11 June, Madam Mo's apartment, City K

Madam Mo, picked up a cup of tea, placing her tablet down for a few seconds while she had a sip, before sitting the cup back down and picking the tablet back up.? Despite what people thought, she was not dumb and knew that social media was the way to influence how people thought about things.

The last couple of days had been horrendous.? It took almost an hour in the bathroom last night as well as almost three hours of treatment from her hairdresser and beautician to even get rid of the smell of the police cells.? How dare that brat of a daughter and that piece of trash put her in that place.

Then there was her cousin Jade.? The rest of her family had disowned her parents, who when everything that went down with her father happened turned their backs on the family.? That act of betrayal resulted in about sixty percent of the family wealth being confiscated.? That simple act had impacts even through today.

Her mother spent the remainder of her life after her father died living in, what could be described as poverty.? She lost her marital home, her favourite jewellery, access to the money that she had previously had, was shunned by her friends, and ostracised by the balance of the family simply because of those two.? All she had was the money and the apartment that her father had been able to protect for her in manipulating the terms of the marriage contract signed between their families.? It did not give her what she needed to live the life that she deserved.? Even the a*se of a husband of hers resented everything she did to ensure that her mother had that life.

Her poor father had been seen by everyone else as having brought the family down, simply because of the turncoats, had no option but to do what he did as the whole of his family abandoned him simply for carrying on the family business and traditions to maintain and grow the family wealth.? The whole lot of them when the betrayal happened did everything, they could, to protect what they had, despite disowning the real perpetrators of the problems.? They never cared about family; it was always the money.? He would never have survived prison; hence he took the only option open to him.? While always missing her father, at least he escaped without being branded a criminal.

The funny thing was, despite all that betrayal, her generation attempted to rebuild relationsh.i.p.s between cousins.? No one, at the outset wanted anything to do with Jade, because of her parents.? As Jade, before everything happened had been her favourite cousin, in the end she persuaded everyone else to eventually forgive her.

Talking to her other cousins once she felt clean last night was that Jade, due to her position in the Justice Department in the capital had advance knowledge of her pending arrest and she said nothing.? There words were, she was a back-stabbing b*tch.

Unlike everyone else who was immediately ready to condemn Jade, she was not going to do so, at least until she had spoken to her.? Jade's explanation was that there was nothing she could do to prevent the charges and her arrest, but what she was able to do was behind the scenes.? She was able to pressure the courts to appoint sympathetic judge to get her out on bail.

Madam Mo was not certain if that was what happened.? How could a mid-level official in the justice department influence the appointment of a judge in a criminal case in City K?? It did not make sense, but on the surface, she would trust Jade as to the movement of the case.? Trusting her was another thing.

Before she could finish her search on social media, her mobile rang, so she placed the tablet back down, and quickly picked up the mobile, noticing Jade's number come up.? As soon as she answered it she heard "Cousin."

As nicely as possible Madam Mo responded "Jade, how are you?"

"I just wanted to ring up and again apologise for not alerting you.? I was not working this weekend, and no one I worked with connected you to me, so I had no idea what was coming.? Promise me you know I would have told you about your pending arrest if I knew."

"Jade, we had this discussion last night.."

"I know we did, but the rest of our cousins have been ringing and abusing me for not alerting you."

Madam Mo smiled.? Everyone else was venting their displeasure and Jade's personality was she wanted to belong to the family despite the past and she could not take it.

"Jade, you know our family past.? Why would you not expect that they would view you being exactly like your parents.."

"But.."

"Jade, the only advice I can give you is do not argue with them.? They will act as they act.? As I told you I will give you the benefit of the doubt, because you have not done anything to me that says you are not like your parents."

Jade, somewhat more relaxed, said "Thank you.? I have been out at a meeting, so I have been able to call you.? There are already a few rumours that there may be something about the military exerting jurisdiction.."

"I thought that only I could opt for it."

"That is the strange thing.? What I know is that there is no basis for that.? With the civilian judge that has been appointed, you do not want that.? On what I can see, and what most people in the justice department say, it will be hard for you to be convicted.? Just let me see what I can find out, and I will call you tonight."

"Thank you Jade."? With that Madam Mo, ended the call.

Placing the mobile down, she smiled.? Jade was useful.? Madam Mo picked up her tablet and looked at the search results.? What the..!

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