From Something To Everything (Bounprem)

127.Sentenced

"GOD DAMN IT."

The male servant who was applying medicine to Ohm's bruises jumped in fear as he heard Simon curse.

Ohm turned to look at his uncle who seemed to be extremely pissed off with something. He waved his hand, dismissing the male servant. After making sure that the male servant was out of the room, he turned his attention to his uncle. "Aa, what happened?"

"Colt got sentenced." Simon clenched his jaws.

"What? I mean how?" Ohm was surprised.

"Colt confessed to the court that everything was his doing and he did it all to get money from Boun and his family."

"That's bullshit!" Ohm exclaimed. Even though he hadn't interacted with Colt much, he could easily guess the kind of guy Colt was.

"I know." Simon badly wanted to take a puff of his cigarette but he didn't want to do it in front of his teenage nephew. "We shouldn't have handed him to the police in the first place."

Simon had kept Colt under his custody till the day Boun woke up. But Seth insisted that they do things legally and Ann seconded him. With his elder brother and sister-in-law pressuring him, Simon had no option but to let go of Colt.

What no one expected was that Colt would be taken to court so soon and he would be sentenced in the first hearing itself.

"Something is fishy here, Aa. We need to talk to Colt." Ohm spoke seriously.

"I don't think we can, Ohm."

"Why Aa?"

"Colt was actually supposed to be sentenced to no less than twenty years for all the crimes including the kidnapping and the procession of drugs, but his sentence was reduced to eight years because he was a minor. He will be transferred to juvenile prison by this evening.

In juvenile prisons, the rules are different, Ohm. Outsiders are not allowed to visit the prisoners. Only their lawyers and family members can visit them."

Ohm stared blankly at Simon. No matter how short the sentence was, Ohm knew that Colt didn't deserve it. the latter hadn't actually done anything, at least not something that would get him an eight years' worth of prison. "Does this mean that the case is closed?"

Simon nodded.

"Aa, we need to talk to our lawyer. We need to reopen this case. The real culprits are yet to be caught. They are wandering out in the streets." Ohm shot up from his seat.

Simon and his men had been unsuccessful in finding any evidence or even a clue about the incident or how the whole incident was orchestrated.

"The case can't be reopened until we get our hands on concrete evidence to prove that the culprit is someone else." Simon clamped his hands together.

Ohm chewed the inside of his lips. Something in him kept telling him that things were not ending there. He and Simon were having a heated discussion over the search process when another person entered the room.

"P' Sing!" Ohm exclaimed in surprise. He didn't expect the older to show up.

Singto was the son of Ohm's paternal aunt. He rarely interfered in anyone's business. Ohm had reached out to him to find help for Boun.

Singto waied at his uncle and raffled Ohm's hair before taking a seat. "I don't understand why you all are so keen on finding evidence against P' Alan."

"Because P' Alan 'is' the one behind this, phi. We need to tear off his mask and reveal his real face to everyone in the family." Ohm's eyes were glowing in anger as he spoke.

Singto chuckled upon hearing Ohm's words.

"What is so funny, phi?" Ohm didn't like the way Singto reacted.

"What is I say P' Alan wasn't actually the one behind this?" Singto leaned back lavishly against the backrest of the couch.

Ohm frowned at Singto. "What do you mean phi?"

"See Ohm, P' Alan is indeed talented and cunning. But do you really think that P' Alan actually has the ability, the connections and the resources to execute something this big? he even got caught by Boun while he was hooking up with that Colt kid. Do you think someone as amateur as him could have influenced the police and even the court to close the case?

Even with such an advanced team with us, we are unable to find even a clue that could give us a lead. Do you think that P' Alan is so powerful? You must be kidding me." Singto rhythmically tapped his fingers on the armrest.

"Now that you mentioned it, it is indeed possible that Alan has someone backing him," Simon said thoughtfully.

"It is not just a possibility, Naa [1]. I am almost hundred per cent sure that P' Alan is not alone in this. He is backed by someone, someone who is much more powerful than we imagined."

"Care to elaborate?" Simon gazed at his nephew. Despite being younger than him, he knew that his nephew was better at solving mysteries than him.

"Take Colt for example. That kid was an orphan who hadn't even met a single rich person in his whole life till a few months ago and today, he became the perfect scapegoat to this whole scheme. All the evidence that was presented in the court today was pointing towards the kid. even if he didn't confess, he would have been punished. Do you have any idea how this happened?" Singto looked at the uncle-nephew duo in front of him.

They shook their head.

"Don't you find it weird that someone like Colt who was dirt poor, someone who was struggling to make ends meet was actually able to get a scholarship in a private school just like that? And the scholarship was not just for the tuition fee, it even paid for his meals and all other necessities that he would need as a student like uniform, shoes, books and everything? Does this make sense to you?"

Neither Simon nor Ohm responded to Singto. They were deep in thought, trying to comprehend the situation.

Seeing the confused expression of the duo in front of him, Singto continued to explain "Leave that part for now. Let's take Boun's condition as an example."

Ohm and Simon looked up at Singto's face in unison when Boun was mentioned.

"You know all of us, including our parents were alumni of Seiyw [2]. But Boun was sent to a completely new high school just because he mentioned that he needed more freedom. Don't you think that it is suspicious? I mean getting admitted to Seiyw is like a tradition in our family. How was Boun exempted from that?"

"P' Sing, are you trying to say that sending Boun to a normal private school instead of sending him to Seiyw was part of the scheme?" Ohm asked.

Singto nodded. "They were setting out a trap for Boun."

"But who would possibly be the schemer who has the ability to lure Boun into the trap?" Simon muttered loud enough for the other two to hear.

[1] Naa - uncle, mother's younger brother
[2] Seiyw - Seiyw International School (fictional), a school meant for aristocrats, all the members of the family attended the said school for high school (except Ohm and Boun.)