Reborn With a Money-Making System: Ruined Actress to Nation's Treasure-Chapter 153: The Fierce Court (1)

Author’s POV

No one in the courtroom made a sound when Ethan played the video clips Helcia had secretly recorded with a hidden camera.

The visitors sitting in the audience didn’t even dare to breathe, because they couldn’t understand how a mother—even if she was only Helcia’s stepmother—could be so cruel toward her daughter.

Among all those people, Madeline was the only one with a different expression.

Instead of feeling guilty or ashamed, she looked angry, even furious that Helcia had placed a hidden camera in her room without her knowing.

The good thing was... none of the videos showed Madeline, but she was certain Helcia must have other recordings that exposed her bad behavior toward her half-sister.

Madeline had worked so hard to clean her reputation after her high-school bullying video spread everywhere. For now, it seemed the clip had almost disappeared from social media.

But if Helcia released a new video showing Madeline being cruel again, she knew her entire life would be destroyed.

Some people might have understood her position back in high school, but there was no way she could convince anyone she was innocent now.

On the other side of the room, Lando occasionally glanced at Madeline from the corner of his eye.

His face stayed calm, but one look at his eyes was enough for anyone to know he was completely disgusted every time he saw Madeline’s face.

He still wasn’t fully convinced that the baby in Madeline’s womb belonged to Dorian.

He hadn’t told Helcia about this because he didn’t want to distract her, but he had already gathered proof that Madeline often went to hotels with several male celebrities.

Since Addison was their first target, Lando decided to hold onto Madeline’s information for now. At least he already knew exactly which card he would play if Madeline ever tried to hurt or embarrass his sweet wife again.

"Objection, Your Honor!" Addison’s lawyer, Stephen, suddenly stood from his chair and said, "The videos are blurry, so how can we be sure that the people in the video are my client and Miss Helcia?"

Ethan had expected something like this, since the video quality wasn’t great, but he had already prepared the perfect answer.

"Mrs. Davenport rarely gives my client pocket money, or in fact, she almost never does," Ethan replied. "That’s why, to record evidence of Mrs. Davenport’s cruelty, she had no choice but to buy a cheap hidden camera. That’s the reason the video quality is poor." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Before Stephen could respond, Ethan spoke again, "And to prove that the people in these videos are Mrs. Davenport and my client, we asked experts to clean up several scenes."

He pressed the pointer in his hand, and the projector screen changed from the video to a collage of clear, enhanced photos showing both Addison’s and Helcia’s faces.

"We worked with technology experts from Redmont University," Ethan said firmly. "We can guarantee that nothing here is edited or fake."

Experts from Redmont University were well-known, even the government trusted them whenever they needed specialists. Because of that, using evidence from them was the right choice.

The chance of experts from a top university lying was zero. If they were ever caught lying, not only would they lose their degrees, but many companies would refuse to work with them again.

Stephen even couldn’t bring himself to object once he heard the source of Ethan’s experts.

Honestly, Helcia was sure both Madeline and Stephen believed she didn’t have enough resources to defend herself in court.

Well... their reasoning made sense.

They probably thought Lando wasn’t the favored son of the Brixton family, and Helcia was just a rising actress.

However, Addison should have known better. She had seen firsthand how Lando wasn’t someone who could be underestimated, especially after he bribed people without even blinking.

Helcia even suspected the money Lando had spent to support her in court was already more than the entire debt Addison once gave her.

Actually, she had brought this up earlier that morning, while they were on their way to the courthouse.

She told him that she would repay him someday, but as usual, Lando only said, "Don’t worry about that."

The problem was, the more he said that, the more uneasy Helcia felt. It felt like there was a huge rock in her chest, and she couldn’t get it out.

"However, even if the videos you showed are real, I still don’t see any proof that my client forced Miss Helcia to take the loan," Stephen said.

"You’re right, Mr. John," Ethan said calmly, "there is no direct proof that Mrs. Davenport forced Miss Helcia to take the loan."

Stephen lifted his chin slightly, ready to smile, but Ethan continued before he could speak. "However, the videos showing Mrs. Davenport’s violent behavior toward my client are already strong evidence that there is a high possibility she could have also pressured or forced Miss Helcia in other situations, including the matter of the loan."

Ethan placed both hands behind his back. "A person who is capable of hitting, screaming at, and emotionally abusing their own child is also very likely capable of coercing her into signing a financial agreement she does not want. The violence alone supports that possibility."

Stephen’s mouth opened slightly, but he had no counterargument. Even the judge nodded, acknowledging Ethan’s point.

"But still..." Stephen insisted, "you cannot use assumptions as real evidence. We need actual proof."

It was natural for them to demand that. That was exactly why Ethan had prepared another plan.

"Your Honor, we would like to call our eyewitness into the courtroom," Ethan said calmly.

Stephen frowned. "Your Honor, he never submitted any notice that he would bring an eyewitness."

Ethan responded without losing his composure, "Your Honor, this witness is under legal protection. Because of that, we couldn’t confirm earlier whether he would be allowed to appear in court."

Stephen tried to object again. "Your Honor—"

"Enough," the judge finally said, raising a hand. His voice filled the room, silencing both sides instantly.