Kelsie arrived at the court to see a familiar face anxiously pacing around.
Running all ten fingers through her rough hair in frustration, Zoe Derruci didn’t notice Kelsie walking towards her as she turned towards the building.
A second later, a man and woman strolled out of the building, fingers entwined with the other’s.
She hurried to block their path, standing at a reasonable distance as she spoke in a trembling voice, "Sir, you you have no right to cancel your order."
The name, not expecting someone to block his path, was a little startled and halted.
The next moment, his face heated in anger.
"What the... wench, who the hell are you?!"
The girl with him took a careful look at Zoe and answered instead, "Babe, look at her uniform. She must be a courier."
"Courier?" The man was confused for a moment before he snapped his fingers in realization. "Oh, for the food I ordered. Yes, I canceled it and asked for a refund, what is it to you?"
"Forgive me if I sound imposing, but you can’t just cancel your delivery after eating of it." Zoe resisted the urge to scoff.
The man glared hard at her and sneered, "What would you have me do, then? You may have delivered the food early, but I clearly wrote in my review that it’s too salty. Salt make me all bloated and all, so I try not to eat a lot of it."
"I was left no choice, but to return it. Or would you rather I eat something harmful to my body?"
He was suddenly playing the victim?
"I never said that, I’m just saying to be more considerate of..." As someone who had a hard time dealing with people, she was rattled and was about to explain what she meant when he rudely cut her off.
"Considerate? You delivered the food and I returned it, isn’t it your job to deliver and return things that aren’t needed? Why complain when you’re simply doing your job?" freew\e bnovel.com
His loud voice naturally attracted the attention of those around and timid as she was, Zoe knew if she didn’t say something, they’d really think she was at fault here.
So she swallowed hard and said through clenched teeth, "Still, you ate half of the food before returning it and still asked for a full refund."
Seeing how she suddenly brought it up, the man was rendered speechless.
He calmly felt his goatee, briefly glancing at his girlfriend as he nodded in agreement.
"About that, my girl here ate as well. You see, I’m one to overreact. So she often eats a little just to be sure I’m not throwing away a tasty dish."
Zoe had a delayed reaction before she scoffed lightly, "A little? No, I checked the food. What you ate wasn’t a little, it was half of it!"
"Hey, shut your stupid mouth and just take the salty food back. If you don’t want things happening, tell whoever makes them to improve their culinary skill!" The man angrily barked, suddenly inching towards her.
But Kelsie, who had anticipated such a reaction, reached forward in time to pull him back.
He stumbled backward, falling into the arms of his girlfriend.
Kelsie stood before Zoe, tilting her head to look at him coldly.
"Have some decency, will you? The same food you claim was too salty was eaten in half. It’s okay to try to rip people off, but why make it so obvious?"
"You should’ve taken a few spoons before returning it to make your claim more believable."
Planting his feet firmly on the ground again, the agitated man leered at her.
"And who the hell are you supposed to be?"
Turning to face him squarely, Kelsie pursed her lips.
"Me? I’m not a courier, so you don’t intimidate me. She may not be able to sue you, but you bet your thieving ass I can."
The man huffed, a veil of anger settling in his eyes. He had just taken a step forward when his girlfreind caught sight of the court’s security running towards them and quickly pulled him back.
"We should leave. Security is almost here."
As they jumped into their car and sped in the opposite direction from the security, Kelsie turned to Zoe.
Lowering her heated face, she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, "Team leader, you seem to be everywhere when I need you the most."
"The timing is becoming too impeccable and suspicious I won’t even lie." Kelsie hummed.
Zoe thinned her lips and went silent.
"I could’ve easily taken him out." She blurted out of nowhere.
Keira blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"After those men chased you down the other day, I started learning self-defense." Zoe answered, a small smile grazing her lips.
Kelsie chuckled, applauding her proudly, "That is good for you, Zoe. I am glad you’re trying your hand at a lot of things."
Zoe raised her head slightly, shifting from one foot to the other as she sighed in exhaustion, "I haven’t gotten any computer gig recently, so I’ve been forced to find... a job."
"Three jobs actually. I used to be a janitor in this very prestigious school with very nice pay."
"It was filled with snobby rich people. At first, it was uncomfortable. But I began making a lot of money when I noticed they’d drop expensive things and when I pick it up to give them, they’d refuse to take it calling it dirty."
"I bet I would’ve been a millionaire by now had the entire school not suddenly burned down a few weeks ago."
Kelsie’s ears ticked a little.
"A prestigious school burned down? I didn’t hear if anything like that. What is this school called?"
Zoe paused, squinting a little as she recalled thoughtfully, "Surprisingly, the news never carried it. I think they said something about one of the teachers smoking after school and didn’t stuff out their cigarette."
"Now that I think of it, maybe that’s why it never mere it to the news. And the school? If I remember correctly, it’s..."
"Ms. Sutton. Thank goodness you’re here. You won’t believe what I just found out!" An enraged voice suddenly sounded behind them, abruptly cutting Zoe off.
Taking this as her cue, Zoe bowed to them slightiy and slipped away before Kelsie could stop her.
Fiddling with her car key, Kelsie walked into the building with Jane Peterson.
"You’re furious. Why? Do you now think it’s a bad idea to represent me?"
A small smile creased into Jane’s hardened face as she chuckled softly, "That’s what I’ve been thinking for half a year. To be honest, a nameless woman fighting against a powerful family isn’t very smart."
"And as the lawyer representing you, I’ve gotten an earful from some colleagues who keep urging me to abandon you."
"The weaker party always loses, so I planned to give this my best no matter what happens. That was until I realized what that little bastard has been doing for the past six months."
To be honest, Kelsie already knew there was something wrong somewhere.
Silicone Valley was big, yes, but not big enough to postpone a court hearing for six whole months.
They didn’t even have that much court cases.
Crime was prevalent, but so was it everywhere.
Moreover, people knew better than to end up in court. So they often settled in the police station.
However, she didn’t want to look into it and just let Jane do her job.
So she really didn’t know what Jane had found out and curiosly asked, "What has Bryan Baker bene up to?"
"At first, I thought the judge was too busy to hear us out, then this morning, I stumbled on Bryan Baker and his lawyers having breakfast with the same judge. You know what that means, don’t you?"
"If they’re having breakfast with him, then they must be close and that’s the reason our court case have taken this long."
"If that’s the case, doesn’t that mean, the judge won’t care what you’ll say and will rule in favor of the Baker family even with damning evidence against them?"
"I actually do not have very much to lose if this goes sideways, but you do. To rub it in my face harder, Bryan Baker will make sure the news carries it for as long as possible."
"With all due respect, if you had no faith in me, why come to me in the first place?"
Briefly glancing at her, Kelsie felt the space in-between her brows. "Fair point. I apologize."
Jane shrugged and said nothing else until they got to the door of the courtroom.
The moment they stepped inside, the loud laughter they heard right from the door instantly died down and everyone whipped their eyes towards them.
Bryan sat in the midst of his two lawyers like he owned the place, legs spread wide apart and head thrown backward, a jabbing smile on his face as he stared a Kelsie.