Chapter 10
The more John said, the more choked up he got from his emotions.
“In order to get custody of you, Marie didn’t take a single thing from your cheating father in the divorce settlement. You know very well all the hardships she went through! But what did you do when she passed away? You didn’t even bother attending her funeral!
“You helped Gigi get away with her crime, didn’t you? It was you, right?”
John had gone red with fury. I was worried he would get a heart attack, so I quickly approached him and said, “Calm down, Uncle John. Don’t waste your anger on someone like him. I’ll file an appeal.”
After slowly composing himself, John sighed and patted my shoulder. “Thank goodness we have you around, Annie. Even after you’ve divorced Zachary, I’ll still consider you my
niece.”
Smiling, I agreed to that. Meanwhile, Zachary looked utterly dazed. He kept mumbling, “How could it have been my mother? How could it have been Mom?”
Gigi carefully walked over to try and comfort him, but she backed away when she saw his eyes that were red with anger.
“Didn’t you say the person who tried to scam you was an old woman you didn’t recognize?” Zachary questioned loudly. “Didn’t you say Annie called for money to buy a house for her brother? Why did you lie to me, Gigi?”
He even grabbed Gigi by the shoulders and shook her, saying, “Speak! Tell me why you lied
to me!”
By now, Gigi was genuinely afraid. Once the security guards came over, she quickly broke free of Zachary’s grasp and hid behind them.
“Calm down, Zach. I really didn’t know it was her. I was too panicked to see who she was.
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The passersby at the courthouse entrance saw the frightened Gigi hiding behind the
security guards and the shaken Zachary who looked like he was drowning in regret. They
were all curious to know what happened.
Before I could speak, John angrily filled them in. Everyone was stupefied when they heard that Zachary had defended his first love and gotten her acquitted of all charges when she
had killed his mother.
“What kind of a son does that? And here I thought my son was bad enough for still relying on me financially!”
“You know what’s worse? He’s married! It was his wife who handled the funeral alone!”
“He looks like a decent young man. He’s even a lawyer. Who would’ve thought he’s such a deplorable person?”
“Like they always say, you can never judge a book by its cover. Look at his first love. Even now, she’s acting all innocent.”
Both Zachary and Gigi were sporting unpleasant expressions thanks to the scathing
remarks that were thrown their way. Zachary was so furious that his hands were shaking.
The way he looked at Gigi now was the complete opposite of the gentleness he previously displayed.
“That was my mother, Gigi! You killed my mother!”
“Actually, you helped her kill your mother,” I chimed in helpfully. “I didn’t have enough money to pay for the treatment, so I had to waste a lot of time gathering the funds before the hospital could perform the surgery. Do you not have 100 thousand dollars, Zachary?”
“I do, of course…” Zachary trailed off once he recalled the situation back then.
As the blood drained out of his face, I smirked. It went without saying that a successful lawyer like him could easily afford the 100 thousand dollars. He merely thought it was a waste of money when he assumed it was my mother who got into an accident.
He never expected his own mother to be the one who got injured.
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Zachary was overwhelmed with regret. Not only did he regret not trusting me and giving me the money I asked for, but he also regretted believing Gigi and getting her acquitted.
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