"Hello, Adrienne," he said.
She spun around and saw Ryan. Her eyes widened in shock.
"You're the witness? You're testifying against me?" she exclaimed.
"What witness? I'm here to watch the trial. What are you talking about?" he asked, puzzled.
She snorted and turned away.
"Whatever," she muttered, crossing her arms.
He sat behind her, still taken aback by her coldness.
The door opened again, and this time, the footsteps were that of a stiletto. It was a woman.
Everyone turned to see who it was, and it was Annabelle.
Adrienne scoffed.
"She didn't tell me she was coming to Nigeria for the trial."
As Annabelle got closer, Adrienne waved at her, but Annabelle ignored her and went straight to the witness stand.
Adrienne's jaw dropped. Annabelle was the witness? After everything she had done for her?
She glared at her as she swore the oath.
"You're in for a rude awakening," Annabelle whispered as she sat down.
Adrienne felt her heart pounding, her forehead sweating, and her throat tightening.
"I am here to reveal the truth about Linc and Adrienne," Annabelle said.
She continued,
"Linc is a sweet jerk. He's charming and funny, but he's also selfish and manipulative. He can make anyone fall for him, believe him, and do anything for him.
He loves himself and his ego. He's persuasive, clever, and cunning. He's good at what he does. He's good at stealing money, framing people, and getting away with it."
The courtroom was in confusion. Linc felt exposed by Annabelle. What was she doing? What was she saying? Was she helping him or hurting him? He looked at her, and she smiled faintly.
"I don't have time for long speeches, so I'll just show you my evidence," Annabelle said and pulled out a USB drive.
Adrienne felt nauseous. She had seen enough USB drives in one day. One more, and she would faint.
The judge nodded and the USB drive was plugged into a laptop.
A loud scream filled the courtroom and the volume was lowered. It was Adrienne's scream on the screen.
She covered her mouth as she watched the video. She remembered that day.
The day Linc used her body as an experiment equipment, shoving different things inside her.
It was his fist that led to her bleeding that day, just before Richard rescued her hours later.
A tear rolled down Adrienne's cheek as she remembered that day.
"Damn it!" Linc hissed.
"You thought I was on your side? I gave Adrienne the video she used as evidence and I left out this part on purpose. I knew how much it would hurt her to see how you tortured her years ago, so I had to do it.
Today, I just had a feeling she might need it, and that's why I'm here. I hope you rot in prison," Annabelle said.
Linc and his lawyer stared in disbelief.
Annabelle had tricked them into believing that she would splice one of her phone conversations with Adrienne to make it sound like she had set up Lincoln by exposing her own nude photos.
He felt a surge of anger in his chest. He had no way out. He was ruined!
The court was buzzing and the judge slammed his gavel and said,
"Order! Order! This is a shocking turn of events. Mr. Linc, do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"Yes," Linc said.
He glared at Annabelle and Adrienne with hatred and despair.
"You'll pay for this. You'll regret this. You'll never be happy. You'll never be safe. I'll get you. I'll get you both!" He yelled and tried to attack Annabelle on the witness stand, but was stopped by some officers.
"You've ruined your life at only twenty-four," the judge said.
"Dude, shut up and give your verdict already. I'm bored, sick and tired of listening to you," Linc said.
The judge was furious at Linc's rudeness.
"Mr. Linc, you have shown no remorse for your crimes. You have abused, manipulated and betrayed many people. You have caused immense pain and suffering to Ms. Adrienne.
You have shown contempt for the law and the court. You have no respect for anyone. You are a menace to society and a danger to yourself. You deserve the maximum punishment for your actions.
You have been found guilty of all the charges against you and I hereby sentence you to 20 years in prison and seizure of all your assets. Have fun rotting in jail," the judge slammed his gavel.
The courtroom cheered. Adrienne felt a surge of relief and gratitude. She had finally got justice for what Linc did to her.
She looked at Annabelle, who winked and gave her a thumbs up. Adrienne smiled and mouthed "thank you" to her.
