His Devious Rule

Linus was glad Alvin was responding to Anya. He breathed a sigh of relief wishing everything to be smooth between Anya and Alvin. However, the air seemed to turn intense after Alvin responded.

Anya\'s voice sounded menacingly dangerous when she asked her next question, "What were you two doing at my place?"

She placed a file on the jury panel to show them the pictures of the two young men at her place and a copy of her house papers and pictures of her house.

Linus was aware it was a process of questioning thus he didn\'t take Anya\'s tone seriously. Regardless, he could sense they have to answer the question and Anya might not ask the reason behind their action.

He glanced at Alvin as he responded first, "To steal the hard disk."

\'Such a waste of time.\' Alvin couldn\'t understand when she had proof of why those old men had to listen to them accept. His uninterested tone followed after Linus, "To steal."

Anya sneered right after, "Such a sacred work to be proud of."

Linus: "…"

She was cool while handling her work but being questioned, Linus didn\'t like Office Owen anymore. Anya Owen felt better to speak with.

Chief Justice was satisfied she wasn\'t going smooth on two men just because she reacquainted with them.

Anya questioned as she fiddled through a file and found the microchip in a small transparent pouch, "Who told you I had the hard disk?"

"My Father, Bernard Collins."

"Uncle Bernard."

Anya\'s eyes settled on Bernard who looked very calm but couldn\'t look into her eyes for long.

"Who were you going to hand it to? Harper Johnson?"

Linus frowned as he responded to the question, "For my father."

"For his father." Alvin\'s bored voice sounded.

First Anya played a video in which Alvin was asking her about the hard disk when she was half-conscious. "Bernard Collins gave me the hard disk and asked his son and nephew to steal the hard disk from me. Then why didn\'t President Collins keep it with himself?"

The jury members looked at each other, finding Bernard\'s actions suspicious.

Linus was about to speak, Bernard patted his hand to stay quiet. He understood where this was going. Anya wanted him to speak about his motive.

A jury member voiced his confusion watching the video. "Officer Owen, you seem to be…" He didn\'t find the right word. Anya won\'t drink on such a day, she wouldn\'t be sleeping that way when a man was in her room. "… Out of your control." He completed it.

Anya nodded, "I was half-conscious." She turned to the door and instructed the cop, "Bring the Matron and girl."

Linus had updated her about the little girl who gave her flowers. The little girl was an orphan, growing up in an orphanage. For the money, the matron of the orphanage made the little girl act out.

A middle-aged lady entered the hall with a girl. The girl was wearing the same knitted scarf Anya gave her. She smiled as soon as her eyes landed on Anya.

Anya\'s eyes turned gentle looking at the innocent smile of the girl. There wasn\'t any officer standing there but a mother. Anya extended her hand and the girl ran over leaving the matron\'s hand.

"Sister, do you remember me?" She asked, pointing at the scarf. "You gave me this scarf."

Anya hummed, "How are you doing?"

"I am a good sister." She grinned. She was about to ask something, Anya stood next to her and held her shoulders. "What is your name?" Her voice sounded like the soothing melody of a song.

,m The girl looked around. She wasn\'t afraid, rather curious about the serious-looking people, "I am Angela from Arlaan orphanage."

"Angela, do you remember you gave me a bunch of white roses?"

Angela nodded but her face fell. She promptly confessed looking at Anya, "Sister, I wasn\'t selling flowers. My matron and a few uncles asked me to give the roses to you."

Anya nodded and turned Angela around. "Are those the two uncles you met that evening?" She pointed at Alvin and Linus. Because her unconscious state was taken advantage of by them first.

Linus: "…"

Angela looked at the handsome men and shook her head. Before she could open her lips, she noticed three men who had lowered their heads. She leaped on her feet and pointed to those men, "Sister, those uncles… They are hiding their faces."

Angela left Anya\'s side and ran away. She reached the three men and pointed at them, "Sister, this, this, and this uncle."

Anya helplessly smiled as she called the girl, "Angela…" The girl ran back and received a chocolate bar from Anya, "Thank you, sister."

Anya felt bad for the lively sweet girl being orphaned. She could adopt the girl but that will compromise Zane\'s comfortable life. She might be kind, but she was also selfish. "Your new matron will bring you to an orphanage. Take care."

Angela\'s face instantly fell. Well, she smiled brightly, "Bye…" She went out and Anya let out a sigh.

