Chapter 5
The judge looked down at the documents. Screens lit up.
Footage played-clip after clip-showing Gavin sneaking into Sabrina’s bedroom late at night. His hand brushing hers. His lips on her neck.
The warmth in his eyes. The tenderness.
The very things I’d begged for, for years.
The crowd watched in stunned disbelief.
Some laughed awkwardly. Others whispered, “He really thought he could spin this?”
‘Used the neighbor’s own camera footage against himself? Is he insane?”
‘This is worse than anything she was accused of…”
But in that moment, only Gavin and Sabrina understood the full weight of what had just been exposed.
Savin’s face turned red, then pale, then blotchy with panic.
Sabrina’s eyes widened in disbelief as the surveillance footage appeared on screen. She clearly
adn’t expected me to actually retrieve it.
Your Honor,” I said calmly, “I request the latest surveillance video to be played.”
Gavin panicked, practically leaping from his seat. “No! You can’t show that!” he shouted lesperation evident in his voice.
The outburst only heightened everyone’s curiosity. What exactly was he trying to hide? Cassia, where did you get these?” he asked, his voice shaking, his face pale. He looked as hough he’d seen a ghost. “Now I understand. You stayed quiet all this time… because you were vaiting for this.”
His words made me want to laugh. He was the one who betrayed me, and now he had the
udacity to appeal to our past?
And what about our relationship?” he pleaded. “Doesn’t it mean anything to you? Are you really joing to expose this?”
almost burst out laughing. “Did you think about our relationship when you cheated? When you hrew me out like garbage?”
The judge rapped his gavel. “Order in the court! Mr. Mercer, return to your seat. This evidence has been submitted legally by the plaintiff. It will be shown.”
Gavin had no more excuses. He slumped back into his seat as the video began to play.
On the screen, Gavin appeared, arms wrapped tightly around Clarisse. The two were cuddling intimately-disgustingly so-while a sleeping child lay only a few feet away.
“My husband’s on another business trip,” Clarisse whispered in the video. “So I can finally spend some time with you.”
“You’re pregnant now,” Gavin said, brushing her hair back tenderly, “so don’t stress yourself. And don’t worry, your husband still doesn’t know the child isn’t his.”
The courtroom erupted.
4.32 pm D
Gasps and murmurs spread like wildfire.
“Unbelievable!”
“They’re sleeping together right next to a kid?”
“She’s pregnant? And her husband thinks it’s his?”
“The neighbor? Are you kidding me?! This is disgusting!”
Someone near the back shouted, “Not only did they cheat, they tried to force the wife out and steal her money? What kind of animals are they?!”
Gavin’s face turned beet red. His confident mask cracked wide open, and for the first time, he looked like a man truly afraid.
He stammered, “It’s-it’s fake! That’s not me! It could be anyone! These days, anyone can fake a
video!”
Without missing a beat, I held up the certification. “This is a digital authenticity report. Forensic verification confirms the footage is original and unaltered. Legally binding.”
The courtroom fell quiet again-this time with tension so thick, it was hard to breathe.
His lawyer scrambled to salvage the case. “If the wife hadn’t been away so often, maybe Mr Mercer wouldn’t have felt so… neglected. It’s natural for a man to want companionship.”
Gavin broke into sobs, playing the victim. “I was so lonely… working so hard… I had no one to talk
o…”
4:33 pm
