Chapter 283
“What’s Randy doing here?” Talia couldn’t control her volume as she demanded an explanation from Lindsay beside her.
Lindsay looked completely confused and bewildered. Talia whipped her head toward Audrey, her eyes filled with disbelief and shock.
Audrey flashed her a smile that seemed confident, though she quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Randy had come. With Randy’s testimony and explanation, Talia’s theft of FlexiTech Group’s presentation content and the company’s confidential information was now ironclad.
Since no serious damages had occurred and there was active compensation, the sentence was six months in prison.
Audrey knew it wouldn’t be a long sentence–six months, and with the Price family pulling strings, Talia would be out soon enough.
But this was about principle. As long as there was a conviction, both StellarCore Technologies and Talia would be blacklisted by the industry and would never be able to establish a foothold in the tech sector again.
If Keith wanted to use the Pantheon Films project to compensate for Talia, that was his business. Either way, Audrey would take everything they offered.
After leaving the courtroom, Audrey finally asked Randy, “What happened with the traffic accident?”
“I already called the police,” Randy replied, then explained the setup. He had left his hotel and headed to the company to pick up documents.
Shortly after entering the building, Randy came back out, but it was actually a bodyguard with a similar build wearing identical clothes who got into the
car.
The moment the car started moving, a sedan ran a red light and slammed into it sideways, trapping the vehicle against the width–restriction barriers.
“Do you have eyes in the back of your head or something?” Lena couldn’t help asking.
Randy glanced at her, then looked at Audrey. “Mr. Winifred arranged it.”
Audrey let out a frustrated breath. “You guys had this whole switch planned out and didn’t tell me?”
“Mr. Winifred said if we didn’t tell you, your reaction would be more genuine and make Talia more confident,” Randy explained. If Talia had known from the start that her plan failed, she might have had backup schemes ready, making her impossible to predict.
The truth was, stopping Randy from appearing in court wasn’t what gave Talia the most satisfaction. What she really enjoyed was the moment when the courtroom doors slowly opened and Randy wasn’t there–seeing that look of shock and panic on Audrey’s face.
Talia fed off the feeling of watching Audrey think she had the upper hand, only to be defeated by Talia’s little tricks.
The more Talia anticipated Audrey’s disappointment, the more completely she would crumble when Randy actually showed up and ything went beyond her expectations.
While they were talking, Talia and her group emerged from inside the building.
The media swarmed around Talia, shoving cameras practically into her face as they bombarded her with questions about whether she regretted her actions and what her plans were moving forward.
Talia suddenly looked in Audrey’s direction, The two women stood about thirty feet apart.
In front of the cameras, Talia put on a convincing performance. She looked devastated and deeply remorseful, her eyes seemingly filled with guilt as she gazed at Audrey.
But Audrey noticed her tightly clenched jaw muscles. She knew Talia was fighting hard to control her rage.
Some of the media followed Talia’s gaze and rushed over to interview Audrey, who handled their questions with ease.
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Chapter 283
As Talia was being escorted past her, Audrey raised her voice deliberately. “Crime doesn’t pay. If you commit it, you’ll get caught. My key witness Randy was in a car accident on his way to court today, and I will absolutely track down whoever was behind it.”
Talia nearly missed a step going down the courthouse stairs and had to be steadied by the bailiff beside her. She turned back to look at Audrey, and for just a moment, pure venom flashed in her eyes.
“Are you saying that car accident wasn’t really an accident?” a reporter asked.
“Whether it was accidental or planned, the police will get to the bottom of it,” Audrey replied firmly.
As Talia was led away, she kept turning back to stare at Audrey, even craning her neck to look from inside the police car. Audrey ignored her completely, finished up another round of interviews, and left with her team.
Lena had recommended a restaurant, so Audrey took everyone there to celebrate winning the case. During dinner, Lena excused herself to the restroom, and when she came back, she leaned over to whisper in Audrey’s ear. “Audrey, do you have any tampons? Mine started early.”
Audrey was about to dig through her purse when something suddenly occurred to her. She immediately pulled out her phone to check.
She could never remember exactly when her period was due, so she’d set a calendar reminder and planned to keep a backup pad in her bag when the
time came.
The reminder had been set for when Audrey arrived in Ashbourne, but she’d probably missed it because her phone was in airplane mode during the flight, and she’d forgotten to pack any supplies.
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Emilia noticed her expression change and leaned over to ask what was wrong. When Lena asked her again, Emilia quickly pulled one from her bag and
handed it over.
“You okay?” Emilia whispered after Lena left.
Audrey shook her head.
“Ms. Henderson, let me toast you,” said a lawyer from Samson Legal, approaching with a bottle of liquor.
Suddenly, the liquor in front of Audrey seemed toxic.
“Ms. Henderson isn’t feeling well. I’ll drink for her,” Emilia said quickly, picking up her own glass.
“Ms. Hadley, you really had great foresight, getting in with Ms. Henderson right away,” the other lawyer said with a hint of jealousy.
They were all lawyers, and he was one of Samson Legal’s top performers. By all rights, he should have had better access to someone at Yann’s level.
But Emilia had transferred from a small firm to Samson Legal and somehow ended up directly affiliated with Audrey’s deVestment.
At first, nobody had paid much attention, but once they learned Audrey was Yann’s wife, the envy was obvious.
Emilia stood up politely. “It was just luck, really. I happened to meet Ms. Henderson before everyone else did.”
“I’m suddenly not feeling well, so I’ll just take a sip and Ms. Hadley can drink for me,” Audrey said, not wanting to embarrass them. After all, she had managed the first three toasts at the beginning of the dinner.
The others didn’t push the issue. Anyone who could drink on Audrey’s behalf was clearly someone important to her,
When the business dinner ended, Malcolm left with his team. Audrey told Lena to wait in the car while she accompanied Emilia to buy some hangover medicine.
The two entered the pharmacy, and Audrey looked around to make sure no one was listening before tugging on Emilia’s sleeve. “I need a pregnancy test,” Emilia said to the pharmacist.
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“What price range are you looking for?” the pharmacist asked.
Emilia glanced at Audrey, who was eyeing the expensive options. “We want the most expensive one.
After paying, Audrey slipped the item into Emilia’s bag. “Don’t let Lena see it.”
“Too late for that. I already saw everything.” Lena stood right outside the store entrance, hands on her hips, glaring at Audrey.
‘Great. Just great,‘ Audrey thought.
Both Emilia and Lena insisted on witnessing this moment of truth, so they dragged Audrey back to the Hotel where they’d just had dinner.
“It’s probably just the change of environment throwing me off. I’m only five days late,” Audrey protested as Lena and Emilia pushed her toward the
today.” restroom, her face flushed with embarrassment. “It’ll probably start tomorrow, maybe even
“This expensive one is really sensitive. It can detect pregnancy right away if you’re pregnant,” Lena said, checking each stall to make sure they were
alone.
“How do you know that?” Audrey stared at her in surprise. “Don’t tell me you’ve-”
“I’ve never used one myself. My friend has,” Lena quickly raised her hand like she was taking an oath. “I just helped her buy it once, and the saleswoman explained everything to me.”
Emilia said nothing, just quietly opened the packaging and handed Audrey a small plastic box. “Well, we already bought it, so…”
Audrey felt absolutely mortified as all three of them crouched on the floor, staring at the pregnancy test’s result window. Slowly, lines began to appear.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
