Chapter182
Murmurs spread through the courtroom. The judge immediately struck the bench. "Order."
The room became quiet. In the public seating area, Toma sat with tears in her eyes. Her hands were tightly clasped together. She had barely slept. She had spent the entire morning hoping that something would happen. Anything.
She looked toward Aiden. "Aiden is innocent..." Her voice trembled.
A person sitting beside her tried to calm her. "Toma, please."
"No." Toma wiped her eyes. "I know him. He wouldn’t do this."
The judge looked toward the public gallery. "Please maintain silence."
Toma lowered her head. "I’m sorry."
Aiden glanced toward her. Their eyes met.
Toma tried to smile. It didn’t work.
Aiden gave her a small nod. A silent reassurance. "I’m fine."
But neither of them truly believed it.
At the opposite side of the courtroom sat the chairman of Eclipse Corporation. He appeared completely relaxed. His suit was perfectly arranged. His hands rested calmly on the table in front of him. A faint smile remained on his face. He watched Aiden standing before the court.
Inside his mind, his thoughts were filled with satisfaction. "Finally. You are going to face your demise, Aiden Sullivan."
The chairman leaned back slightly. Everything had gone according to plan.
The contract had been manipulated. Nathan Industries had suffered. Aiden had become the person everyone blamed.
And now...The final stage was happening inside this courtroom. The chairman’s smile became slightly wider. He imagined the collapse of Nathan Industries. He imagined Aiden losing everything including his position, his reputation, his company and his future.
The judge began speaking. "We will now proceed with the next portion of the hearing."
The lawyers prepared their documents.
The prosecutor stepped forward.
Then...Every phone in the courtroom vibrated simultaneously.
BZZZT.
The sound spread through the room. One phone. Then another. Then another. People looked down.
Toma’s phone vibrated in her hand. She looked confused. "What?"
Aiden glanced toward the audience. The lawyers stopped speaking. The prosecutor checked his phone. The judge looked down at the device beside him. Even the chairman reached into his pocket.
A strange notification had appeared. There was no recognizable application icon. No sender, no phone number. Just a black screen with white text.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[MESSAGE RECEIVED]
Evidence has been delivered.
Please watch carefully.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The courtroom went silent.
The chairman’s smile disappeared. "...What?"
Toma stared at her screen.
A video file appeared underneath the message.
VIDEO_001
She hesitated. Then tapped it.
The screen immediately displayed a private room.
Several people were sitting around a table. The image was clear. The audio was equally clear.
Toma’s eyes widened. "What’s this?"
Aiden turned toward her.
The prosecutor looked at his own phone. His expression changed. The defense lawyer’s jaw dropped. The judge stared at the video.
And the chairman...He had gone completely still.
The video showed an Eclipse executive placing a contract on a table.
"The hidden clauses are already included."
Another person asked,"What if Sullivan notices them?"
The executive calmly answered. "Then we’ll use the draft excuse."
Aiden’s eyes widened. "What..."
The courtroom erupted. People began speaking over one another.
"Silence!" The judge struck the bench repeatedly.
But the message continued playing.
The recording showed another meeting. This time, several Nathan Industries employees were present.
One of them spoke quietly. "Sullivan rejected those clauses."
An Eclipse representative responded. "Then keep the revised version away from him."
The Nathan employee nodded. "We’ll make sure he never sees it."
Aiden stared at the screen. His expression finally changed. It was a shock. Then realization. He slowly looked toward the chairman.
The chairman avoided his eyes.
Toma covered her mouth. Tears began running down her face again. But this time, they weren’t tears of fear. They were tears of relief. "I knew it..." She whispered. "I knew Aiden didn’t do it."
The prosecutor looked horrified. "Where did this footage come from?"
One lawyer immediately checked the file information. "It’s authentic."
Another person looked at their phone. "I have the same video."
"So do I."
"Everyone has it."
The judge stared at the screen. "Stop the recording."
No one did. The footage continued. More evidence appeared.
Messages, documents, meetings, financial transfers, internal communications and every piece connected to the same plan. Eclipse had intended to infiltrate Nathan Industries through the contract.
The suspicious clauses were deliberately designed. The so-called draft agreement had never been an accident. And people inside Nathan Industries had helped conceal the truth from Aiden.
The chairman’s face slowly lost its color. His hand tightened around his phone. "No..."
The footage continued.
One final recording appeared. The chairman himself was visible. He was speaking privately with several executives. "Once Sullivan takes responsibility, the company will be crippled."
The chairman smiled in the recording. "After that, Nathan Industries will have nowhere to go."
The courtroom became completely silent.
Aiden stared at the screen. Then at the chairman.
The chairman couldn’t look back.
The judge slowly removed his glasses. "Where did this evidence come from?"
No one answered.
The video ended.
A final message appeared on every phone.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[EVIDENCE PACKAGE COMPLETE]
All relevant footage has been preserved.
Original recordings verified.
Contract manipulation confirmed.
Internal cooperation confirmed.
