The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 312

Chapter 271: Legal Defeat

Bella pov

The courtroom was dead sitent after the judge’s gavel banged down for the final time.

It took exactly three weeks of merciless legal warfare, but the truth did not just surface-it crushed her. Our legal team had dismantled Nadina Volkova’s lies piece by piece. The massive breakthrough came when our investigators uncovered the encrypted text logs and bank transfers proving Nadina wasn’t working alone. She was working hand in hand with Rafe DuBois-one of Caleb’s inner circle executives at Black Enterprises.

Rafe had fed her the internal logistics, the guest lists, and the private schedules, and she had used them to spin her web. Today, both of them were completely exposed.

The simultaneous click of two pairs of steel handcuffs was the most satisfying sound I had heard in years.

Two bailiffs grabbed Nadina by her arms, while two more secured Rafe DuBois right beside her at the defense table. Her expensive silk blouse was wrinkled, her ice-blonde hair messy, and the smug, polished corporate strategist was completely gone.

Rafe looked entirely defeated, his face gray as he stared at the floor. But Nadina thrashed against the guards’ grip, her eyes locking onto me with pure, unadulterated venom.

“You think you’ve won, Bella?” She screamed, her voice cracking as she struggled. “You’re just a shield for a monster! Caleb will discard you again just like he did before! You’re nothing but a pathetic, gullible fool!”

I didn’t flinch. I stepped directly into their path, forcing the bailiffs to halt. I looked between Nadina and Rafe, letting my gaze linger on the metal cuffs locking their wrists together.

“Is that the absolute best you can do, Nadina?” I asked, my voice carrying clearly through the silent courtroom. “Even now, standing here in handcuffs, you are still trying to write a script where you actually matter. You don’t. And Rafe, you thought selling out your CEO from the inside would buy you a kingdom. Both of you are nothing but a footnote. A desperate, pathetic footnote in our lives that we are officially rubbing out today.”

“He wanted me!” Nadina hissed, her face contorting with rage. “He touched me in that hotel! You’re just too blind to see it!”

“He didn’t touch you, and he never wanted you,” I said, taking a slow step closer until I could smell her stale perfume. “The entire world just saw the evidence proving you and Rafe fabricated every single word of your pathetic little fantasy. You took a brief, insignificant moment and tried to turn it into a headline because you realized you had reached the absolute limit of your own mediocre talent. You actually thought you were a brilliant corporate strategist. But the truth is, you’re just a cheap grifter who severely miscalculated her target.”

“I will ruin you both!” Nadina yelled, her chest heaving as she tried to lunge forward. “This isn’t over! I’ll appeal! Rafe and I will tell the press everything!”

“The press is already deleting your names from their articles, Nadina. Nobody cares about a pair of liars who got caught,” I said, my voice dropping into a cold, lethal register. “You tried to weaponize a deeply serious issue-real assault-just to settle a personal grudge and claw for a payout. And Rafe, you

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Chapter 223 regal Defeat

breached every contract and fiduciary duty you had just to help her do it. That is the lowest, most disgusting thing a person can do. You didn’t just try to destroy my husband; you insulted every single woman who has actually survived violence. You are parasites.”

Claim

Nadina choked on her own breath, her face turning purple. “You think you’re so secure up there on your throne, Bella? Look at him! Look at Caleb! He’s a Black. Lies and betrayal are in his blood. He’ll turn on you the second it benefits him, and you’ll be right back where you started, crying on a street corner!”

“Do not project your own pathetic desperation onto my marriage,” I said, my voice hardening. “Caleb and I have faced real wreckage, and we built something unshakeable from the pieces. You and Rafe? You tried to build a career out of a stolen moment and a handful of corporate leaks. You think an appeal is going to save you? Go ahead and try. Our lawyers will gladly drag you through another public humiliation. We will unearth every single cent you tried to hide, every text message you sent to each other, and every single person you tried to bribe to back up your story.”

“You can’t prove anything else!” she shrieked, her knuckles turning white as she twisted against the metal cuffs.

“We already proved enough to put you away, Nadina,” I countered coldly. “That’s why you’re both wearing those handcuffs. Did you really think you could outmaneuver the Marchetti Group and Black Enterprises combined? You threatened my husband, and you threatened the peace of my children. You thought I would hide behind PR statements. But I am an Empress in the boardroom, and I am a mother at home. You never stood a chance.”

“He’s a monster!” she screamed, pointing her cuffed hands toward Caleb. “He ruined my career! He threw me away like trash!”

“You threw your own career away, and Rafe threw his away, the second you decided that extortion and corporate espionage were easier than actual work,” I replied. “Caleb didn’t ruin you. Your own massive, bloated ego did. You are going to spend the next few years staring at a concrete wall, wondering how you managed to lose absolutely everything because you couldn’t accept a closed door. Take a good, long look at me, Nadina. Take a look, Rafe. This is the last time you will ever see my face, and it is the face of the woman who put you behind bars. Now, get them out of my sight.”

“Let go of me! Bella, you’ll pay for this! Caleb, tell them! Tell them the truth!” Nadina shrieked as the bailiffs finally dragged her and Rafe backward through the security door.

Their heels scuffing loudly against the floor was the last sound they made before the heavy wooden door slammed shut, silencing them for good.

The courtroom settled into a profound, peaceful quiet. I turned around. Caleb was standing a few feet behind me, his hands in his pockets, a fierce, proud smile stretching across his face.

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