Coombes was furious. He glowered at Hertz. "This is my last warning to you. If your client speaks once, you are not coming here again!"

"I am sorry Your Honor," winced Hertz. Then he looked at Helena and said, "Please Helena, you need to calm down."

​​

"Then you should stop David from speaking any further," hissed Helena.

As soon as Geoffrey goaded David, he said, "Helena seduced my wife to her bed."

The whole court fell silent. Judge Coombes thought he would flip from the chair. "W— what?" he asked David with the widest ever eyes his eyes could be.

"Helena seduced my wife Anne. They both are partners and that is why our marriage was on rocks. That was the reason why she never came to me. For two years until Luke was there, I didn't come to know, but when I came to know, Luke was murdered. I don't know who killed Luke Wyatt, however, after him these two became pretty bold. When I confronted Anne about it, she asked me to keep my mouth shut and in exchange offered me the post of the Chairman of Starfish Refineries."

"Oh. My. God!" said Coombes. The shock was too much to register for him.

As for Hertz and his team of lawyers, they were sweating as hell. The case was out of control and they knew what direction it was about to take.

David continued, "Anne sweet-talked to her mother Lily Wyatt, to make me the Chairman. I will agree that I became greedy for the post. It was a great break for me. So in exchange for that hefty post, I stopped interfering with Anne's preferences. Moreover, I was concerned about my daughter. However, for how long do you think I could have stayed alone? When I met Rose, I found her to be a sweet woman and we clicked. She was the Vice President of the procurement department."

Lily Wyatt was almost numb. She didn't know what was going on anymore. Her brain stopped functioning. Embarrassment was clear. Her face was flushed. She held her face in her hands.

Somehow Hertz found his voice. "Can I question the witness?"

"Later," Coombes said in a cold voice. "Geoffrey, connect the dots. How is this detail relevant to the case?"

Geoffrey looked at David and asked, "Anne and Helena were together, so how did that affect the Company's working?"

"I was the Chairman but mostly these two took the decisions. They blackmailed me always that if I interfered in their way of working, they would ask Lily to throw me out. In frustration I started spending time with Rose, but they said that I couldn't do that because of Company's image. Few months back, there was a major fallout between Anne and me. She said that I should throw Rose out of the Company, else I would have to face dire consequences. She said that everyone was beginning to know that I was having an affair with Rose. Exasperated with their shenanigans, I transferred Rose to another facility and Anne took over.

"Both Helena and Anne started transferring Company's money to the Swiss banks. Most of the briberies that have just been proven in the court were done on their orders. They carried out all the instructions."

"You mean to say that you were just a perfunctory head?" asked Geoffrey.

"Mostly yes." He looked at Anne. "Along with Helena, my so-called wife of papers, Anne, would simply shove papers on my face and ask me to sign them. At one point of time, Helena even threatened me that if I went ahead to reveal her relationship with Anne or discuss what was happening in the Company as far their siphoning of funds was concerned, she would eliminate Rose. Obviously, I hesitated."

A lawyer in Geoffrey's team came inside and slowly passed a manila folder to him.

The evidence given by David was so gargantuan that it changed the course of the trial. Anne was trembling like a thin sheet of paper blown by rough winds. Her dirty little secret was out. She looked at Dawn, who had tilted her head and was watching David with an encouraging smile. Her gaze traveled to David, who appeared very confident. She was sure that David had joined hands with Dawn and had turned into a state witness. This meant that he would go free while she and Helena would go behind bars. The case of Starfish Refineries became the case of infidelities, which in turn linked to all the corruption that the Company was rocked with.

Immediately a buzz started.

"Jesus! This woman was the infidel."

"Did she kill her brother too?"

"Did Helena kill Luke Wyatt?"

"Poor David! He was the victim of such a horrible conspiracy."

"He shouldn't have accepted her offer and divorced her earlier."

"Order, order!" The judge banged his hammer on the table. When the crowd became quiet, he said, "Is there anything else you would like to say Mr. McDow?"

David nodded. "The funds of Starfish Refineries were handled by Anne and Helena completely. I was given the salary and that's it. Even Lily Wyatt doesn't know that these two are partners in bed and crime. Anne, the daughter of Lily Wyatt and sister of Luke Wyatt turned very greedy. She was only interested in procuring all her brother's money, and they went all out. Unfortunately, they started bribing officials to a great degree. When I asked them to stop it, they said that if I didn't cooperate I would go down with them. So I tried to cover the tracks. Things didn't work… Recently, when Ms. Dawn Wyatt slapped a case on the Starfish Refineries, I saw it as a chance to come out of this muck, this sewer, this disgusting situation of which I was a victim for the past seven years."

Helena's stomach was in a lurch. David played the victim card.

Dawn Wyatt had approached David McDow.

"Thank you Mr. McDow," said Geoffrey. He turned slightly towards Hertz and with a smile said, "Your witness."

Hertz gulped. So much had gone in the past one hour and so fast that he was having problems gripping the situation. The two women had hidden so much from him. But what David said, was it even true? He walked to the witness stand and asked, "Mr. McDow, that was a good story, but you see that the court needs evidence. Mere statements do not work here. In fact if it is proved that you have spoken lies, you could be jailed for perjury." He stopped and puffed loudly. Waving his hand at him, he said, "Where's the evidence for it?"

"I have the evidence," said Geoffrey and immediately pulled out a manila folder from his bag. He gave it to the clerk who passed it to the judge. "I received it only a while back." His lawyer had brought the photos that time.

Hertz looked at Geoffrey with shock. His mouth fell to the floor and he brought his hand to his chest feeling itchy.

Coombes opened the folder. The crowd craned their necks to see what was in it. He took out some photos and even his mouth fell to the floor. The evidence of infidelity was stark. They were photos of Helena and Anne in compromising positions.

Geoffrey presented Hertz with the same evidence. When Hertz opened it, he went to his table and threw the photos in front of Anne and Helena.

Lily Wyatt saw them, clutched her chest and fell from the chair. She got a heart attack.