Alexander knew that that woman can go to lengths in getting something and she wouldn't stop until she gets it. He knew that there was a side to her that was mischievous, the side that wouldn't care how and who would get hurt in process of her getting something despite of her playing a nice and kind person. But he also knew this was far from it.
His jaw clenches at the sight of her in front of him. Standing with her arms wrapped around her, acting like she is scared to be in the same room with him. Oh and also, there is a bruise on her face that needs to be mentioned.
As he watches her, all the dots connect and he gets all the answers he was questioning before. Why did his day had to be ruined by two policemen showing up at his apartment? Why did someone interrupted his morning with the woman he loves and ruined his plans for today.
It's simple.
Scarlett.
Now he can read right through the situation. The bruise she has on her face is probably fake or done by someone else or maybe even her, and she did all of that either just for revenge because he rejected her over and over again or to get him into her clutches somehow.
But he won't let that happen. He won't let her win, this situation, or him. He can't help but feel disgusteded just at the thought of someone even comingng up with this idea and ruining someone's life just because they couldn't have what they wanted.
But he also has to admit that she's smart. The plan is good and she can win this easily. He knows that is more likely for the officers to believe her over him. After all, she is a woman that's allegedly been hurt by a man. But she doesn't have proof of that unless she has a good story behind it all.
"I'm sure you know this woman, Mr. Hart" The same officer states more than he questions, and Alexander confirms it by nodding. "Yes, I do know her."
"Okay, then can you explain what happened here?" The officer motions to Scarlett who is sitting down beside him and her bruised face.
"I'm sorry but I can't since I don't know how she got that black eye but I do know that it wasn't me who did it." Alexander answers, still calmly even though he's far from feeling like it.
"He's lying! He did this to me! You need to lock him up!" Scarlett almost screams, creating more unescesery drama hoping that the officers will believe her despair and arrest Alexander as she planned.
She figured if she can't have him and he won't ever go against Bella or ever leave her, then she wants to make sure his life turns into hell and get him away from anyone and everything.
"Miss, you need to calm down." One of the officers tells her nicely, speaking to her with a softer tone than what they used for Alexander.
"No! I will calm down only when he's behind the bars!" She says loudly, staring at Alexander the whole time but she gets even more angrier when she sees Alexander rolling his eyes at her statement.
"Miss, please. Let's go outside and talk for a minute." The officer stands up and leads her out of the interrogation room. After a couple of minutes, he comes back and speaks to Alexander. "Since we don't have evidence, for now, you're free to go but I have to inform you that she will most likely take this to court."
"Take what to court? I didn't do anything to her, I-"
"Mr. Hart, you will have an opportunity to prove yourself at court but for now you're free to go. You'll get notified when is the hearing and thank you for answering all of our questions." The officer interrupts him and opens the door for him.
Alexander walks out angrily but when he sees Bella waiting for him in the hallway, he feels better, and his features soften. "Love, are you okay?" He wraps his arms around her and kisses her forehead.
"I am, I'm just scared and mad." Bella answers him honestly. She saw Scarlett just some minutes ago and she can't believe how far someone will go just to harm someone else. And Bella knows it's all an act, she knows that even though Scarlett claims Alexander did that to her, Bella knows those are all lies.
"I know baby, me too." He rubs her back reassuringly before he leads them out of the station. "I'll call Jake to come and pick us up and I need to call Mary as well, she must be worried that we're not there yet."
Bella only nods and waits for him to be done with the calls. "Jake's on his way and Mary will bring lunch to our place." He hugs her again and kisses her temple as she leans into him, tucking her head under his chin. After some time, Jake arrives and they get into his car so he can take them home.
...
"I can't believe this." Caroline shakes her head after hearing what happened. All of their friends and Mary are at Alexander's apartment. When they found out what happened, they came immediately, and now that Alexander is done telling the story everyone is left in shock.
"There are all kinds of people out there...I mean how can somebody do that or even come up with that!?" Nate exclaims but everyone stays silent, wondering the same.
"I'm sorry man, I'm sorry you have to go through this." Jake puts his hand on Alexander's shoulder. He feels somewhat guilty because if he never introduced Scarlett to him, he wouldn't be going through this right now.
In response, Alexander just pats Jakes's hand, too tired to say something more.
"In all honesty," Cara starts speaking. "I think she needs help, like professional help. Maybe therapy or something because I don't think this behavior is something to consider acceptable and it's not the first time she does something like this just to interfere in your life." She looks over at Alexander but everyone nods in agreement.
This is not just because of a simple crush and it's not just jealousy. It's beyond that and it can get dangerous.
"Let's just hope that everything ends well in the court. She doesn't even have proof." Jake says.
"Yes, but she's a hurt woman and if she has a convincing story she won't need proof," Mary speaks. "Let's just try and take our minds off of this right now and have lunch. Come on." She urges everyone to sit at the table and have something to eat.
After lunch everyone decides to leave and give some space to Alexander and Bella. They were so drained from the events that took over their day, that they decided to go to bed and take a well deserving rest in eacother's arms.
...
"Alright, just stick with your story and answer the questions we practiced. The judge is a woman so we'll have her on our side." Scarlett's attorney tells her in the hallway of the court house. The trial started this morning and they're currently taking a break. It's been a few days since all this started and today is the day Scarlett hopes to see Alexander and everything he ever has get taken away from him.
Scarlett had luck in finding a lawyer who is also a woman and at that a woman who hates men and it was easily pursued to take this case. The big amount of money also helped and the woman couldn't just reject that offer even though she know Scarlett's story is a bit weak.
