The first person to be questioned was Adeline. She took a seat, cleared her throat, and nodded to the judge to signal that she was ready.
The lawyer on Serena's side had a taunting smile on his face, and she knew instantly the questions he was about to ask were going to try to provoke her in any way possible.
"Miss Fox, it says here that you and Serena's current fiance, Theo Straton, were in a relationship. In fact, the 2 of you were married. Am I correct?" He asked.
"Yes, you are."
"Then am I right to suggest that you threw that punch at Serena due to the anger and resentment you have towards her due to past altercations?" The lawyer asked back.
Adeline looked at her lawyers, Luca nodded his head, it was very important that the court heard the truth.
"I won't lie...Some part of me does believe that the punch I threw was due to past altercations. It was completely irresponsible of me, and an action I never thought I would see myself ever doing."
"So, then how can we trust you, a pediatrics surgeon, to not have another altercation with another patient?"
"Have you looked into my history sir?" Adeline asked back, he then nodded.
"Have you seen any other actions done by me to another?", he shook his head no.
"Then what makes you think I would hurt a patient. What happened between me and Serena were personal reasons, outside of work."
"And yet you punched her. At the hospital. In front of staff and some patients. HR was kind enough to give us some info and it shows that multiple filed complaints and expressed their worries about having you as a doctor checking on their kid. How do you know of this will be different? How do we know you won't strike again?"
"Serena provoked me. She mocked me of my past failures in my life. And then dared to speak ill of my dead baby. So yes I let my emotions get to me. That is something I'm not proud of." Adeline then looked at the jury,
"But if you had the woman who took your husband, who ended marriage, mock your dead baby wouldn't you be upset as well?"
"So you think the best solution is to punch her? A pregnant woman. A woman who could have lost her baby because of you. Answer this Doctor. Did you punch her in hopes of her possibly falling, and injuring herself. Causing her to loose the baby so she can endure the same thing you did before?"
Adeline was completely shocked at the question. This lawyer really was not holding back. For a few seconds she was speechless. Then, she straightened herself up and answered,
"I would never want her to loose her baby. I would never wish any of the pain I endured onto her and the child. I hope no one ever goes through what I did. Like I said before, I let my emotions get in the way. And what I did to her was not in hopes of her losing her baby. I did it so she would stop disrespecting mine. ButI never had the intentions of her losing her baby, and for you to think that is truly a horrifying thing."
The lawyer smirked at her, she could tell he had a few more tricks up his sleeves. Maybe more snarky comments to piss her off even more. But instead he announced he was done with questions.
And now it was time for Serena to go. When Adeline saw her she couldn't help but groan in annoyance.
Serena was 'crying' her eyes out. She made herself look like a scared woman, she kept her arms around her belly protectively, and kept looking at the jury with this begging look. And the worst part was that the jury was buying, some even looked at her with sympathetic looks and gentle smiles. Completely opposite to Adeline, who received straight faces and cold eyes.
"Serena. Thank you for taking the stand. I know this must be very hard for you."
Adeline scoffed at that comment, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
"Th-Thank you. I didn't think I could. But my family and Fiancé have been very supportive." Serena replied with a trembling voice, fresh tears running down her face.
"How the heck is she fake crying so easily? Seems like she's done this act one too many times." Adeline thought to herself.
"Your fiancé is Theo Straton correct?" Her lawyer started questioning.
With a proud smile she replied yes.
"And this baby. It's Theo's?"
Once again she replied with a yes, and a proud and warm smile she sent to Theo. Who in return just nodded back.
"And that unfortunate outburst you had, that seems so out of your character. Please tell me what happened?" Her lawyer asked in a gentle tone.
She cleared her throat and wiped her tears,
"Well, I saw Theo and Adeline talking and I just lost control. My hormones got the best of me, and started to say these terrible things that I will forever regret. And Adeline, who is a pediatric doctor, should know that us pregnant women have sudden mood swings. And instead of understanding me she punched me."
