"Don''t listen to rence, Mom and Dad! Things aren''t what he said at all!"


    Hunter defended himself exasperatedly. "rence and Steven were in it together, setting me up in court. He''s trying to get Steven out of trouble by painting me as the bad guy. I think Be and Justin paid them out. They are just the Thompsons''pdogs-"


    "Ugh!"


    Unable to take it anymore, rence cut Hunter off with a punch in the face.


    More ruthless than Steven, rence struck Hunter''s nose bridge. Hunter staggered back from the blow and suffered a nosebleed.


    "You never learn."


    rence flicked his sore fingers, his eyes burning with rage. "If you want to believe Steven and I are in it together, so be it. What are you going to do about it?"


    Hunter held his swollen nose and pointed shakily at rence''s face. "You! You!"


    rence took one lingering look at the grateful couple before bending over to gather his dropped briefcase. He retrieved a stack of letters from inside and approached Neil solemnly to hand them over. "What are these?" Confused, Neil took the letters.


    "These are the letters ofint from the public that I have received during my three years as the presiding judge. They are all cases in which Hunter worked with the defendants. These poor citizens don''t have the money and power to hire an attorney like Hunter, so they have to take a loss in court even though they were victims. They can''t ever see justice served.


    "Hence, they sent letters to the court,


    calling Hunter out for his vile


    practices. I have read each and


    every letter more than once, and I


    often tossed and turned in bed just thinking about the contents."


    With red-rimmed eyes, rence choked up. "I''ve not been a fair judge for the past three years. I knew what Hunter was up to, but I chose family over justice. I locked those letters in a drawer for the sake of Mom and Dad''s feelings and to uphold Hunter''s reputation. I regret that now, and I me myself for it. I have be an aplice to his crimes. I have disgraced my robe. So I n to resign once this matter is over."


    Neil cked out and lost his footing.


    "Resign? You have gone mad, silly child! What are you saying?"N?velDrama.Org: owner of this content.


    Heartbroken, Chelsea wailed. "You''ve been through so much to get to where you are today. You are the only child who followed in your father''s footsteps. Your father is so proud of you. How can you resign?"


    Amelia was sensible enough to realize Neil was not doing well. She went to help him up. "Please sit down, sir."


    She carefully sat Neil down and instructed Steven softly, "Get your father something to drink, Steve."


    "Right away!" Steven, as one to listen to his wife, went to pour a drink.


    Neil nced at Amelia while catching his breath.


    For some reason, he did not hate Amelia getting close to him.


    In fact, Neil felt ttered.