Soon her expression morphed to coldness looking at the matron, "Matron, why did you ask Angela to send me flowers?"

The middle-aged lady stumbled back and lied, "I-I didn\'t."

Anya paused. A sinister smile appeared on her face. Lying? She was prepared for all the lies. She opened the file and called out three names. The three men stood up and Anya asked, "Could you identify those men?"

Matron lied, wiping her cold sweat, "I don\'t know them."

Before she could finish, Anya held a picture out, right in front of the matron\'s face. "Then this woman must be your doppelganger standing with those men and Angela."

The woman flustered and started screaming, "That isn\'t me. I didn\'t do anything. I don\'t know anything…"

A lady cop rushed inside. Anya kept the picture in the file and passed it to the lady cop as she informed the matron, "President Cooper has started legal procedures against you." Arlaan orphanage is under the Skyline whose President is Aria Cooper.

The lady cop dragged the lady away with the proof.

Anya looked at the three men and questioned, "Why did you send me flowers?"

The men clenched their teeth. They discerned she has proof yet lowered their head and maintained their silence.

Jason snickered loudly, "I guess, the three men didn\'t have the guts to woo Officer Owen directly."

The jury panel burst into laughter, easing the tension in the air. The Chief Justice smiled in resignation. Alvin\'s eyes shifted from Anya to Jason and glared at him.

Anya: "…"

She left the file and the desk and went towards the three men. "Then I should give my response directly." She said through her teeth.

Alvin: "…"

The three men noticed her and a man stammered out, "W-we wanted to steal the hard disk on your way home."

Jason asked, pulling the microphone up, "By giving her flowers?"

Anya: "…"

The man shook his head vigorously glancing at Anya who looked like she was going to rip their faces, "The flower was sprayed with chloroform and sprinkled with inducing powder."

Anya paused in her steps. She proved the reason behind her unconscious state to the jury members and chief Justice.

She didn\'t bother confirming with the other two men. She asked as she returned to her desk, "Did these two hire you guys?"

Linus: "…"

\'What is your problem?\' He wanted to ask.

The three men wanted to nod but Alvin\'s deadly glare shifted to them. A man blurted the truth, "Nope."

Anya stopped in front of the Chief Justice and jury panel, "The hard disk location wasn\'t only leaked by Bernard Collins to his son and nephew, it was also leaked by another person who aimed to make me faint. Alvin Matthews took the advantage of my half-conscious state and found the hard disk. Nonetheless, the hard disk was empty."

Anya placed the microchip in front of Jason. Only he could extract all the compressed data. She spoke as she took steps back, "It was indeed against the rule to copy and shift the confidential data of the hard disk. However, I had to do so due to the risk of location leaking which will put me in danger." Thus her actions proved her and she wasn\'t blamed for her actions. And it also proves Alvin didn\'t get the content of the hard disk.

Jason signaled the cop at the door to get him a laptop to check the content of the microchip. Meanwhile, Chief Justice noted down the points that he knew for a week. Even if she hadn\'t mentioned the transfer of the data, she had all the right to do so as a Secret Service officer.

Five men were still standing when Anya called out another name, "Kyle Reynolds." Anya\'s sharp voice resonated before she even turned around to face Kyle.

Kyle felt his heart skip a beat in fluster. He jerked up, jarring the chair on the floor. Glancing at the chair, he stammered his apology for creating noise, "I-I am sorry."

Anya caught Alvin rolling his eyes. Alvin snorted in his mind, thinking as he was well suited for his Little Donut, nobody else.

Anya ignored Alvin\'s reaction and Kyle\'s apology. She questioned him, "Who knew about the hard disk location in the beginning?" She added, "Answer to the question." She wanted the spy to relax for some more time.

"President Collins, me and you," Kyle responded in composure.

"President Collins leaked to his son and nephew. I am not an idiot to put myself in danger. So did you leak to somebody?"

Kyle clenched his fist and accepted, "I did."

Bernard: "…"

He couldn\'t believe Kyle accepted so easily when Anya questioned him. His team was asking Kyle the whole week yet Kyle spilled nothing.

If Kyle liked Anya Owen, why did he have to reveal the hard disk location to Harper? If Kyle hadn\'t leaked, anything Bernard wouldn\'t be sitting there like a wrongdoer.