"Your honor," Serena started and looked and the judge,
"She punched me out of spite. To hurt Theo and I's baby. She did this for payback."
"And just in case the jury is confused. Why would you think Dr.Fox would punch you out of spite?"
"Theo is her ex husband. He fell out of love with and with me. And for that, she punched out of revenge. To hurt me." She then looked at Adeline.
"Why would you do that?" Serena asked, her voice cracking and tears flowing down her face.
Adeline raised her eyebrows, "No one can believe this bs, right?" She thought and then looked around and saw how the jury was giving her disapproving looks. "Shit."
"Thank you Serena." Her lawyer said with a warm smile. And he signaled he was done questioning her.
Now it was time for Luca to ask her questions.
"Serena, you said Theo fell out of love with Adeline?"
"Yes."
"So that means he divorced her and then started dating you right?"
Serena looked over at her father, who was glaring at her. Expecting to hear the right answer. That she waited until he was divorced, to start their relationship. And that's what she did.
"Yes." She lied. "I waited until he was divorced." And with that her father gave an approving nod.
Luca then raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I am."
Luca then smirked and announced,
"Ladies and Gentlemen please take a look at the television screen at the front of the room. Now Serena can you please tell me what this is?"
Then a document appeared on the screen. The divorce papers.
"Now, can you please read me the date?"
"August 15, 2015." She read out aloud.
"And Serena this is your instagram account, correct?" Luca asked, showing a screenshot of an account on the screen.
"Yes.. that's mine." She answered, getting worried where this was going.
"And this is what you posted on your instagram if you and Theo Starton."
He then presented a picture of the two cuddling on the beach, their hands interlocked, and Theo kissing her on the cheek.
"And please read the date you posted that Serena."
"July 23, 2015." She whispered, her skin paling.
Now everyone was whispering, shaking their heads, while Adeline had a growing smirk on her face. "Thank you Theo." she thought to herself. He provided them the picture from Serena's private account.
"So if I may ask again. Did you wait until Theo Straton was divorced to start your relationship?"
"No." She whispered.
"Ms.Serena. You swore to tell the truth. I will hold you accountable under a federal crime the next time you lie. Remember you are under oath." The judge noted.
Serena nodded her head and looked at her dad, full of fear, his fists were clenched and he looked like he had a million things to say to her. Now the world knew. Serena Blake, daughter of one of the most successful business men started an affair with a married man.
"So Serena you started a relationship with Theo even though you knew he was married?" Luca asked.
"Yes. I did."
"So, it's safe to assume you would do something along the line of that again? Going to another man who could possibly be taken? Or maybe ruin your own relationship with Theo by cheating on him?"
"I-" Serena started to defend herself.
"Serena. The following things on the screen I will show you are pictures you posted on your instagram account."
And then on the screen, various pictures appeared. It was mostly her partying around with other men. Then, red circles appeared on the left hands of several pictures. Circling the rings on their left hand.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. The following pictures I show you are of Serena partying having a good time. Enjoying her life, which of course she has every right to do. But please do note all the red circles around some of the men's hand. Each circle represents a married man, and coincidentally these are all men who make more than 200,000 dollars yearly income. And yes, we identified and called each man in the pictures. They all explained how Serena flirted with them, and then they had an intimate moment even though she knew they were married. In fact some of them are here today, ready to take the stand if needed."
Serena was shocked at what she saw on the screen. She didn't know how they had gotten those pictures. She made sure only a handful of people could see her instagram account.
"Now Miss. Serena. I am sorry to ask you this, and I don't want to imply anything about you. But I'm sure everyone is now all wondering same thing."
Luca started.
"Is Theo really the father of your baby?"
******
Not fully edited!!!
I would like to apologize to you guys for such a long wait! 😩 school is really kicking my butt, but I will try to write whenever I can! I hope this ch. can make up for it(: please enjoy!