That's something a bored person would say," he pointed out as his gaze moved to the book she was holding.
"What book is that?" He asked curiously.
"I borrowed it from Harry," she said as she passed it to him.
"Opposites Attract," he read the title with a smile as he looked up at her.
"Are we opposites?" He asked, and she nodded.
"You mean outside the fact that you're male and I'm female? You're my employer and I'm your employee?" She asked with a teasing smile and Tom chuckled.
"I believe that's not what the book is talking about, is it?" Tom asked as he returned it to her.
He preferred to read motivational books centered on business and money and making than books about relationships. He believed that every relationship was different and the same things didn't work for everyone, so as far as he was concerned, the only rule that applied was doing what you believed worked for your relationship.
"It's talking about differences in temperaments, and how to handle those differences," Lucy explained and Tom nodded as he yawned.
"What do you think is my dominant temperament?" Tom asked even though he knew what it was.
"I believe you are Choleric," she said, and Tom chuckled.
"Yeah. You're right. I'm a Choleric-Melancholy," Tom said, and Lucy nodded thoughtfully, making a mental note to look more into it as she read.
"So, what do you think I am?" She asked, and Tom grinned.
"Your dominant trait is definitely Melancholy," Tom said, and Lucy sighed.
"So, what did the book say? Are our temperaments compatible?" Tom asked, and Lucy nodded.
"Yeah," she said as she flipped the pages to her last read page.
"Why don't you tell me what you've read thus far?" Tom asked as he adjusted to a more comfortable position and lay down facing her with his hand on her thighs.
Seeing his new position, and sleep laden eyes, Lucy could tell he was still feeling very sleepy and was trying hard to stay awake for her sake, so she decided to indulge him, knowing he would sleep off before she was done.
Five minutes later, Tom was snoring softly, and she grinned as she watched him sleep.
"This is not always the case, though," Tom said sleepily in response to a nonexistent statement that Lucy made, and she giggled quietly as she dropped the book and picked up her journal.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