A Stolen Kiss From THE CEO!

95 The Court Opening Process

The Amzone state high court was crowded in and out. Thanks to Chloe’s promises of a glorious retribution on the APB fashion brand, everyone wanted to take a front-row seat in other to witness the show. Also, another reason for the crowd of spectators was due to the recent gossip and speculation of the APB fashion brand’s innocence. This was due to a result of Frost’s confession and Chloe’s last catastrophic interview. Instantly, the courtroom turned into a market square.

News journalists from different television stations, supporting fans and anti-fans of both brands, bloggers, unsolicited paparazzi, gossip magazine representatives, lawyers appareled in black and white, a crowd of spectators, and a lot of private security details and policemen flooded the court premises.

Due to the number of individuals who came to witness the court opening processes, one could mistake the battle between the two brands, for two popular political parties, fighting for a mayor or governorship position.

Outside the courtroom, different journalists interviewed various prominent and overly excited individuals. The majority of the interview questions asked were almost the same.

“Who do you think would win this court battle?...”

“Do you think APB fashion brand is guilty of the theft allegations?...”

“What do you think of Mr. Frost’s viral confession?...”

“What do you think should be the right punishment for the culprits of the theft crime?...”

“Do you think Miss Chloe Robinson has jeopardized her company’s chance of winning the court battle due to her last catastrophic interview?...”

.....

“What can you say about Miss Ariella Treshvire’s continuous silence in all of this matter?...”

The question and answer sessions were never ending as more eager individuals gave their speculative opinions and suggestions.

Whenever a prominent individual arrived within the courthouse premises, they were attacked and swamped by overzealous journalists; who kept acting as though there was a huge reward for getting the hottest news first.

Finally, about a few minutes before 9:00 AM, the main parties of the court proceeding arrived at their number.

First on the list were: Leon and Ariella, closely followed by Denise and Tom. As expected journalists scrambled after them to get juicy information. However, Leon’s security details were on top of their job, ensuring that Leon and his entourage were unharassed by the eager journalist.

Second on the list to arrive at the court venue was a surprisingly humble Chloe who was closely followed by her stoned face mum. They were also led in by another group of heavily armed security details.

At first, Anna Robinson had no intention of attending the court opening process due to the humiliation she was going to face. However, her husband instructed her to accompany Chloe and see to it that Chloe complied with the confession plan. He also instructed his men to ensure that Frost and Jane were trialed and kidnapped immediately after the court process was concluded.

Due to Chloe’s calm and humble state, rumors and gossip started spreading around like wildfire.

There were claims that Chloe seem to have accepted defeat even before the court proceedings started. Others said that her calm demeanor was a crafty tactic to finish off the APB fashion brand.

Finally, a heavily guarded Frost and Jane arrived in a black tinted bulletproof van. Before they stepped out of the van, barricades were placed to prevent the crowd from assaulting or harming them.

Leon’s men were pre-informed about a possible assault on Frost’s life. Hence they guarded him with all their might ready to take a bullet in his place. Leon has stressed that if any bullet was to hit Frost, it must come from Ella’s gun.

Frost and Jane were led into the courtroom amidst screams of insults and booing from the crowd.

When all parties involved in the contest, including their attorney were comfortably seated inside the courtroom, the judge stepped in.

“All rise!” The bailiff cried out.

In obedience, everyone stood up. When the judge had taken his seat, everyone settled in and the event of the day kicked off smoothly.

The judge gave a short opening speech about the rules and decorum to be observed in his courtroom. Afterwards, he made a short announcement that led to muffled whispers and murmuring.

In his short speech, the judge stated the fact that both the defendant and prosecuting team have decided to come to an agreement and settlement of the issue at hand. He also declared that a short confession and apology statement will be granted to the defendant team(Ella’s team), by the prosecuting team (Chloe’s team). He stated that this apology will be aired live as decided by the aggrieved parties. Then after a short speech by the CEO of APB brand, the court sitting would be adjourned.

Due to the heightened murmuring and noise in the courtroom, the judge struck his gavel on his desk severally, to attain decorum.

