Chapter 7 - The Voice in the Dirt
The courtroom lights dimmed. The pristine audio recording echoed through the high-ceilinged chamber with horrifying, crystalline clarity.
The room listened in stunned, breathless silence as Lucas’s calm, calculated voice filled the air:
“...You packed a bag. You hid your documents. And you think your sister is going to help you disappear with my child?... You belong in the dirt, Maya. If you don't sign the timber rights today, neither you nor that baby will ever see tomorrow...”
Then came the sickening sound of the wooden spade striking the mud, my agonizing screams, and my desperate pleas: “Please... my baby... someone save my baby!”
Two female jurors broke into visible tears, covering their faces. The court stenographer paused, her hands trembling over her keys.
Judge Vance leaned forward over his bench, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his gavel, staring down at Lucas with an expression of cold, unvarnished fury.
Lucas shrank back into his chair, sweat pouring down his forehead, pulling at his collar as he frantically whispered to his lawyer.
"The prosecution rests," Jenkins said with absolute finality.
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The defense called no witnesses. Lucas refused to take the stand in his own defense, knowing that sixty pages of unredacted financial embezzlement records were waiting to be introduced on cross-examination.
The jury deliberated for less than ninety minutes.
