No Strings Attached

Chapter 77

lan, clad in a sharp black suit, stood at the doorway, his features set in an austere expression. Trailing behind him was a disheveled Kaleb, looking every bit the worse for

wear.

lan’s deep gaze lingered on Clara for a few seconds before he handed Kaleb over to the clerk and found himself a seat in the spectators‘ gallery.

With the clerk by his side, Kaleb took the stand, his voice weak as he spoke, “Your Honor, I’m Kaleb from the tech department at Hayes Corporation. I’m the one who deleted the video.

But it wasn’t Ms. Clara who asked me to do it. It was Leonora, the vice president of Hayes Corporation. She threatened to fire me if I didn’t delete it.”

“I was in the middle of buying and renovating a house, getting ready to get married, and I was up to my eyeballs in debt. I couldn’t afford to lose my job, so I agreed to her terms.

“But I wasn’t a complete fool. I saved a copy of the video, thinking of selling it to Clara. Somehow, it got intercepted, and I was beaten up badly. Clara saved me, and I promised her I’d testify.

“Then those thugs found me again and locked me in a dark room. If it hadn’t been for Mr. Hayes‘ people getting to me in time, I’d still be there.

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“Your Honor, even though the USB drive was taken, I had already uploaded the video to my cloud storage. Here are my account details and password.”

The judge instructed the video to be played. It was crystal clear, even the voices were audible.

lan sat in the gallery, his brows knitted fiercely as he watched. This was his first real confrontation with the incident. Although he had always believed in Clara’s innocence, the video brought an indescribable pain to his heart.

He heard Heidi’s provocation and saw Clara’s composed response. When the scalding coffee was thrown at Clara, lan’s heart clenched, and he couldn’t help but cry out, “Clara!”

Thankfully, Clara was quick on her feet, dodging just in time. Otherwise, that coffee would have hit her face with untold consequences.

The next thing lan saw was Clara, still reeling from the shock, when Heidi herself fell backwards into the glass case behind her. Clara reached out to help her, but Heidi dodged away.

The video made it abundantly clear that Clara never laid a finger on Heidi. The entire scene was a farce orchestrated by Heidi herself.

Seeing this, lan felt like someone was holding a knife and stabbing his heart, each stab

causing a dull ache.

No matter how tricky the opposing lawyer’s questions were, Clara was never defeated, but when she saw the video that proved her innocence, she cried.

Her beautiful eyes were brimmed with hot tears, her lips curled into a bitter smile.

She had won. She had vindicated herself. And she had taught Heidi a harsh lesson. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

The Campbell family compensated her for emotional damages and formally apologized to her on the spot.

Heidi, citing medical issues, was released on bail.

Anders and Sasha flanked Clara, escorting her out, with Sasha bouncing around in excitement. “Today we totally rocked it! We absolutely must celebrate with something delicious–I’ll treat us to the fanciest restaurant in Northbridge. Tonight, we’re not going home until we’re drunk.”

“It’s so satisfying. And at the critical moment, that jackass lan turned out to be decent, bringing Kaleb to you. But even so, I’ll never forgive him. What a load of crap he talked, all that nonsense about sugar baby and not into you. Our Clara was devoted to him for three years, and he treated her like some pet canary–just thinking about it pisses me off.”

Sasha’s rant was abruptly cut short when she looked up to find lan standing before them, his face the very picture of icy composure.