Chapter 3

Tiffany's lawyer scoffed at my words. "Defendant, is your son some kind of celebrity, that my client, Tiffany, would be so eager to tarnish her own reputation just to falsely accuse him?"

Tiffany chimed in. "I really did see Buddy. I saw him coming out of his house when I was going to tutoring. We rode the elevator down together, and he said his name was Buddy, and he was the new neighbor."

Brenda pointed her finger at me, screaming, "You, Cassandra! Don't think you can muddy the waters here and get your son off the hook! Tiffany saw your son with her own eyes, she even knows his name! You can't deny it!"

I watched the mother and daughter play off each other, finding it laughable.

Tiffany spoke with such conviction because the hallway and the rooftop were surveillance blind spots.

The mother and daughter exploited those blind spots, which is why they dared to fabricate such blatant lies.

I didn't bother arguing with them further. Instead, I turned to the judge. "Your Honor, the plaintiff's testimony contains numerous contradictions and inconsistencies. It's simply not enough to corroborate the alleged assault by my son, Buddy."

Brenda, seeing the judge acknowledge my point, grew anxious.

She abruptly stood up from her chair, pointing her finger at me, shrieking, "Contradictions? Inconsistencies? You, Cassandra, stop trying to confuse everyone! Every word my daughter says is true, and her injuries are the proof!"

I smirked. "You want to convict my son with just a couple of sentences? The law isn't something you can fool around with!"

Brenda's face flushed with anger at my words, and Tiffany almost fainted from crying.

The jury members thought I was being unreasonable, and their criticisms grew louder.

"This woman is absolutely infuriating! She's still making excuses at this point!"

"Why wasn't it *her* child who was assaulted!"

"The mother is so trashy, no wonder her son is a monster!"

They spoke one after another, trying to force me into submission.

But I stood tall, my back straight, my cold gaze sweeping over the jury.

I sneered, "Everyone, the truth has not yet been determined. Don't let yourselves be used as pawns."

They didn't know the facts and were just spouting nonsense based on their so-called sense of justice.

Truly foolish.

My words choked them for a moment, then someone retorted.

"Used as pawns? Your son clearly did something awful and you're trying to deny it!"

"Exactly! Tiffany is a young girl, why would she joke about something like this?!"

Brenda, seeing that someone was on her side, gained more confidence.

She shot me a sinister glance, a hint of triumph in her eyes. "You, Cassandra! You kept saying there wasn't enough evidence, right? Well, now open your eyes and look! I'd like to see how you'll deny the evidence laid out before you!"

After she spoke, she exchanged a look with her lawyer, who then pulled out a document and publicly displayed it.

"This document I'm holding is proof of bodily fluids belonging to the defendant, Buddy, extracted from my client, Tiffany!"