But Scarlett's early gloating and happiness quickly turn too mush when she sees who the judge is. It's a woman as the attorney said but not the woman she ever expected to see ever again in her life, let alone a woman that could easily turn her plans against her.
On the other side of the courtroom, everyone sits worried as they wait for all of this to be over and for their side to win. Bella sits closely behind Alexander as well as their friends and Mary. All of them give him reassuring nods and thumbs up when he turns to face them, but Bella mouths 'I love you' to him and that is what calms his nerves down and makes him smile in this horrible situation.
When the judge bangs her hammer a couple of times, everyone goes silent and he turns around to face the front again but not before telling her those three words back with a familiar glint he has in his eyes every time he says those words to her.
"Alright. So," the judge starts. "From what I can see here, Ms. Scarlett Johnson claims that she was physically abused by Alexander Hart. Can Ms. Scarlett stand please, and elaborate on her accusations."
The judge looks at Scarlett with a frown and that makes the said woman stand up nervously. She doesn't know how this could end but she can guess that it might not be as she had planned it.
"Good morning everyone, I am Scarlett Johnson and I was indeed hurt by the man that sits opposite me." Everyone keeps silent as she starts her fake speach. "We've known each other for a long time now and there was always some type of connection between us."
Everyone on Alexander's side frowns as she speaks those words. Alexander can feel his anger rising and even though he is not that type of a man and he would never even think to do something like that, he has the urge to hit her for real and put her back in her place.
"We could never pursue our relationship since I was already taken, but then when I was single again he already found someone." She looks over at Bella. "And we couldn't be together again."
"Okay Ms. Scarlett, please get to the point." The judge interrupts her, already annoyed but makes Scareltts nerves quiver.
"Okay. What I'm trying to say is that when all of this started he was seeing someone and our affair had to be secret." Some whispers erupt from Alexander's side and he's ready to say something when the judge looks at him and silently warns him not to say anything and just to let Scarlett finish. Something about her look made Alexander calm down so he kept quiet as he was told.
"After some time the guilt was overpowering me and I wanted to come clean and admit to his girlfriend what was going on behind her back, but he wouldn't let me. He threatened me that he would hurt me and ruin my life if I said anything and then finally one day he snapped and did this to me." She points at her purple eye and red cheek.
"Alright. If Ms. Jhonson is done we can hear Mr. Hart now." The judge speaks but Scarlett interrupts her. "I just want to say that I am scared of that man and trust me when I say this, you need to do something about him so he won't hurt his girlfriend or other women don't get hurt as I did." She turned to the jury as she spoke those words trying to make them believe and get some sympathy that she doesn't deserve.
But she doesn't get any type of reaction and the judge tries to stop herself from rolling her eyes. After all, she needs to be professional. "Mr. Hart, you have a word."
Alexander stands up and starts speaking. "All I have to say is that all of the accusations coming from Ms. Johnson are not true. I never had any type of relationship with her let alone an affair. I would never cheat on my girlfriend and the last thing I would ever do is raise my hand on a woman.
As Ms. Johnson said, we do know each other for a while now but any type of relationship that we might of had wasn't good. She was always trying to interfere in my personal life and she always tried to get me in some type of way, no matter how many times I told her I wasn't interested. But she wouldn't take no for an answer and always came up with different plans on how to ruin my relationships with other people, it doesn't matter if those relationships were romantic or just platonic.
She couldn't have me for herself so she was trying to put a bad light on other people or get back at me somehow. And this is her new way of doing that, but I won't stand it. It's gone too far."
Alexander heaves a deep sigh after he's done talking and the judge only nods at his words.
"Alright. We won't drag this out since it's a pretty easy decision to make." The judge says but Alexander and everyone else feels nervous and scared to hear the final decision. After all, this is something that could ruin his life even though he didn't do anything.
Scarlett on the other hand thought that she would feel ecstatic but since the judge keeps looking at her and now she's sure that she remembers who he is, she's scared to hear the final words.
"Since I know Ms. Scarlett personally," The judge starts and her words don't go lightly through Alexander and his group. This could all mean that just because of that she could be on Scarlett's side. But it's far from what they're thinking.
"I know that what Mr. Hart said is true and what Ms. Johson accused him of is all false." She makes a brief pause before she continues. "This is not the first time Ms. Johnson tried doing something like this. She did this to my son as well. It was a similar story as Mr. Hart's and my son went through the same situation. I didn't want to let it go the first time but it wasn't my decision to make.
But surely I won't let it slide this time. This man, like my son, could've ended up in jail even though they didn't do anything and just because some jealous woman isn't sane." The judge speaks freely, not caring about the words she's choosing to describe Scarlett.
"Those two men and I don't know how many more it could be, they could've had their lives ruined just because some woman didn't get what she wanted. With that being said, all the charges against Mr. Hart will be dropped and in regards to Ms. johnson, the right matters will be handled and she will get what she deserves."
When the judge bangs her hammer to signal the end of the trial, everyone on Alexander's side stands up and Bella goes to him to hug him. He holds her tight but still flees drained from all that has happened.
When they don't let go of each other for a while, everyone else joins them and they get into a group hug, including Alexander's attorney. And while they're having a sweet moment, Scarlett is crying and screaming as two officers lead her out of the courtroom. Alexander sighs in relief, finally done with Scarlett and her games. He thanks his lawyer one more time and invites him and everyone else to lunch to celebrate their win.
___________________________
Hey guys!
How are you?
This chapter was a bit longer and a lot happened
Tell me what you think about it in the comments and if you liked it please vote
Also, if you notice any spelling or grammar mistakes, please do tell me
Till next time!
Have a good day/night 💜