Chapter 156
Before the High Court building, journalists and reporters from every news corporation gathered at the
court entrance with their cameras and recorders in hand.
A woman in a blue and ck pantsuit, along with a pale blue beret tested the microphone pinned to her
ck coat before she looked into her colleague’s cameras. At the end of their countdown signal, she
smiled and began speaking, “Good moming from all of us at the Latest News Network. I am Tasha
Louise, here to report on the corruption charges against four long-serving ministers of the Kingdom. This
concems the Minister of Defense, Alfred Cummings; the Deputy Minister of Defense, Pierre Whiw; the
Minister of Finance, Marie Martin; and the Deputy Minister of Finance, Patrick Dupont.”
“Last Tuesday, exactly six days ago, the police arrested the ministers for alleged corruption. The hearing
held just two days ago confirmed that a trial was necessary to determine whether the ministers are guilty
of the crimes alleged. Theirwyers have previously argued that certain evidence relied upon by the
prosecution was unreliable. Today, we shall see if that proves to be true.”
The trial will start with the prosecution opening its case, and will move on to the presentation of evidence
in efforts to prove the charges against the used. Witnesses will be summoned, and they will b e
examined, cross-examined and re-examined in order for the esteemed Judge Cook to ascertain whether
the ministers are innocent or guilty. More on that when the court is in session. Once again, I am Tasha
Louise. Thank you for joining us on the LNN.” 3
The other reporters made simr reports with their camera person before making their way to the
courtroom where the case was scheduled to be tried. The journalists, reporters and camera crew
mingled among themselves.
But the noisy room immediately turned into dead silence when the guards opened the doors to
announce,” Their Royal Highnesses, and the Duke and Duchess.”
Everyone stood upright before lowering themselves into a bow. None of them dared take pictures without
permission after what happenedst time outside Dr Yeil’s medical centre. They didn’t want to be
suspended or fired for angering the royal family. After the royal family bowed in return, everyone stood,
and the clicking of shoes was the only sound in the courtroom as the four of them made their way to the
front row.
Every representative from news corporations started taking their seats as well. Judge Cook entered, and
everyone stood, including the royals, before they sat back down upon the judge’s affirmative nod. The
judge peered through his thick, round sses as he called upon the prosecution to open its case.
The beginning was just a repetition of facts. Who the used persons were, their jobs, and the charges
against them. After that, the real action began when the prosecutor said, “My Lord, the prosecution calls
upon the first witness, Alfred Cummings.“
“Proceed.” The judge nodded the bailiff’s way. The bailiff then brought the minister to the stand, where he
took an oath to speak the truth, only the truth, and nothing but the truth. Those who were used to seeing
Cummings noticed that he had lost considerable weight, and the bags under his eyes showed how
exhausted he was.
Cummings’s eyes somehow found their way to Lucianne, and he scowled without thinking. Xandar’s arm
went protectively around his mate’s shoulder as he threw Cummings a death re,pelling him to
look the other way.
The prosecutor then began her line of questioning, “Mr Cummings, in your significantly long tenure as
the Kingdom’s Minister of Defence, have you ever had an issue with money?”
Cummings looked at her with hateful eyes as he spat, “Since you know that my tenure is long, you
should know that I have enough to live a reasonably good life.”
“Reasonably good’, Mr Cummings? Let’s see.” She lifted up a sheet of paper and said, “In the course of
your lifetime, you’ve managed to own seven apartments, five mansions, two limousines, five sports cars,
twenty holiday homes and an art collection that was worth two million dors when you acquired them,
and is now worth five million.”
Despite the surprising gasps in the room, Cummings merely responded, “Perks of serving the people.”
“How do you serve the people?”
“I am the Minister of Defense, as you’ve told me so yourself.”
“We’ve calcted your sry, Mr Cummings, and I can tell you that, even if you had spent every penny
acquiring those properties, you’d still have to take a loan in the millions to own what you have. We’ve
checked with your bankers. You have no outstanding loans.”
The prosecutor then lifted up a sheet of paper and showed it to him before she said, “This is how you’ve
been keeping your reasonably good life’, isn’t it, Mr Cummings? You’ve been siphoning money from the
government.”
The journalists and reporters gasped in shock and murmurs soon filled the room. Judge Cook yelled,”
Silence!”
The prosecutor proceeded, “Mr Cummings, have you or have you not been making illegal transactions of
money from the government.”
“No.”
“Then, how do you exin this?”
This text is property of N?/velD/rama.Org.
“I was forced to do it.”
“By whom?”
“The Duke, Greg w.”
“ording to the audits before your eyes, it says you’ve transferred a percentage to thepany, Wu Bi
Corporation. So, in effect, you were not transferring money to Greg w. Why would he coerce you
when h e has nothing to gain?”
Cummings snorted darkly and said, “ording to this, Greg w receivedmissions from Wu Bi
Corp, and you’re saying he has nothing to gain from forcing me to take the funds?”
“The Duke’smission amounts to less than fifteen percent of what you have taken from the
government, Mr Cummings. It doesn’t make sense for the Duke to coerce you to take more and for him
to take less, significantly less.”
Cummings was controlling his anger as he spat, “How do you know he’s not running Wu Bi Corporation?”
“I don’t. Do you have any evidence saying that the Duke is the owner, Mr Cummings?”
