Chapter 51 THE HEARING

Chapter 51 THE HEARING
Tehila

The courtroom smelled like old wood and stale air and something underneath that I could not name but recognized as fear.

My fear.

I sat next to Laurent in a chair that felt too hard and too cold and tried to keep my hands from shaking. The baby moved inside me and I placed my palm over the spot where I felt the flutter of life.

Stay calm. Stay strong. This will be over soon.

But I did not believe it.

Cole sat three rows behind me and I could feel his eyes on my back like a physical weight. Morrison was next to him looking grim and Agent Mercier was on the other side taking notes on everything she saw.

The door opened and Sienna walked in.

She wore a cream colored suit that probably cost more than most people made in a month and her arm was in a sling that looked fresh and white against the fabric. Her face was pale and her eyes were red like she had been crying and when she looked at me she gave me a smile that made my stomach turn.

She was playing the victim. Even now. Even here.

Her lawyers surrounded her like guards protecting royalty and they all wore the same expression of righteous anger. They thought they were defending someone who had been wronged and that made them dangerous.

True believers always were.

The judge entered and everyone stood. She was a woman in her fifties with gray hair pulled back in a tight bun and a face that gave nothing away. She looked at me for a long moment before sitting down and I felt exposed under that gaze.

"This is a preliminary hearing to determine whether Ms. Tehila Russo should remain in custody pending trial," the judge said. Her voice was firm and carried no warmth. "The prosecution will present their case first."

The prosecutor stood and buttoned his jacket. He was younger than I expected with dark hair and glasses that made him look more like a student than a lawyer.

But when he spoke his voice was confident.

"Your Honor, the evidence in this case is clear and disturbing," he began. "Ms. Russo lured the victim Sienna Russo to a private vault facility in Geneva under false pretenses. Once inside she attacked Ms. Sienna Russo with a letter opener, stabbed her in the shoulder, and attempted to force poison down her throat."

I wanted to scream that it was a lie but Laurent put his hand on my arm and shook his head slightly.

Wait. Let him finish. Then we fight.

"The physical evidence supports this narrative completely," the prosecutor continued. "Ms. Sienna Russo has a stab wound that required medical attention. The vault room was found with destroyed recording equipment suggesting Ms. Tehila Russo was attempting to hide evidence of her crime. And the room was locked from the inside preventing anyone from intervening until it was too late."

The prosecutor walked to a table and picked up a stack of photographs. He handed them to the judge.

"These photos show the extent of Ms. Sienna Russo's injuries," he said. "The stab wound. The bruising on her throat. The defensive wounds on her hands where she tried to protect herself."

The judge looked at each photo carefully. Her expression did not change but I saw something flicker in her eyes. Doubt maybe. Or concern.

"Additionally," the prosecutor said, "we have testimony from the medical staff who treated Ms. Sienna Russo immediately after the attack. They will testify that her injuries were consistent with an assault and that she was in genuine fear for her life."

He paused and turned to look at me.

"Your Honor, Ms. Tehila Russo is a danger to herself and others," he said. "She should remain in custody until trial to ensure the safety of the community and to ensure she does not flee the jurisdiction."

He sat down and the courtroom was silent.

Laurent stood slowly. He picked up a folder from the table in front of him and walked toward the judge with the kind of calm confidence that came from knowing you held the better cards.

"Your Honor," Laurent began, "the prosecution's narrative is built on a foundation of lies and manipulation orchestrated by a woman who has spent months deceiving everyone around her."

The prosecutor started to object but the judge held up her hand.

"Let him speak," she said.

Laurent nodded and continued. "Sienna Russo is not the victim in this case. She is a murderer who killed her husband Dalton Russo by poisoning him over the course of months. She framed my client for kidnapping in order to steal her baby and sell it to a Malaysian businessman for fifteen million dollars. And when my client discovered the truth Sienna attacked her in that vault room and tried to kill her."

I heard murmuring from the gallery behind me. The judge's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Those are serious accusations, Mr. Laurent," she said. "Do you have evidence to support them?"

"I do, Your Honor," Laurent replied. He opened the folder and pulled out several documents. "First, I would like to present evidence that Sienna Russo rented the vault facility three months in advance under a false name. She planned this encounter long before my client ever arrived in Geneva."

He handed the rental agreement to the judge. She read through it carefully.

"Second," Laurent continued, "I have phone records showing that Sienna contacted my client repeatedly over the past weeks pressuring her to meet in Geneva. My client did not lure Sienna to that vault. Sienna lured my client there."

More documents. More evidence.

"Third," Laurent said, "I have a partial audio recording from that vault room. The recording equipment was destroyed during the attack but our forensic team was able to recover fragments from the device's memory card."

He pulled out a small digital recorder and placed it on the table. "Your Honor, with your permission I would like to play this recording."

The judge nodded.