Aiden Sullivan’s direct involvement:
NOT FOUND
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Toma looked toward Aiden. Her tears continued falling, but this time she was smiling. Aiden slowly closed his eyes.
For the first time since his arrest...He felt the weight on his chest disappear. The prosecutor remained frozen. The defense lawyers immediately began talking among themselves.
The judge looked toward the courtroom security officers. "Secure every device containing this evidence." Then he turned toward the chairman. "Mr.Chairman."
The chairman slowly looked up.
The judge’s expression was no longer neutral. "Would you like to explain what we just witnessed?"
The chairman opened his mouth. Nothing came out.
Outside the courthouse, the same video was already spreading.
People were watching it. News reporters were receiving copies. Phones were lighting up across the city. The story was no longer about Aiden Sullivan being accused. It was about Eclipse Corporation. And the conspiracy behind the contract.
Meanwhile...
High above the city, on the rooftop of an ordinary building, Nobody sat with a cup of convenience-store coffee in his hand.
The System window floated beside him.
He watched the courtroom footage through a small screen. Nobody smiled. "Looks like they got it."
The System appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Evidence Delivery]
Status:
Successful
Public Exposure:
Increasing
Aiden Sullivan:
Probability of Exoneration Increased
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Nobody took another sip of coffee. "Good." He leaned back. "Now let’s see how that chairman gets out of this one."
The System remained silent. Nobody looked at the city below. For once, he wasn’t rushing toward another fight. He simply watched. Because this time...
The truth had finally entered the courtroom.
.......
The courtroom remained silent after the final piece of footage ended. No one spoke. Even the chairman appeared unable to form a response.
The judge looked down at the documents scattered across the table, then toward the evidence displayed on the courtroom screens. "Based on the evidence presented today,the court has determined that the defendant,Aiden Sullivan, did not knowingly participate in the fraudulent contract scheme."
Aiden slowly raised his head.
The judge continued. "The evidence demonstrates that the suspicious clauses were concealed from Mr.Sullivan and that individuals within both organizations participated in manipulating the agreement."
Aiden’s lawyer immediately stood. "Your Honor, does this mean my client is cleared of all charges?"
The judge nodded. "Yes."
Aiden remained completely still. For several seconds, it seemed as though he hadn’t fully understood the words. Then he slowly exhaled.
Toma covered her mouth. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Aiden..."
Aiden looked toward her. This time, he smiled. A genuine smile.
Toma stood from her seat. "He did nothing wrong!"
The judge raised his hand. "Please remain calm."
Toma nodded quickly, but she couldn’t stop smiling.
Aiden lowered his head slightly. "Thank you."
The judge struck the bench. "The court formally declares Aiden Sullivan not guilty of the charges resulting from the disputed contract."
The words echoed throughout the courtroom.
Aiden closed his eyes. For days, he had carried the weight of accusations that weren’t his.
Now... It was finally gone. Outside, the news spread almost instantly.
Reporters rushed toward their cameras.
"Aiden Sullivan has been cleared!"
"New evidence proves the Eclipse contract was deliberately manipulated!"
"Multiple individuals are now being investigated!"
Inside the courtroom, the chairman suddenly stood. "This is ridiculous!"
Several people turned toward him.
The chairman pointed toward the judge. "These recordings could have been fabricated!"
One of the investigators immediately stepped forward. "The footage has already been verified."
The chairman’s face tightened. "You can’t arrest me based on some anonymous recording!"
The investigator looked at him. "We’re not." He raised a folder. "We have financial records, communications and testimony from the employees involved."
The chairman froze.
Another officer approached. "Mr.Chairman, you are being placed under arrest on suspicion of fraud,conspiracy,and illegal corporate interference."
The chairman stepped backward. "No."
The officer reached for his arm.
The chairman pulled away. "Don’t touch me!"
Another officer immediately grabbed his other arm. "Sir, cooperate."
"I said don’t touch me!" He struggled violently.
Several people in the courtroom watched in disbelief as the once-powerful chairman was restrained by the officers.
"Let go of me!"
The officers firmly escorted him toward the exit.
The chairman continued shouting. "You don’t understand!"
No one listened.
His expensive suit was wrinkled as the officers forced his arms behind him and secured the restraints. The chairman turned his head toward Aiden. His eyes were filled with rage. "This isn’t over!"
Aiden simply stared at him. For once, he didn’t need to respond.
The truth had already been spoken. The chairman was dragged through the courtroom doors. Outside, the waiting reporters immediately surrounded him.
"Chairman! Did you manipulate the contract?"
"Did Eclipse Corporation intentionally target Nathan Industries?"
"Did you have employees inside Nathan Industries working for you?"
The chairman lowered his head as officers pushed him toward the police vehicle.
"Move!"
The rear door opened. He was placed inside. The door slammed shut. For the first time, the chairman’s reflection appeared in the dark window. He stared at himself. The confident businessman who had believed he controlled everything was gone.
Only an arrested man remained.
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