Chapter 168
Chapter 168
Set the records straight The hall was so silent that if a pin dropped it would cause noise as reporters remained seated in this grand hall, staring at Amelia on stage, sitting behind a mic, and they kept staring at her, with the little notepad in their hands. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
The early morning news about Axel Jones‘ death came to her mind, but she quickly wiped away her tears, and then she said, “Good evening everyone. Thank you all for showing up and accepting my invitation.”
As she stared at the faces of the journalist, she knew that her mother would be proud while watching this because
these were reporters Madam Jewel handpicked for Amelia to use to their advantage.
“This is our side of the story… The media has spread lies about us all because of one man… a man with so much power, who entered into our family, just to destroy us. Everything that has happened to each Hayes, is all Elijah‘s doing.” Amelia looked down at the microphone to say, “To me, he‘s been nothing but a monster, who is trying to destroy my family, and he‘s succeeding at it because he has quadrupled the money we have.”
Suddenly the door to the hall opened and another group of reporters came rushing into the room, and Amelia‘s eyes desperately searched for security to come in and stop them, but no one did.
“Amelia Hayes–”
“Amelia Hayes–”
The newcomers started to shout, and then it went quiet when a reporter continued to ask, “Is it true that you hire a gang to kidnapped innocent people and forced Axel Jones to use his devices and editing
software to film different shots of these gangs beating up the captive and then threatened him into editing the video, doing a face swap between Elijah Maxwell and his men with the gang faces!”
Hearing someone explain the truth so blatantly like that made fear squeeze Amelia‘s heart in her chest, causing her to hold her breath, counting to five before slowly releasing, and then asking, “Who are you?! And where did you get such outrageous information from?!”
“I am Kate Middleton, and my good friend, Axel Jones, your lover, told me so.” The reporter said, and Amelia‘s face when cold like a sheet and her eyes hardened.
‘All she has is his words. Think of something, Amelia!‘ She screamed in her head while trying to calm herself down. ‘He‘s dead now, and his words mean less without proof and evidence.”
“I don‘t even know you, and I can guarantee that Axel doesn‘t too. He never talked to me about you when he was alive, and I can bet on my mother‘s life that you are just making those things up!” Amelia said, trying to
sound intimidating and convincing, although inside, her heart was racing.
Kate Middleton, who looked so damn confident, smiled and said, “You may think that I‘m lying… But I can assure you that this isn‘t just a fabrication. I‘m sure that you saw the pictures and videos of Elijah and his men beating up innocent people, right? What if I tell you that Axel faked his death, the police have the original copy, and they are on their way to arrest you.”
With trembling hands, Amelia hastily shoved her phone into her purse, waking from her seat, and said, “I came here to expose what Elijah Maxwell had been doing to my family. Just as he torture those innocent people, he had been hunting my family, and now he has hired this fake reporter to spread lies about me!”
Frowning, she put her purse rope on her shoulder and said, looking directly at Kate, “I am going to match to the police station and file a complaint against you for aiding Elijah in tarnishing my reputation. I am going to sue your ass off and make sure that you will spend a long time in jail for this fraud.”
Before anyone could protest or stop her, Amelia stormed off the platform, leaving the journalists, who watched her go, dumbstruck, and she hurried to the door, but it suddenly opened before she could grab the knob.
Stepping into the room, Axel smiled, saying calmly, “I want to be here and see them arrest your treacherous Knowing now that Kate wasn‘t lying and the police were coming for her, Amelia pushed past him, and Axel did not stop her, and two steps later, she knew why.
Taking a slow step back, fear settled in her eyes as Amelia watched Mr. Bamford enter the room with a couple of officers.
“Amelia Hayes, you are under arrest, and whatever you say or do will and can be considered as evidence against you in a court of law.” The Chief Constable declared, taking handcuffs out of his pocket and holding them towards her.
Slowly Amelia shook her head frantically as she tried to back away, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him, handcuffing her wrists behind her back and holding them tightly there, keeping her from running away from him.
That finally woke the reporter‘s interest and they all rushed from their seats, following Amelia outside as Mr. Bamford and the others escorted her out of the hall.
When they got outside, Amelia‘s eyes darted toward a black SUV, with its windshield down, and she locked eyes with Elijah, who smirked at her before they could put her in the back of the police car.
After a while of going over some clarifications with Mr. Bamford at the station, Elijah‘s name was erased from all
criminal‘s records, and all charges were dropped against him.
Once that was done, he was free to leave the police station, and the moment he stepped out, an older looking fellow came out after him, and his shout made Elijah stop in his steps, “You dirty bastard!”
When Elijah turned around, the old man struck a punch in his face, and then he swung a second punch, but Elijah grabbed his wrist, smirking, and then slowly licked the blood off his lip.
“Let me guess… Ummm, you are Eliot Trenchard. It‘s funny how I have never met you before, and yet, here you are striking a punch to my face. Ain‘t you supposed to be a Magistrate… But it doesn‘t seem like you know what an assault is… do you?!” Elijah said, still keeping that smirk that seemed laced with mockery.
The Magistrate‘s face turned red from rage as he gave Elijah a death stare and seeing him smirking only made it worse.
“Do you really think I am afraid of your so–called power and wealth, you rich, spoiled little shit?!” He yelled, which caused many bystanders to gasp. “Go on, say it. Say what is rotting you from the inside with hate and anger toward me. Say it? Or is the Magistrate just a coward with a fancy title?!” Elijah taunted.
