Chapter 3

I hastily tried to cover my back.

But everyone in the courtroom, including the live stream viewers and my mom, had seen it clearly.

The judge called for a forensics team to examine my injuries.

While waiting for the report, he persisted with his questions.

"Is this why you refused to stay in the hospital or change your clothes after the car crash?"

I remained silent.

"Who inflicted these injuries on you?"

"Those three bitches, okay? Are you happy now?"

The internet exploded.

"No way! Is this about bullying?!"

"They looked so innocent and sweet, not like people who' d do something like that!"

I glanced at the big screen displaying the comments.

"You idiots know nothing! Haven't you heard that appearances can be deceiving?"

"You' re lying!"

Brooke Johnson' s father, Mr. Johnson, suddenly stood up. "My daughter was an excellent student, a model student chosen by teachers and classmates. How could she bully you...?"

"They were jealous of my grades, obviously!"

I forced a smile. "Mr. Johnson, you were quite busy back then, weren't you? Did Brooke ever tell you about cheating on exams?"

"Did she tell you she paid me to do her homework?"

"I..." The man was momentarily speechless.

I scoffed. "You don't know your own daughter at all! Because of negligent parents like you, I was bullied for a year and a half!"

"Defendant."

The judge' s voice was stern. "Is this why your grades suddenly plummeted in the second semester of junior year?"

"Yes."

"What about my husband?"

Mr. Davies' s wife glared at me. "Even if Brooke and her friends bullied you, what does that have to do with my husband?! Why did you have to kill him too?!"

"Because he knew and did nothing!"

My face darkened. "I told him about the bullying back then, but he didn't want to offend your well-connected families. He chose to turn a blind eye."

"Just because I came from a poor background, did I deserve to be abused?!"

After a heated exchange, my mom listened, utterly bewildered.

Just as she was about to ask something, the medical examiner arrived with my injury report.

The results surprised everyone.

My old scars were indeed consistent with injuries sustained around six years ago.

But the force required was far beyond what three underage girls like Chloe, Brooke, and Skylar could inflict.

"Defendant! Are you still lying now? Who was the man who beat you like this?!"

My mom finally snapped out of her daze and rushed to hug me.

"Jade, who did this to you?"

I turned my face away, not wanting to see the tears in her eyes.

"It' s my fault, Jade! If your dad and I hadn't been so busy working, you wouldn't have been unsupervised and ended up like this..."

"Did you fall in with bad company?"

My mom desperately held my hand. "Were you threatened by some gang members? Tell me, Mom will get justice for you!"

"No, no, no!"

I impatiently shook off her hand. "Stop playing the devoted mother act. Who are you trying to fool?"

Before I finished speaking, Chloe' s mom suddenly grabbed a chair and charged at me.

Thud.

My mom blocked me, collapsing to the floor in pain.

I clenched my fists, unmoving, my nails digging deep into my palms.

"What kind of person is she? Her mom almost died protecting her, and she just stands there, cold-faced and indifferent?"

"Ma' am, you should give up! This kind of heart can't be warmed. Saving her is pointless..."

The court officers tried to send my mom to the hospital, but she waved them off, struggling to her feet.

"Are you refusing to speak because you' re trying to protect someone?"

My mom clutched me tightly. "The person who beat you... it wasn't your dad, was it...?"

A pang of pain shot through my heart.

"Your dad lost his job this year and went back to our old village. I thought you' d be safer with him looking after you. I never imagined he' d hit you?"

"N-no... it wasn't..."

"I' ll go confront him!"

My mom turned angrily, but the judge called out to her.

"Eleanor Vance, who did you just mention?"

My mom turned back, confused. "My husband, Arthur Vance! Jade' s dad!"

"But..." The judge frowned. "Mr. Vance passed away five and a half years ago..."

"What?!" My mom looked as if she' d been struck by lightning. "How can that be? I personally saw him off to work in the city just last month!"

"Look at the photos of the four victims. Do you recognize them?"

My mom shook her head blankly.

"They were Jade Vance' s high school homeroom teacher and dorm mates."

The judge suddenly understood. "I thought you just weren't involved enough in your daughter' s life to remember her teachers and classmates..."

"Jade Vance' s mom... could she have amnesia?"

On the other side of the camera, netizens discussed my mom' s anguished expression.

"No wonder she kept talking about juvenile protection laws and her own negligence..."

"So that' s why she still thinks Jade is a child?"

"What trauma did she suffer to lose her memory? It looks like what she forgot might be connected to Jade' s murders!"

The judge thought so too.

He immediately ordered the police to summon witnesses to the stand.

My mom had contacted my junior high teachers, intending to prove I was a good student.

But now, she looked at their aged faces and fell into a panic.

"How can this be?"

My mom clutched her head, roaring helplessly. "Didn't Jade just finish junior high? Didn't her dad just go to work in the city?"

But seeing her like that, I could do nothing but feel a crushing heartache.

Things were spiraling out of control, so the judge decided to adjourn the court.

It was also because the police had found a new lead.

After my dad died, my mom had a boyfriend named Malik.

That name sent a chill through my entire body.

My mom, however, claimed she didn't remember him.

"This Malik was an orphan, with no family left."

The trial resumed the next day.

The police publicly announced the new lead they' d found.

"According to our investigation, he came to the town of Sunnybrook five years ago for work and soon began a relationship with Eleanor Vance."

"Later, the two decided to move back to the village to open a general store, so they relocated to her old home."