Geoffrey pursed his lips. "I am sorry, Your Honor, but whatever I am saying is very important," he replied.

"Okay, but please make it fast," the judge said in an irritating voice.

​​

"Yes, Your Honor!" Geoffrey scratched his forehead and walked back to his desk. "You may cross examine the witness," he said to the opposition lawyer as if trying to buy time.

Kirk got up from his place and walked to Bree. "Ms. Bree, where were you at the time of explosion?"

These were some questions she was nicely prepared for. "I was in my room. The explosion was so powerful that I came out running and saw that flames were coming out of the kitchen."

"So you weren't anywhere near it?" asked Kirk.

"No," she shook her head.

"What did you see when you came out?"

"I saw people running frantically around. The glass pieces had shattered and it was complete chaos. People started bringing buckets of water to douse the fire."

"How did you find Ms. Erika?"

"She was coming out of the kitchen. She was all bruised and injured badly, yet she helped us to douse the fire. I really feel bad for her," said Bree with a sad expression in her eyes. She sniffled to show more unhappiness.

"Thank you Ms. Bree," said Kirk and went to sit down in his place. He waved a hand towards Geoffrey to continue with his questions.

Geoffrey walked up to her. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb. When he looked at Bree, he asked, "So you are saying that Erika came out of the kitchen and she survived the explosion while the other woman died?"

"Yes, apparently!" Bree said with a clenched jaw.

"Now I am surprised. Are you sure that Erika came out of the kitchen? Or was she already out of the kitchen? Because the woman in the kitchen died. How come Erika escaped with second-degree burns? She should have been dead because according to the police's investigation, it is a miracle that Erika survived." Geoffrey turned to the judge and said, "Your Honor, it is difficult to believe that Erika came out of the kitchen. In all probability, she was standing out of the kitchen when the explosion took place. Only then she would have been able to survive!"

Bree winced.

The judge looked at her and said, "Answer his question, Ms. Bree."

Kirk looked like he could flip.

"Well, I saw her coming out of the kitchen. Maybe she had gone in to see the girl and when I came, she must be coming out," answered Bree. "How am I supposed to know what she was doing? All I know is that she was burnt badly!"

"Ms. Bree, you better be careful in what you are telling in the court. Everything is documented and will be used in the trial!" Geoffrey warned her.

She nodded as she held her breath back.

Geoffrey walked back to his desk and picked up a manila folder. He gave it to the judge and said, "Those are the photos of the woman who died in the explosion."

The judge took out the photos and saw that the body was burnt beyond recognition. He saw a few red circles in which he saw glistening pieces of metal embedded in her body.

"Since the body was so badly burnt, the forensic analysts had a hard time understanding who the woman was. They wanted to pull out her social security number and there were no fingerprints also," said Geoffrey.

Bree poked her tongue in her cheek. A faint smile came on her lips.

"So the identity of the woman who died is still unknown!" Geoffrey said.

"What do you want to do now?" asked the judge getting tired of Geoffrey's evidence.

"I would like to call Ms. Erika Trey to the witness box.

The judge's face became pinched. "She is unwell. She can't come here, you have to understand."

"I understand it, Your Honor. Can we have online testimony?" Geoffrey suggested.

"Not a bad idea!" He looked at his watch and said. "We are going to resume this trial on Tuesday." Then he looked at Kirk. "Make sure that your client is present online."

"Yes Your Honor!" Kirk got up and said. "However, we would now like to press the charges of mental anguish against Ms. Dawn. My client Erika Trey is very upset."

The judge narrowed his eyes. Dawn whipped her head towards him. As Kirk brought the papers to the judge, her heartbeat accelerated. Everything was slipping so fast from her hands.

This time when Bree came out of the courtroom, she had a wide smile on her face. Their plan was getting in place. If they won, they would get at least a million dollars from Dawn and she would also get in jail. Helena would get what she wanted and they would get what they wanted. It was such a win-win situation. She didn't even look at Dawn's dark expressions and walked with her lawyer. There was a bounce in her step. She felt she could dance. In fact she was in a mood of celebrating it with Jason and Niall. The way she had answered Geoffrey's questions, it was awesome.

As for Dawn, she was absolutely quiet all the way back home. When they just reached the house, she said to Daryn, "I think we should cancel the baby shower party."

He pressed her to his chest and stroked her hair. "Baby, worse come worse, I will take you away to Ixoviya."

She trembled in his arms.

The next few days until the trial were torture. She couldn't concentrate on her job. Lily Wyatt could understand how much the girl was suffering. She had thought that the business would pick up smoothly but a hurdle as phenomenal as the current one had thrown them several steps behind. All she could do was to see Dawn putting up a brave face. She would look at her son's photo and feel sorry for him. Lily had removed Anne's photos from her desk.

One of the days Dawn asked David about Cecilia. "How is she doing?"

"Oh! She is opening up with Rose, which is fantastic progress. I hope she starts with her college soon," said David with a big smile.

Dawn had smiled. "That's lovely." And the conversation ended. She went back to her gloomy expression.

On Tuesday, Dawn came along with Daryn. David couldn't accompany them because Cecelia had agreed to go back to the college and he was hell-bent in getting her admission.

When the trial started Bree was looking as if she had won the case. She had partied all night that day. One million dollars was too much to think. Her share was close to forty thousand dollars and she had already formed plans with it. When Geoffrey approached her for cross-questioning, she gave him a confident smile.

"Good morning, Ms. Bree," he greeted.

"Hello!" She replied with excitement.

He gave a set of papers to the judge and the same set to her. "Those are the autopsy reports of the woman who was found charred to death in the kitchen."

Bree drew her brows together and looked at the paper.

"The forensic analysts took her jaw and skull samples since there were no fingerprints," said Geoffrey.

Bree jerked her head up as blood drained from her face.