Chapter 2

I had anticipated that Lilian would stop at nothing for money, but I did not expect her to move so swiftly.

That afternoon, she brought her son, Raymond, and stormed into the company, shouting, “You’re a ruthless boss! You let your daughter get away with murder! Give me back my grandson’s life!

With tears in her eyes, she threw a tantrum in the office area and shouted dramatically.

She wailed, “My poor son was such a fool! Trinity slept and toyed with him!

“We bent over backward for her when she got pregnant, but we never thought that she would just give birth to the baby and dump him in the toilet!”

Raymond stood beside her with his head hung low. He looked like a pitiful lover who had suffered grievance.

I walked out upon hearing the commotion and caught snippets of my employees’ gossip.

“So, that dead baby in the bathroom was actually Ms. Hayes’ daughter!”

“She always seemed so proper and classy. How did she end up raising such a daughter?”

When Lilian saw me, she pointed her finger and yelled, “Everyone look! The murderer’s mother has shown herself!”

I could not be bothered to engage with her, so I said to the security guards who had arrived, “These two are disrupting office operations. Please escort them out.”

The security guards stepped forward, forcibly hauled Lilian up from the floor, and shoved her out of the building.

I thought the matter had finally died down, but Brooke called me again that evening.

“Ms. Hayes, the video of Lilian and her son causing that scene at the office this afternoon got posted online! It’s gone viral!”

I quickly logged onto social media to check it out.

It had already taken the top spot on the trending list.

The headline was glaring.

[Summit Corporation Executive Accused of Covering Up Daughter’s Toilet Baby Dump!]

Overnight, Trinity and I became the entire internet’s number one public enemy.

Abandoning an infant was already a crime. Leaving the baby to die in the restroom instantly sparked massive public outrage.

Because of the immense public attention, the case was quickly filed for prosecution.

The court decided to hold a public trial and broadcast the entire proceeding live.

When I walked into the courtroom, the number of viewers in the livestream shot up rapidly.

Netizens who watched it left many comments.

[How could anyone be so heartless? She carried that baby for nine months and just threw it in a toilet!]

[She could’ve at least surrendered the baby at a fire station or a hospital! Dumping a newborn in a restroom is pure evil! Just let her rot in prison!]

The judge struck the gavel, and the trial commenced.

The plaintiff’s attorney, David Roberts, stood up first.

“Your Honor, I’d like my client to testify as to the events.”

Lilian looked absolutely devastated and furious as she said, “With her mother’s money, Trinity treated my son like her personal doormat. She played with his feelings and slept with him. When she got bored, she tried to toss him aside like yesterday’s trash!

“When we found out she was pregnant, I thought she might settle down and do the right thing. But who could’ve expected her to be so vile and ruthless?! She abandoned that baby in a toilet and just let it die!”

At that point, she was crying uncontrollably.

“That’s my own grandson! He’s a living person!”

The comments hurling insults at Trinity increased tremendously.

[Are you kidding me?! Is she even human?! Trinity belongs in hell for this!]

[Even wild animals wouldn’t eat their own babies! Trinity is worse than an animal!]

[Her mother is no better. You know, the apple doesn’t fall far from the rotten tree.]

Upon seeing that, Raymond began to sob, too.

“I’ve always loved Trinity wholeheartedly. I put up with her when she flirted and slept with other men.

“She could do whatever she wanted to me, but how could she kill our baby?”

He stared into the camera with his teary, aggrieved eyes.

“She could treat me like dirt all she wanted, but that baby was innocent!”

I stood at the defense table, dumbfounded.

I watched the mother-and-son duo play off each other as they dragged Trinity’s name through the mud. It was both absurd and cruel.

It was outright slander.

“This is straight-up slander!

“My daughter would never do something like that.”

David saw my firm stance and smiled dismissively.

“Your Honor, we’d like to introduce our first piece of evidence.”