Aurora was shocked, degraded, and utterly disgusted at the same time.
Her body had turned to stone in the middle of Cassian’s office.
The words were still going through her brain.
One night, that’s the price of your brother’s freedom.
She instantly wanted to slap him again, but she couldn’t bring her body to move.
All she could do was stare at him like he wasn’t human anymore.
Then she slowly turned away, dragging her feet towards the door, as the tears finally came.
She swept them back with her sleeve, clenching her jaw so tight it hurt.
“Aurora.”
She halted in her tracks just as she raised her hand to the handle.
Her heart beat fast as she heard the sound of his footsteps drawing near her.
Then his hand closed around her arm before he turned her to face him.
“Here,” he said, slipping a sleek black card with a private address into her palm.
“For when you change your mind.”
She looked down at the card, then up at the cruel, satisfied smile on his face.
“I won’t change my mind,” she gritted out, with a trembling voice.
“Trust me, you will,” he said before he released her arm.
“You have nowhere else to go and no one else to help you. You shouldn’t be so selfish about this.” He smirked, tilting his head.
“Your grandmother has a weak heart. Remember?”
Aurora’s head whipped up, looking like she had been scorned.
Eyes wide.
“How did you know my family?”
“I know everything about you, Aurora.” Cassian shrugged.
“Which is why I’m offering you the best deal.”
She wanted to slap his card against his smug cheek, but she couldn’t afford to do that.
So she stuffed the card into her pocket and walked out without looking back.
Amber Chang was already seated in the cosy coffee shop when Aurora finally arrived.
Her laptop was already open, and her table was littered with papers.
She looked up and adjusted her clear glasses when Aurora slid into the booth across from her.
“Rory, you look terrible,” she said, her expression softening with concern.
“I feel terrible.” Aurora’s voice cracked.
She hadn’t eaten since the stale pop-tart she had yesterday morning, and she’s only running on three hours of sleep.
“I went to another lawyer first before you got back, but he was completely useless and said that we couldn’t win, and I’m afraid that he’s right.”
“Rory, you’re not actually considering agreeing to Cassian’s deal, are you?” Amber asked, her jaw tightening.
“Good.” Amber reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
“Because I have a plan.”
Aurora’s eyes brightened with hope.
“What kind of plan?”
“The bar where the fight happened, it’s a high-end lounge, and I’m sure they have security cameras everywhere. so the footage from that night might still be on the system.”
Aurora leant forward.
“But how can we get it?”
“We can subpoena it, legally.
“I’ve already completed the paperwork,” Amber said, determined.
“If the footage clearly shows Zachary Black filming the woman in the restroom, we can prove that Jude was acting in her defence, and then the charges will be dropped.”
“And if the Blacks still don’t agree, then they’ll have to risk the media finding out what their precious son was up to.”
“Let’s do it. Let’s go and get the footage.” Aurora said, finally feeling like she can win.
The bar manager was a burly man named Frank, who looked like he had seen everything and wasn’t impressed by any of it.
He found them in the back office, where they were trying to get the footage out of the guy working there, and he eyed them with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Are you the lawyer asking about the surveillance footage?” he said, looking Amber up and down.
“Yes, I have a subpoena right here.”
Amber flaunted the documents in front of his face.
“We need copies of everything from the night of the 14th.”
Frank squinted at the file in front of him, his eyes scanning the words, but his expression was still the same.
He looked away with a sigh.
“I can’t help you.”
Aurora’s eyes darted to him.
“What do you mean?”
“The footage is gone. We had a system error, which happens sometimes. Everything from this month has been corrupted,” Frank shrugged.
“How convenient.” Amber pointed out, her voice flat.
“So you mean to tell me that the night a major assault happens, then suddenly your system gets corrupted?”
“Look, lady, I don’t know what to tell you, but the files are gone. Corrupted, whatever you want to call it,” Frank said, raising his hands in defence.
“I can’t give you something that doesn’t exist.”
Aurora stared at him, the sense of hope she had fading away.
“Who had access to the files?”
Frank avoided her eyes.
From the way he answered, both the ladies already knew that someone had gotten to him first.
Someone with the last name Black.
Of course, he wasn’t dumb enough to leave the footage just lying around.
Aurora had no choice but to walk out of the bar, with Amber following behind her, both their faces set in frustration.
“This isn’t over. We can find other witnesses. Like the woman Zachary was recording. If she testifies against him, we can—”
“He already got to her too, Amber,” Aurora said quietly.
“She was the first person I tried to reach out to, and she told me not to call her again, then she completely changed her contact.”
Amber sighed.
“Rory, I’m so sorry.”
Just as they were about to hail a taxi, a man in all-black attire with a matching face mask stepped in front of them.
Amber puts an arm over her friend while she sizes up the man, trying to assess his intentions.
“Can we help you?”
“I believe you were looking for this,” the man said, handing them a small brown package.
“What is it?” Aurora asked; something about the man seemed to throw her off.
“Why don’t you open it and find out?”
Both the women eyed the box warily before Amber slowly reached out and took it.
The man turned and walked down the kerb without even looking back.
They both exchanged a look before Amber slowly unwrapped the paper, revealing a small memory card.
“What do you think is in there?” Aurora mused.
“We won’t know until we check it out,” Amber said.
They waved down a taxi and got in, going straight to Amber’s apartment.
Back at Amber’s place, they inserted the card into a flash drive and then into a laptop.
There was only one video file on the card, and Amber played it with a shaky hand.
The footage was slightly grainy but still clear enough to show Zachary Black stumbling towards the woman’s restroom, then bending down under the stall and pulling out his phone to record the woman.
While it also shows when Jude caught sight of him and confronted him, and all the fight that went down.
Aurora and Amber watched it, their hearts pounding.
The video was proof of everything that happened that night.
The proof of her brother’s innocence.
“I can’t believe this,” Aurora whispered.
“We have the footage!” Amber said with a smile, before the smile slowly dropped.
“But who do you think that man was, and why would he give this to us so easily?”
“I really don’t have time to think about that, Amber. All I care about right now is to use this footage to save Jude.”
“Yes, but we need to be smart about it. Cassian Black is a very cunning man. He might try to take this footage away from you if you confront him with it.”
“Don’t worry, Amber. I know exactly what to do,” Aurora said, her eyes going dark.