Attempting for his third punch, Elijah dodged his fist and then snorted at him, making him shout, “I hate you for what you did to my daughter! You have ruined her life!” Speechless because he wasn‘t expecting such a response from the Magistrate, Elijah thought about it and then said, “You can not be Amelia‘s father… Jewel had Amelia by Jacob Hartford. Except, she told you, Jacob, and Mr. Hayes that Amelia was you three‘s daughter.”
Forgetting that a swamp of reporters was around them because of how he was drunk on the rage of knowing that Elijah was walking free and all charges had been dropped, Mr. Trenchard shouted, “No, fool! Cora is my daughter!”
It was too late to get a grip on his lips as the silent media exploded with reporters asking questions from left to right, “Mr. Trenchard, if Cora is your daughter… If my math is correct, you must have been married to your wife when you had her with Madam Jewel. So is it your testimony that both Jewel and you were cheating on your spouses?!”
the rease il now, a “Mr. Trenchard! Is that the reason you never acknowledged Cora as yours until now, and allowed Mr. Hayes to raise your child?!” Another journalist asked, pushing the mic closer to Mr. Trenchard who stood speechless, unable to efend himself.
list as As Elijah was about to walk away, a couple of reporters surrounded him, one of them asking, “Mr. Maxwell is what you say true about Amelia being for another man, and not Mr. Hayes, Madam Jewel‘s late husband.”
“Yes. Jewel Hayes was cheating on her late husband all through their marriage, and she bear children that belong to all her lovers, expect for my grandfather–in law.” Elijah casually uttered.
“That‘s a strong accusation, Mr. Maxwell. What evidence do you base this on?” Another reporter, who was standing in front of him, asked while shoving his microphone closer to Elijah.
Looking over at Mr. Trenchard, Elijah smirked and said,” The Magistrate just proof that she was cheating… Dr. Jacob Williams, Mr. Hayes‘s personal doctor is a witness, the DNA test I did between Jacob Hartford and Amelia is also my confirmation… Now, if you will excuse me, I have somewhere to get to.”
Staring hard, without blinking, Madam Jewel scowled at the television, listening to the news lady, “Amelia Hayes has joined Matthew Hayes, Eli Hayes, Cora Hayes, Josh Hayes, and Elmer Hayes in
the custody of the authorities as the rescued victims that she paid a gang to capture had made testimonies that she was the one they saw in the warehouse with Axel Jones at the time they were getting beat up and not Elijah Maxwell.”
In annoyance, as her grip tightened on the remote, she switched the channel, “Breaking News, Magistrate Eliot
Trenchard just testified earlier that he cheated on his wife with Jewel Hayes, and that her daughter Coral Hayes is his. On the other hand, Elijah Maxwell allegedly confirmed that none of Jewel‘s children ever belonged to her late husband, making his late son Albert Hayes by his first wife and his his granddaughter, Peach Maxwell the old man bloodline.”
Looking away from the TV, Madam Jewel stared at the empty bowl, grabbed it, and tossed it at the TV, hitting the screen, and shattering it before screaming,” AaaaAaahaaa!!”
Her screams could be heard all through the hallway of the hospital, and soon, doctors and nurses came running to her aid, bashing into the room to see her throwing things around the room, screaming at the top of her lung.
“Call the anesthesiologist now!” The doctor commanded.
The ballroom of the White House was lively with music and the voices of guests chatting as Elijah and Bryan walked inside.
The moment Mr. Butcher saw both men, he excuse himself from the four men he was talking to and approached both men with a smile.
“Mr. Maxwell! Mr. Checks! It‘s good that you two could make it.” Mr. Butcher said when he reach them, and then he stared at Elijah, saying, “Well, your days were quite eventful. Because of you, I won a
couple of million
dollars in a bet, by siding with you, that this mess wasn‘t going to last long and Jewel would lose against you.”
“Well… Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Elijah calmly said.
Looking back at the four men, Mr. Butcher sighed, and then he stared back at Elijah, saying, “The President, The Vice President, Chief Justice, and the Minister for Defence are waiting to meet you.”
A couple of minutes after Elijah and Checks reached them and they had extended greetings, they chatted about politics and business for a while, and president George Smith studied Elijah for a moment, and then he patted him on the back and said, “How would you like to be part of my Cabinet… I could use a young, smart mind like yours on my advisory committee.”
Although what the president was saying sounded interesting, the only one that had his attention was the chief justice.
“Mr. Maxwell?” The President repeated once more.
Then he smiled when Elijah finally took notice of him, and said, “Can I put it into thought, Mr. President?”
“Of course.” Mr. Smith laughed. “Just don‘t keep me waiting for too long.”
After a while of discussion, Elijah excused himself to get refreshment, and after grabbing a glass of wine, he
turned and saw the Chief Justice standing in front of him, and that startled him a bit.
“Mr. Graham?” Elijah said, looking at him with interest.
“You kept staring at me back there when we were speaking. Is there something you want to tell me alone?” Chief Justice Graham asked.
After hesitating, Elijah drank his wine, emptied the glass, and then placed it on the table, before turning to look at Chief Justice Graham, and then said, “I have the original will of Mr. Hayes that state that everything he owns belongs to my wife. But Jewel had made a bunch of fraudulent ones to claim what isn‘t hers, and I want–”
“Everything return back to your wife as Mr. Hayes will stated?” Chief Justice Graham interrupted.
“Yeah… But regular court proceeding is going to take a while.”
“I see…”
A faint smile settle on the chief justice‘s face as he looked at Elijah‘s serious expression, and then he said, “Gather all your evidence and whatever you have to your name to provide your claim. Then give me a couple of days, and I will set the records straight.”