"I'm going to keep this as short and concise as ever."

Victoria glared at Rafael as she watched him push the brown file in front of him to her side of the table.
"Feel free to go through it for as long as you want."

Her lawyer quickly pulled it to his side and opened it, not hesitating one bit. For someone who had reserved the entire top floor of the restaurant just so that no one had to see or know what was about to happen, Victoria sure knew she had no reason to rush anything.

Philip on the other hand, scoffed out loudly, slowly raising his head just so it could meet with Rafael's gaze.

"What is this?" He asked as Victoria turned her head slightly to have a look at the paper in the file. "An autopsy request?"

Victoria let out a tiny grin as Rafael slowly turned to her.

"Please give us your permission to perform an autopsy on your late son."

"Is this some kind of a joke?"
Rafael slowly turned back to Philip not minding the grin on his face "Come on Barrister Okonkwo, you can't be serious. I know you're known to get a little desperate in all your cases but this-" he scoffed "But this is really low and pathetic."

"What's pathetic about wanting a real autopsy report that could help us both solve this case? Isn't that what we all want? Answers?"

Philip leaned forward.

"That corpse has been laid to rest six years ago. Do you know what that means?" He stared at Rafael who didn't look the perturbed in the least. "Who would want to cut open a six years old corpse? I mean we barely have good enough pathologists and equipments for autopsies on a fresh corpse in this country talk more of a six years old dead body. How on earth do you intend to pull this off and even if you do, with what funds?"

"I and my team, we've made arrangements to fly the corpse to the United States in a few weeks as soon as that consent form is signed. Where I'm getting the money from should not be your problem."

Philip rolled his eyes.

"Don't you think this is too much? Don't you think you're going too far? Your client has been freed from this case, why are you still bothering yourself with it?"

"When have I ever started something that I didn't finish?" Rafael cut him off. He snorted. "You should know me by now Philip, when I sense something fishy, I find the fish no matter what it takes."

He slowly turned to Victoria who just kept her eyes glaring at him with a huge frown on her wrinkled face.

"You don't need to sign that form if you don't want to." He told her "You're not your son's only family or next of kin. This was just me showing you some respect as his mother, if you won't sign it, then I'd find someone who can."
Victoria pursed her lips

"You think Mr Silver is going to support this?"
He slowly turned back to Philip "You think he's going to let you fly his only brother's remains hours away from this county just to cut him open again?"

"Barrister Philip, for someone who has studied the law for a better part of his life, I'm really disappointed you think the sibling or parent are the first or only relatives on the next of kin list especially in cases like this?"

Philip narrowed his gaze on Rafael for a minute. He needed to think and when he understood, he exhaled loudly.

"Olivia Silver."
Rafael clicked his tongue.

"Bingo."

"You're going to get her to sign consent?"

"I don't see why not, she was his wife after all, his next of kin and right now, she'd do anything to find out who the real murderer is and make them pay for the six years they took from her. I'm sure she'd be more than willing to comply."

"Just how far are you willing to go Rafael? How far do you really want to take this?"

Rafael leaned closer, his eyes glaring into Philip's with a crooked smile on his lips. He was about to speak when ...

"How much do you need?"

Everyone paused for a second.

The smile on Rafael's lips grew even wider just as Philip relaxed inside his chair after letting out an exasperated sigh. He knew that was probably not a good idea but he wanted to see if it could actually work.

Rafael and Susan slowly turned to her.

"I've heard about you." She said, still trying to remain calm, trying to hide the huge frown on her lips as she focused on him. "The handsome, dedicated young man that gave up being the heir of his father's business just so he could practice the law but I know in a country like ours, the law isn't really appreciated. Lawyers aren't paid much which means you have a price. Name it. Ten million? twenty million-"

"Mrs Silver-" Philip sat straight, leaning closer to her, trying to get her to stop. She was obviously making a mistake. Rafael scoffed.

"Fifty million?"

"Ma," Philip called again. He let out a sarcastic chuckle. He wasn't sure bribing Rafael was a good move.

"I'd write you a cheque right now, you can cash it out by tomorrow." She was practically ignoring her lawyer. "Just tell me what it would cost you to drop this case."

Rafael sat straight just as Susan chuckled silently.

"This couldn't get any better." He looked into her eyes.

