Santa Monica Courthouse.

The judge entered the courtroom as the bailiff informed the audience. "All rise for Judge Freemont, presiding judge for today's case!"

Everyone in the room stood and acknowledged. The judge advised all to sit.

"Prosecution, give us your case." mused Judge Freemont.

Jeremy Sacks stood, turned around his back and winked at Mallory, "Just stay put. We'll have this in a jiffy."

Mallory gave a faint smile, but her eyes can't be seen because she wore some sunglasses to conceal the reddening of her eyes due to the incessant crying.

'Mom, justice will prevail for you and our family.' she though silently.

After Jeremy gave his opening clause, the defense counsel stood and gave a cold gaze at the prosecution bench. Then a booming voice permeated in the whole room.

Because of such strength, Mallory got startled and looked towards the source of the voice - it came from a towering figure. She was surprised and pushed down her shades to get a better look - 'My, such arrogance!' She exclaimed in thought.

Despite her musings of the defense lawyer, she cannot help but stare at him - his crewcut hair that gave a macho look, his two-eyelid eyes, his prominent nose, and those lips, thin and sexy.

Having those thoughts, Mallory shuddered and averted her gaze away from the lawyer across the bench.

'What the hell, Mallory, don't be such a wanton and stop entertaining those thoughts...'

The hearing proceeded with swiftness and after the witnesses were called and were done giving their testimonies, the prosecution handed the witnesses over to the defense for cross-examination.

Much to the surprise of everyone, the defense lawyer quashed all the testimonies of the last witness as she was proven to have testified in court before and gave a false statement. Thus, her statements were not held credible. To add, the defense lawyer even went to a point of making it sound like Mallory's mother was in no condition to be crossing the street because of her mental status. He was so good at producing statements, so f*cking good, they became marketable.

Mallory stood in disbelief and screamed, "My Mom isn't insane! How can she have mental issues when she is a teacher? If she was crazy, she won't know about the pedestrian lane!" Mallory became hysterical that she was stomping her heels while giving put her points.

In between her lamentations, the defense lawyer bellowed, overpowering her whims and said, "We rest our case, Your Honor."

Judge Freemont banged the gavel on her bench and yelled to the court audience: "ORDER IN THE COURT! Mr. Sacks, please restrain your client or I will hold you in contempt. Ms. Taylor, get a hold of yourself. Do not disrupt the court's proceedings. Everything will be taken into consideration, this is what the courts are for, Ma'am."

The judge further mentioned, "Court shall have a recess and will resume on Friday, come two weeks from today." She banged on her gavel once, stood up, and left.

The defense team then stood up, moved towards the center aisle and went passed Mallory and her lawyer. She then saw the defendant Marcus Bennett remove his

shades and mockingly smiled at Mallory. "Good luck, crazy daughter! You'll never get me to jail!" He then walked while snickering.

Mallory, distraught, slumped to her seat, feeling defeated. Jeremy then removed his coat and placed them on her shoulders to keep her warm.

"Hey, Champ, don't be disheartened. That's their demoralizing tactic. Stay strong and hold on for Auntie and Uncle." Jeremy said, his voice filled with comfort.

"I know, Jer," said Mallory. "But the way justice is being served here would really depend on how much you can pay to bend the law. If that's the case, why do we have the courts? I only wanted justice for my mom and all amends must be indulged to Dad for suffering so long. What did we do wrong, Jer?" Mallory said as her heavy tears fell and smeared her eyeliners.