The Lawyer’s Lie Chapter 09

The Lawyer’s Lie Chapter 09

On the first day of psychiatric treatment, Clara was given electric shocks.

She was strapped to a bed, and before she could even react, the current tore through her body.

Her screams seemed to tear the roof off. Then her whole body convulsed, tears and mucus streaming down

her face.

“Aversive therapy. This is a normal reaction,” Wendy said with a smile. “I just wonder whether Julian will still

like you after seeing you like this.”

“After all, he once told me he fell for your face and your celebrity status because you could help promote the

firm.”

Blood seeped from the corner of Clara’s mouth. Her eyes were half-open, unfocused and dazed.

That year, on a rainy night, Julian had knelt on the gravel path outside Mr. Warren’s house and said to the

closed front door, “There’s nothing wrong with Clara being an actress. The legal profession needs public

visibility too, doesn’t it?”

So that was what it had meant.

On the second day, it was needles. Three-inch needles were driven under her fingernails, each one.

administered by Wendy herself.

“Ah!”

“Why are you reacting so strongly, Clara? Does it hurt that badly?”

Wendy used all her strength with every needle, her voice tight with hatred.

“I hurt too. Ever since Julian married you, he hasn’t been as close to me.”

“But I knew him first. He said he had trained me himself and that I mattered to him like family.”

Pain shot from Clara’s fingers straight into her heart until she could no longer make a sound.

In a daze, she seemed to see Julian smiling as he said, “Noah is your family, so he’s mine too. From now on,

the three of us are one family.”

Day after day, her mind began to blur. She could no longer tell whether she was awake or dreaming.

At one point, she thought she saw Julian. She was in so much pain that she only forced out a hoarse

whisper. “Save me…”

But when she opened her eyes again, only Wendy stood in front of her.

“Julian came to see you, but I suddenly started hyperventilating, so we kissed again right outside your room.

Did you see it?”

When Clara did not react, Wendy’s smile grew even more vicious.

“Oh, I forgot. You’re electroshocked every day, so you probably don’t even have the strength to open your

eyes.”

“Noah went through all of this in prison too, you know.”

Clara’s pupils shrank, and a sharp pain tore through her heart.

She closed her eyes, and tears slid down her face.

Then a violent cramp seized her lower abdomen. It felt as if something was flowing out from between her

legs, and she could not stop it.

“Get her to a hospital! She’s going to die!” someone shouted, but Clara could no longer hear clearly.

When she opened her eyes again, Clara found herself in a regular hospital outside the facility.

She did not dare close her eyes again. Using the last of her strength, she ran out of the hospital and into the

Blackwood Group headquarters.

Julian had been restless for days.

Every time he went to the psychiatric facility to visit Clara, Wendy told him Clara was resting.

Through the glass, he saw Clara lying on the bed, completely still.

She seemed to be sleeping deeply, yet something still felt wrong.

The late-season cold snap was severe, but did she really need to be wrapped entirely in blankets?

And she seemed thinner, so thin it made his chest ache.

At last, he could no longer hold back.

“Get her released early,” he told his assistant. Then he added, “I’ll pick her up myself.”

The assistant was just about to leave when he turned back with a document envelope in his hand. It looked

like some client’s final divorce decree.

But Mr. Grant did not seem to have taken any divorce cases recently.

“Mr. Grant, there’s a document here that you need to sign for.”

Julian was about to take it when the doors of the law firm were shoved open.

Several police officers walked in, their faces serious.

“Julian Grant, the retrial hearing in Noah Bennett’s case is about to begin. We’ve received a complaint alleging that you are suspected of obstruction of justice. Please come with us.”