- 8.
I looked at Summer, and she stood up and
asked, “If you weren’t hurt, Ms. Turner, why
did you threaten to jump and say you were
the victim?”
“What’s real, what’s fake?”
Ashley glared at me, then smiled. “She forced
me to jump. She told me what to say.”
She pointed at me.
“She never liked me, I just tried to please her.
Now I’m done, no mom.”
She looked hurt.
Then she said, “I’m not her real daughter. She
can never love me.”
Then they gave the judge a DNA test.
Everyone gasped.
The information connected everything. People
were angry. They thought they knew what
happened and they stood up, yelling.
I was surprised. I didn’t think Ashley would do
this.
She was so concerned about her reputation,
く
pretending to be the perfect daughter.
I said, “So if the victim’s saying it’s all a lie,
what am I even trying to get justice for?”
My words reminded everyone. If it was all
fake, what was the point of what I was doing?
As people got silent, Ashley said, “Because
you were the victim. You were the one who
was attacked. You’re too proud to say it, so
you blamed me.”
The quiet room was filled with gasps.
If I was trying to get revenge for myself, then
my actions made sense.
Ashley said that because she knew I could
never get over what happened.
r
I had to get revenge. After all, the last time
was a disaster.
Summer was frozen, staring at me.
I looked at Ashley’s gloating face and Mark’s
cold eyes, and started to laugh.
Everyone thought I was crazy.
I guess I was.
I clapped my hands, and my witnesses walked
- in.
Three girls wearing masks. One was in a
wheelchair. The other two helped her.
I said to the judge, “Look at our new request.
We’re not just suing about Ashley’s case. We
have three other cases.
“The summer before last, June 8… the next
year, early February… April 21, in the same
neighborhood, the same alley…”
“These are the victims. We wore masks to
protect their privacy, but you can verify their
identities.”
The redhead and the others went pale.
Even Ashley was surprised.
Then my phone vibrated. A video was
–
trending — a video that had been edited.
Ashley was the main character, drinking and
partying with the redhead and his friends, and
<
hugging them. The last part of the video was
shot in the alley by the redhead.
They blurred out the bad stuff, but the voices
of the redhead and Ashley were clear.
“You little bitch, you won’t pay your money
back. You’re lucky we’re even touching you…..”
“Please, let me go, I’ll pay you back, my mom
has money, I’ll call her and ask for money.”
“Why couldn’t you call before, were you
scared she’d find out about that stuff you’re
using, she wouldn’t give you any money, but
after we have our fun with you, your mom will
be the first one to see the video, 600
thousand dollars is not that much to me.”
Summer stood up. “We have evidence about
<
Ms. Turner, even though she’s on the
defendant’s side.”
She held up her phone, and the sound blasted
from it.
The truth was out, and Ashley went pale.
Before she came here, someone must have
promised her they’d delete the video if she
testified.
How stupid.
Experts confirmed the video was real, except
for the edits.
The false testimony from Ashley and the
others went out the window.
Г
The redhead and the others tried to fight
back, but the police had evidence.
The evidence they hid, all four of the girls,
including Ashley.
It was a death sentence for the redhead and
the others.
They looked like they had seen a ghost.
The judge sentenced the nine to death.
I felt great, but it wasn’t over.
We filed new lawsuits. The witnesses were
from the ethics committee.
I had hired several private investigators to
<
look into the people behind the thugs.
They were careful, but they always left a trail.
There was a teahouse called “Ten Thousand
Springs.” The owner was the crime boss, a
guy named Shane Young.
He was greedy and loved women, and he was
dangerous.
He recorded people who accepted bribes in
his teahouse, used the videos to force them
to work for him.
When we found the teahouse, we reported it
to the ethics committee.
A half hour ago, they invited the officials who
accepted bribes to the office, but Shane got
<
away.
Now that the truth was out, nobody could sit
still.
People were shocked and scared. Besides the
redhead and the others, Mark, who had been.
so calm, went pale.
He looked like he wanted to kill me.
I smiled back.
He and Ashley looked at each other, then
smiled.