"I'll get my revenge! I swear, you'll pay! I won't give up! I'll escape! I'll find you! I'll kill you! I'll eat your corpse!" Linc screamed and cursed with venom in his eyes as he was dragged away by the officers.
Adrienne heaved a sigh of relief when Lincoln was finally dragged out. As Richard stood up, she stood up too and hugged him tightly.
"I told you everything was gonna be alright," he said, hugging her back.
"I am so glad it is over," Adrienne said, pulling back and wrapping her hands around his neck.
He held her waist, looking deep into her eyes.
"It's not over until I say it is," Richard said and kissed her.
Adrienne felt his words had another meaning behind it, but she let it go and kissed him with much fervor. It was a kiss of freedom, celebration, victory, and much more.
Ryan couldn't bear to watch Adrienne kiss Richard, and he immediately left the courtroom without even talking to Annabelle.
"Errm errm..." someone coughed behind them, interrupting their kiss.
It was Annabelle.
"You scared me back then," Adrienne playfully swatted Annabelle's shoulder.
"I wanted to have a little fun while exposing Linc," Annabelle said.
"So, you came all the way to Nigeria to help me?" Adrienne said.
"I felt I owed it to you. Also, my flight is leaving in an hour, so I have to leave now," Annabelle said.
"Leave now? Let me arrange my mom's jet for you," Adrienne said.
"Oh. Is your mom's pilot hot and single? I'm taking the public plane because I want to meet rich, hot, and single men," Annabelle said, and they shared a laugh.
She stretched out her hand to Adrienne.
"Friends now?" Annabelle asked.
Adrienne looked at her hand and smiled.
"Sisters," she shook Annabelle's hand and pulled her in for a hug.
"I'll see you around," Annabelle said after they let go, and she left.
"Let Lisa drop you off. I have to meet with the CSI," Richard said.
"Chief superintendent? Why do you have to see him?" Adrienne asked suspiciously.
"We are just going for a few drinks. You know he helped us with Linc's arrest," Richard explained.
"Oh. I was hoping we'd have lunch together, but it's okay. Meet me at home," Adrienne kissed him goodbye.
As Adrienne stepped out of the courtroom, someone dragged her into another courtroom opposite. Luckily, the court wasn't in session.
"Hey," Adrienne protested.
She saw it was Ryan and forcefully freed her wrist from his grip.
"Adrienne, please let's talk," Ryan said but was greeted with a hot slap across his cheek, leaving him stunned.
"Adrienne..."
"You are as filthy as your dad. You should be grateful that you and your stupid dad's assets weren't seized," Adrienne said.
"Adrienne, I am lonely. I keep having bad thoughts. I need you in my life again. I miss all that we had, even the friendship we shared before we started dating," Ryan confessed.
"I don't care how bad it hurts. I am grateful I didn't end up with you. Who knows? I may have turned into another Rosa," Adrienne said.
"Rosa? What do you mean?" Ryan asked.
Adrienne scoffed. She pushed him aside and left the room.
When she entered the car, she sent Ryan the video clip of when he was assaulting Rosa.
Minutes later, her phone buzzed and buzzed with texts and calls from Ryan, but she didn't answer it.
"If you don't want me to send this to the police, you'll have to do just one thing," Adrienne texted to Ryan.
***
Adrienne arrived at her house with Lisa. Lisa kept rambling about things Adrienne didn't care about; the lawsuit, the press release, the skincare line, and so on.
"Ugh, Lisa. Can't you take a hint?" Adrienne rolled her eyes and tossed her bag on the couch.
"What? We have to wrap up everything, not just Linc," Lisa said.
"I'm sure you can handle it, right? And I was serious when I said I need a break from making skincare products. I'll resume when I feel like it.
Just deal with everything and use my money if you need to. I'm not going to run out of cash, since I have Richard's and my mom's, okay?" Adrienne said impatiently.
"But..."
"See you later, Lisa," Adrienne interrupted and headed to her room.
There, she found a shopping bag on her bed, next to a bunch of flowers.
She opened the bag and saw a black dress with a dangerously high slit, a pair of black heels, and a note that said;
"Wear this tonight ~ BOSS."