Chapter 3 - The Gathering Storm
Three days later, the preliminary bail hearing convened at the High Court. The grand courtroom was packed with reporters, corporate board members, and curious spectators. Pamela sat at the defense table dressed in an understated, immaculate white suit, playing the role of a frail, falsely accused victim to perfection.
Arthur Vance sat behind her, casting arrogant, cold glares at Hadrian, who sat on the prosecution's side with his legal team. Sorrel was kept in a private room with a child psychologist, protected from the media circus.
Julian Sterling took the floor, his voice echoing smoothly throughout the room. "Your Honor, my client is the victim of a calculated character assassination. Mr. Hadrian Vance was absent for nearly a quarter of a year. The child suffered from severe separation anxiety and night terrors, often injuring herself in fits of distress. Miss Pamela merely attempted to restrain a child who was a danger to herself while managing a collapsing estate!"
Murmurs rippled through the courtroom gallery. Pamela dabs a fake tear from her eye with a lace handkerchief.
"Restrain her?" Hadrian’s lead attorney, Clara Mercer, stood up calmly. "With an industrial iron ankle cuff attached to a radiator while forcing an eight-year-old child to scrub hardwood floors and cook multi-course meals?"
"Where is the unbroken physical proof?" Sterling countered smoothly. "Digital files can be altered. Audio can be synthesized. We demand the cloud server logs be thrown out as untrustworthy evidence, and we request Miss Vance be released immediately on personal recognizance."
The judge frowned, tapping her pen against the wooden desk. "Mr. Sterling raises a point regarding the chain of custody for digital evidence. Without forensic verification of the smartwatch's root server, this court cannot hold Miss Vance indefinitely without bail."
Pamela smirked slightly, casting a triumphant glance back at Hadrian. She believed her father’s wealth and Sterling’s legal gymnastics would buy her freedom before the real trial even began.
Suddenly, the heavy oak doors at the back of the courtroom swung open.
A tall woman in a dark grey suit walked in briskly, carrying a heavy leather briefcase. The entire gallery gasped as they recognized her: Dr. Evelyn Reed, the country’s top forensic cyber-analyst, who had been off the grid for five years working for federal intelligence.
Hadrian didn't look surprised. He stood up slowly, adjusting his cufflinks.
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"She doesn't need to guess, Your Honor," Hadrian said, his voice cutting through the room like steel. "Dr. Reed just finished extracting the raw, unencrypted telemetry data directly from the smartwatch’s physical hardware module."
Pamela’s smirk instantly evaporated.
