The Lawyer’s Lie Chapter 07

The Lawyer’s Lie Chapter 07

“Where is Mia?” Clara grabbed the assistant’s arm. “What happened to Mia?”

The assistant froze. “What do you mean, Mia?”

Clara’s ears rang.

Julian opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but no words came out.

He had forgotten.

He had spent the entire night looking for Wendy and had forgotten everything else.

But Clara had no time to question anyone. She only turned, got into the car, sped back to the hotel, and rushed into the private dining room.

The room was a wreck. In the corner lay Mia’s jacket, torn in half.

Clara shook all over as she took out her phone and called Mia.

The ringtone came from the innermost room.

Clara rushed in. Mia was already standing by the window, wrapped only in a bedsheet. Every inch of exposed skin was bruised and bloodied.

When Mia saw Clara, she smiled a little.

“Clara, what took you so long?”

Then she tipped backward.

“No!”

Clara lunged for her. Her fingers brushed the edge of Mia’s bedsheet, but she caught nothing.

Clara turned and ran downstairs.

She reached Mia’s side and dropped to her knees, trying to press her hands over Mia’s blood, but she could not stop it no matter how hard she tried.

“Don’t die… Mia… don’t die… I’m begging you…”

Mia looked at her, lips parting. Silently, she mouthed, “It hurts.”

When the ambulance arrived, the paramedic took one look and shook his head.

Clara knelt in the pool of blood, her entire body covered in it.

When Julian arrived, he froze for a moment before stepping forward to help her up.

Her face was covered in tears. She slapped him hard across the face.

“She’s dead!” Clara screamed. “She’s dead because you forgot! Because you were so desperate to find

Wendy! Mia is dead!”

The slap turned Julian’s face to the side. His cheek hurt, but the pain in his chest was worse, a pain he could

neither name nor explain.

He had never seen her like this.

“I hate you.” Clara looked at him, her eyes so red they seemed ready to bleed. “Julian, Mia was like a sister to

I hate you. I will hate you forever.”
Julian suddenly grabbed her wrist, and his voice trembled too.

“What right do you have to hate me? After everything Wendy suffered, did I ever say I hated you?”

Clara suddenly laughed.

She laughed out loud, laughing until she bent over, laughing until tears streamed down her face.

Panic surged through Julian’s heart.

“Clara, that’s not what I meant…”

But she suddenly spat a mouthful of black blood onto his face.

Then her body went limp, and she collapsed.

“Clara!”

He caught her in his arms, his voice cracking with panic.

When Clara woke again, she was curled in the corner of a hospital bed, hugging her knees, motionless.

For the next few days, she stayed curled up like that.

She refused to let anyone cremate Mia. She wanted justice.

Only after she got her phone back and sent a message did the door to her hospital room open.

Julian came in with dark circles under his eyes and stubble on his jaw, looking as if he had not slept for

days.

He sat by the bed and peeled an apple for her. She did not take it.

He brought her soup he had made himself. She did not touch it.

He sat beside her, talking on and on in a low voice.

“I was wrong… I shouldn’t have forgotten about Mia that day…”

“I’ll help you file the retrial petition, okay? Please say something to me…”

Clara closed her eyes and said her first words since waking up.

“No need.”

Julian froze.

He would rather she cry and scream. He would rather she hit him and curse him than see her like this.

So he began taking the initiative to work on Noah’s petition himself.

When the court clerk saw him, she looked a little surprised.

“Mr. Grant, you don’t need to submit another petition. It’s already close to being approved. The higher court is taking this case very seriously.”

“What did you say? How could it move that fast?” A strange unease rose inside Julian.

He remembered how Clara had said with absolute certainty that Noah could not possibly have committed

rape.

He remembered the moment when he had wanted to look at the evidence, only for Wendy to cry and tear the

documents in his hands to pieces.

“May I see the evidence they submitted?”