Cummings averted his eyes, until Judge Cook prompted him to answer, so he muttered in
dissatisfaction,” No. But he did coerce me to do what I did.”
“So, what you’re saying is the Duke forced you to siphon money from the government, and in doing so,
he forced you to live your ‘reasonably good life’?”
Christian was pressing back a smile but Xandar was still enraged. Lucianne had to constantly stroke his
hand to make sure he didn’t explode.
After a moment of silence, the judge prompted, “Answer the question, Mr Cummings.”
“The Duke forced me to take the money, and I was paid a small portion to shut up.”
“A small portion that ‘forced’ you to buy up quite a lot of valuables, I can see. Did the Duke force you to
acquire the apartments, holiday homes, cars and art collection?”
The defencewyer, Mr rk, shot up from his seat and shouted, “Objection, my Lord! Irrelevance!”
The prosecutor calmly exined to the judge, “My Lord, my line of questioning is necessary to determine
whether the coercion that Mr Cummings purports to be made by the Duke has reached the legal
standards required by thew. How would we know if the used was coerced beyond his free will to
channel funds illegally unless we assessed the full circumstances surrounding the purported coercion?”
Mr rk argued, “That question goes beyond the circumstances. It is irrelevant to the charges. My client
should not have to answer it.”
Judge Cook waved his hand at the defence counsel and uttered, “The corruption concerns money
alleged t o be obtained illegally from the goverment. This money could have been used by the recipient
in any way he deems fit. Any properties, real or personal, which may be acquired by mary means
must be assessed for they fall well within the ambit of the circumstances. Objection dismissed, Mr rk.
Mr Cummings is obliged to answer the question.”
Cummings gritted his teeth, and threw a sharp re at his uselesswyer for failing to object to such a
simple question.
The prosecutor proceeded, “Mr Cummings, I shall repeat my question, Did the Duke, Greg w, coerce
yout o acquire the properties I’ve listed, which you did not deny owning at the beginning of my
questioning?”
When silence ensued, the prosecutor went on to say, “Let me remind you, Mr Cummings, lying in the
court ofw amounts to an offence of perjury.”
In a low voice, Cummings muttered, “The properties were not acquired with my money.”
“Then, how did these properties end up being in your name?” She pressed mercilessly.
“It was a series of gifts from the good earnings of my son.”
“Your son, Sebastian Cummings?”
“Yes.”
“And the money you were purportedly forced to take, where is it now?”
“I transferred it to the Head of the National Audit Department, Helena Tanner.”
“Your audits show a different transaction, Mr Cummings. What we have here shows that government
funds had been transferred to twenty different bank ounts before being transferred to five ounts,
one of it being yours. Our data has been authenticated so what exnation do you have for this?”
“The people you are looking for are Greg w and Helena Tanner, and whoever is running Wu Bi
Corporation. I am not part of this.”
Xandar had to press Lucianne closer to his body and breathe in and out through her hair when he heard
that, just to stop his animal from surfacing.
“Mr Cummings, let’s do this simply. Do you admit that government funds have been channeled into your
personal bank ount?”
“Yes, because I was fo—”
“And do yo-”
“Objection, my Lord! My client had notpleted his answer to the prosecution’s question.”
Judge Cook held, “Sustained. Mr Cummings, you may proceed with your answer.”
“I was forced to take the money because the Duke threatened to harm my family if I didn’tply with
his wishes. It felt wrong to siphon money that way, so I had it transferred to Helena Tanner, asking her to
find a way to return it to the government.”
“Do you also admit that you had knowledge of this transfer?”
“Yes, but as I–”
“And, do you admit”
“Objection!”
“Sustained.”
Cummings smirked cockily at the prosecutor and said, “I had knowledge but as I said, I had no choice.”
“You argue that the data I have in my hands are inauthentic?”
“Yes, very much so.”
“You im that your son funded the acquisition of your assets?”
“Yes.”
“Very well.” With a glint in her eye, the prosecutor faced the judge and said, “My Lord, in light of this, the
prosecution urges the court to subpoena Sebastian Cummings.”
The judge nodded and uttered, “Granted.”
Cummings seemed happy about it but hiswyer didn’t share this tion. Lucianne noticed this, and
wondered if thewyer felt that Cummings was taking a bad risk.
Judge Cook ordered a recess to secure Sebastian’s attendance, and as soon as he left, Xandar noticed
Chief Dalloway on the other side of the courtroom. He thought this would be a good opportunity to tell
him about the wolves scouting the inds to locate Wu Bi Corp.
Before Xandar got up from his seat, Lucianne pecked a kiss on his cheek as she whispered,
“Washroom.” And she got up.
Lucianne only took one step before Xandar stood and spun her around by her waist to face him, kissing
her deeply between her eyebrows before his gaze prated into her eyes as he muttered, “I’ll wait for
you in the front row. Don’t take too long.”
Lucianne had a shy smile as she averted her eyes and shook her head, recalling the first time he said
those words to her, which was the second day of their meeting. Xandar’s thumb traced her blushed
cheeks, prompting an answer. She chuckled lightly before repeating the same response she gave him
thest time, “Okay.”
Xandar approached Dalloway after Lucianne had left the room, and ushered him to a quieter for
them to speak discreetly between themselves. After Lucianne exited the stall and checked her
appearance in the mirror, she left the washroom and was walking back to the courtroom when she heard
someone calling out, “PWETTY LUCY!”