"This is me being really kind to you right now Mr Okonkwo. I hate getting my hands dirty but I don't hesitate when someone tries to call my bluff. Take the money and drop this case while I'm still playing nice or things might just get really dirty. D'iaye ba a s'oko s'oja, o le la a ba ia l'onen, you don't go around throwing stones in a market place or it might just end up hitting someone you really care about, or even you."

Philip rolled his eyes. He was really frustrated at where this was going

Rafael chuckled for a bit.

"Mrs Silver, you honestly need to watch yourself." He glared at her "Your lawyer should have informed you that it is a crime punishable by law to bribe or threaten an officer of the law and even obstruct justice, guess who just did all three."

Philip leaned closer.

"Rafael," he tried to talk to Rafael but he leaned even closer, fixing his eyes on Victoria, not blinking for a second.

"How much are you worth?" He asked her. She exhaled in disgust "How much is your company worth? " he pushed on then let out a loud scoff "What? Ten million? Twenty million?" He chuckled again. He couldn't stop himself from laughing so hard, so much so that it got Victoria a bit frightened. "This is so hilarious."

Philip was really embarrassed for Victoria. He was having a hard time hiding it.

Rafael frowned a bit.

"I'm not the one to talk to Mrs Silver. I'm not the one to go up against or make to feel inferior with your wealth and empty threats."

Victoria sneered.
She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe how bold this man in front of her was, brave.

"I'm really sorry for my Client's behavior Rafael."
Rafael slowly turned to Philip
"I'm sure she didn't mean it."

"You should keep her in check, people might start to think she's trying to hide something."

"What?" Victoria asked him just as he got up slowly, buttoning his jacket.

"I'd take it as this meeting didn't go well and my request for consent was denied. I guess I don't really have a choice then."

He continued as Susan hurriedly reached for the brown booklet on the table.

He looked at Victoria

"We'd see you both in court soon enough." He smiled and turned to walk away before he paused. He couldn't just leave, he wasn't done yet. He turned back.

"It's Barrister Rafael from now on."
He glared at Philip.

"Huh?" He didn't understand

"You called me Rafael before." He added. "This is a legal meeting and it's only normal you refer to
me as the law permits."

He turned to Victoria

"My firm would be sending the sum of ten million to your foundation tomorrow morning, in cash." He told her. "It's just our little way of giving back to the society, of making sure those children are well taken care of just like we've always done for the past three years. Do put it into good use and ask whoever that's in charge to reach out to my firm if you'd ever need more. Children are a blessing and they deserve all we can possibly give them."

Susan Scoffed loudly, trying to stop herself from laughing so hard but Victoria's face kept making her want to roll on the ground with the way she was trying so hard to hide her surprise, shame and disgust.

He exhaled and turned before anyone could say anything else. He stormed out.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Olivia pressed the door bell again.

She could have sworn that if whoever it was behind that gate kept ignoring her, she was going to kick it till it came down. She didn't care anymore, she was going to get them to listen even if it meant hitting the large gate till her hands were sore.

"Open this gate Victoria!" she yelled as hard as she could, pounding as hard as she could on the gate. "I know you're in there and you can hear me."

Not like anyone from the mansion could hear her yell. The large house was so far from the gate but at least, the security must have alerted them already.

"Give me back my daughter Victoria! I want my daughter!" Her fists were becoming really sore now but she kept going. She wasn't going to stop until she was attended to.

She could barely notice the heads that popped out from the neighboring houses to look at what was going on.

"Give me my daughter back Victoria or I promise you, I won't step an inch away from this place!"

Olivia pounded even harder.

She was getting really exhausted and her fists were getting numb now, both of them. She needed to breathe, she needed to catch her breath.

"Victoria!" She pounded lazily again. Her arms were tired. No one was coming to the gate, no one was listening to her . "Victoria open this gate!" She yelled again,  totally ignoring the screeching sound of car tires approaching the gate. No she did notice, she just didn't care who it was driving it.

It came to a stop right in front of the gate and the door flew open.

"I'm not leaving here till you let me in Victoria, you don't even have to, all I want is my daughter!"

"Olivia?" Olivia paused at the sound of the voice she heard behind her.

She could feel her heart beat regularize. She recognized that voice, she slowly turned around, gasping for air as her hair stuck to the beads of sweat on her face.

Her hand slowly fell from her waist the moment her eyes clashed with Austin's. He was staring at her for a while, surprise written all over his face, his eyes lowering to her bruised hand.

He slowly turned back to her and exhaled.

What on earth was he supposed to do with her?