BIRDCAGE

TWENTY THREE

twenty three.

Disclaimer:
I feel like I've already mentioned this before but mentioning
it again wouldn't hurt, right? Anyways I just want to put here that I literally have zero knowledge about how the law in italy works, I did open a lot of websites about the law in italy just for this chapter but the capacity of my understanding isn't allowing me to completely understand how shit works. Hell, I don't even know the law in my country (prob the basics but that's it). Law is hard asf so I salute to all of the amazing lawyers around the world <33 This is pure fiction so whatever happens here doesn't necessarily mean that it's allowed to happen in real life.

LUNA
Kai had assured me that he has a solution for my case and that I won't stay here for any longer. Seems like his "plan" is strong for him to be certain that he can get me out by following with his plan.

I still couldn't shake the feeling that something's uneasy about his plan.

I've trusted Kai throughout my whole life but why am I doubting him now?

-

Standing inside the courtroom seemed nothing special to me, the feeling wasn't very pleasant especially there were other people whom I didn't even know. I don't know where they came from nor do I even want to know.

The lawyer Kai assigned whispered to me, "It won't do any good for you to speak your thoughts, just go along with whatever we say here." He said. I simply nodded since I didn't see any reason to refuse.

Kai was the first witness to be called, he got up front, recited the oath and sat on the witness chair. The prosecutor of La Rosa's wife, the politician I was hired to kill in chapter one of this book, stood strong in front of Kai.

He attempted to look intimidating so that Kai would somehow be overwhelmed by his presence. Kai only smiled at him. The prosecutor cleared his throat and started his questioning, "Mr. Diego... what is your relation with the suspect?"

What? That's the first thing they ask? I grew worried, if my relation with him is revealed then that means Elite will also get revealed to all of these people here. Wherever angle you look, this is risky.

"She's... my wife."

Good. Somehow he came up with a.... — WHAT?

Despite the fact that I had kept my emotions hidden from view out of concern that someone could be watching me and it might ruin Kai's plan, I was internally furious.

Out of all the lies... he chooses that?

"Your wife huh? If she really is your wife then what was she doing at La Rosa's? Why did the ear recognition from the earpiece led to her?" He questioned, suspicious of Kai's claims.

Kai sighed, "If you're doubting about my relationship with her then I can give you our marriage certificate, photos from the wedding, and our wedding ring" He raised his hand which had a wedding ring on his ring finger.

The prosecutor looked at me, waiting for me to raise my hand. I looked at my hands when I felt someone moving it under the table. The lawyer was slipping a ring in my ring finger that looked exactly like the ring on Kai's!

What the hell...

I had no choice but to raise my hand as well to show the ring. I really don't like this. The prosecutor looked back at Kai, "Then why was she at La Rosa's? Why did the earpiece, believed to have been used by the killer, leads to her?"

"First of all, my wife and I run a business. We own a car company called Light, I'm sure everyone here is familiar with that company and my wife and I both manages it. Though, we don't reveal our identities in tabloids, articles, or any of that sort since my wife put our privacy first amongst every other thing and she didn't like her face being posted in any social media platform so I was simply respecting her choice." The audience in the courtroom became loud with whispers and gossips when he mentioned the company Light. It was a company famous in Italy so it wasn't a shock to me that that's their reaction.

"Second of all, La Rosa was our client, he bought cars specifically from our company. We were planning to give him a proposal for our business to have a collaboration with him since I believe you all know he owns a lot of gasoline stations here in Italy. He was a loyal costumer to us so it was an obvious fact that we would love to become business partners with him. Since I was away at a business trip that time my wife was the one who went to La Rosa's house personally to discuss about the proposal but after that I couldn't contact my wife again and found out that La Rosa was found dead in his house." He says, faking a furious face.

Wow, okay, he just made a whole plot with that story of his. I bet he could even write a book and publish it then win the best author award.

"So, you strongly disagree that your wife had anything to do with the death of La Rosa?"

"Yes, rather than that, I believe my wife is one of the victims here who is wrongly accused of something she didn't do!" He cried out like a husband finding justice for his loved wife.

I might puke at this rate.

"Do you have any evidence that could back up any of your claims?"

"Yes. In my phone. I have exchanged messages with La Rosa before the day he was killed then I also messaged my wife when I received news of La Rosa's death especially since he died on the date when she also went to his house to discuss the proposal. I was growing very worried at that time, anxiously figuring out what could have happened to my wife when she didn't come home and there were no signs of her. But I had hope when the police only discovered the body of La Rosa and not my wife's."

His phone messages were flashed to the big screen and it was not fake messages or any of that sort. Our messages were also not fake. That was my number but our previous messages were changed into looking like a wife and a husband's messages.

There were even a lot of I love you's in our previous messages which made me cringe while looking at it. "I don't know if my wife still has her phone so unfortunately I can't show you our messages on her phone since she... was kidnapped."

"What?"

While all the other evidences were presented, the marriage certificate, our wedding photo (which was photoshopped but it looked really real?), even the date of the purchases of our rings, and all of the car purchases of La Rosa were real — that one was the only evidence that was real from all of those other evidences.

It seemed like La Rosa being a loyal costumer in Light was really real. Though, their messages about the proposal were completely fabricated.

"Why do you claim that your wife was kidnapped?"

"Well, because I couldn't contact her that was the obvious thing that I could conclude to since we did have people who wanted to kidnap us for money, so I hired a private investigator to look into it and they confirmed she has been kidnapped and —"

"Why couldn't you just call the police for help?" The prosecutor wasn't convinced of Kai's lies, although some of them weren't lies.

"Objection, Your Honor! The question calls for inadmissible speculation on the part of the witness."

"Objection overruled." The judge responded which made Kai's attorney sighed.

"I... had a bad experience with the police in the past so I couldn't fully trust them due to trauma that I have gained in my past." Kai defended himself.

"Hm, so you claimed that your wife had been kidnapped after La Rosa's death. Who kidnapped her and why?" The prosecutor leaned into the witness stand in hopes for getting Kai to actually break and tell the truth since he wasn't buying any of his witnesses and evidences.

"The person who kidnapped her was... Lee Felix."