The first witness called up to the witness stand was Frost. He trudged up the dock, with face bowed down. His heart was so heavy with pain and guilt, that he wished for an instant death rather than giving another confession. His conscience was in conflict as one part wanted to be remorseful and the other wanted to cause more harm.

In his remorseful and empathic mind, he imagined the walk of shame Ella took the day she displayed her stolen designs. ‘Was this what it felt like?’ he questioned his subconscious. A tear escaped his eyes as he looked up and stared into the angry eyes of the audience glaring at him. He caught sight of Anna Robinson’s haunted scowls and quickly averted her gaze.

Feeling a need to unburden his heart, Frost started by saying; “I am very sorry!” His voice was weak and broken. “I have brought nothing but shame to my family, my company, my friends, my partners, and most especially to Mrs. Ariella Treshvire.” He focused his gaze on Ariella, who was currently scowling at him.

“Ariella, you are by far the most talented and greatest creative designer F&K fashion home had been privileged to work with. We treated you really badly and now, I guess we are suffering the consequences.” Frost shook his head at the realization of the words he just spoke. Indeed, they were all paying the price now for causing Ariella so much pain.

“I connived with Jane White to steal from APB company, with the aim of bringing APB brand down. I gave those designs to my company and the greedy CEO, Chloe Robinson, claimed them as her own. Even though Chloe might claim to be innocent and unaware of the stolen designs, she is one hundred percent guilty of the theft accusations.”

“By this confession, I’m stating categorically that the winter fashion show collection displayed by F&K fashion home, were all stolen ideas of the APB fashion brand. I hope you all find a place in your heart to forgive me.” Frost bowed his head and stepped out of the witness box.

There was another wave of murmuring as Frost took his seat.

The judge had to strick the gavel on his desk several times before the noise ceased. He quickly passed on a final note of warning for decorum and threatened a close-door session if the noise continued.

After Frost was done confessing his crime, Jane White came up next and corroborated Frost’s story with a little extra of her own. She spitefully painted Frost for the pretentious monster that he was. Then, she apologizes to Ella for her crime against the APB fashion brand.

When Chloe was finally called up to the witness stand, the courtroom fell silent. Everyone held their breath as they waited for a beautiful drama display, from Amzone city’s number one drama queen.

Unfortunately, to their disappointment, the feisty and arrogant Chloe everyone knew was nowhere to be found. The all-new humble and easily frightened Chloe walked slowly and cautiously to the witness stand. Every step she took was as though she was getting closer to the gates of hell.

Inwardly, Chloe’s heart was shattered. Her parents had confiscated everything attached to her name. In her current state, even a street beggar was richer than her. The spiteful words of her mom kept replaying in her head.

Chloe’s mum had warned her about the dangers of going against her father’s last instructions. She told her that her father’s mind was currently poisoned with all her evil schemes and that he was seeking blood at every cost. She also advised her to play along with her father’s decision and maybe she might get back everything that was taken away from her.

When Chloe had mounted the witness stand, she started by saying the first four shocking words: “I am sorry, Ariella!”

“What!” Someone in the audience screamed at the top of her voice.

Instantly, the courtroom turned into a crazy market square.

“This can’t be?...”

“It’s not true! Take that back, Chloe!”

“Die on the spot, b**ch!”

“F&K brands are criminals!...”

Shouts of displeasure and curses came from different angles in the courtroom as people stood and voice out their opinions.

“Order!”

Bang!

Bang!!

“Order!” The judge struck his gavel while shouting at the top of his voice. After a while, he signaled the court deputy and the courtroom was cleared of everyone except for the aggrieved parties and the requested news crew.

However, outside the courtroom, the news about Chloe’s apology had spread like wildfire. There were commotion between fans and anti-fans of her brands.

Most fans of the F&K fashion brand were greatly enraged by Chloe’s confession. While some diehard supporters claimed various wild conspiracy theories, others were disgusted by her and even planned on decamping to the winning brand.

Before long, a serious fight broke up between the two brand supporters as some of the fateful APB fans took matters into their own hands. They were enraged by all the humiliation they had been made to suffer for the past two days.

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