Chapter 207 - 207: Mr. Judge

Chapter 207 - 207: Mr. Judge

After a car passed through the gate, the judge adjusted his tie and turned off the car. He opened the door of the driver seat stared momentarily at his house ahead.
He sighed, he didn't have a stay in maid as he preferred to be alone. His life revolved around his work since his wife died. Now, he will go inside the empty house, eat, sleep and go back to work again. He will do the same thing tomorrow and until his life end.
"Tsk... what a pathetic life," he commented and left the car. He only has himself to take care and rely on, no kids or relatives he could spend the holidays with.
He entered the house and tossed his briefcase aside. The place was clean just like the way he left it earlier.
He let out a harsh breath as he walked upstairs where his bedroom and study room were located. He will probably spend most of his night in his study so he went straight there.
Opening the door, his eyes caught a person sitting on the swivel chair. Legs crossed and hands holding the armchair tightly.
The darkroom lit up when he pressed the switch, his eyes went wide in surprise to see the woman who kept blackmailing him in his study sitting like she owned the place.
'What now?' he rolled his eyes and sat on the couch a few meters away from her. His sight shifted at the box on the table, he gulped repeatedly while beads of sweat were slowly forming on his forehead.
"What do you want now?" he said those words with a heavy sigh, he leaned his back against the couch and waited for her to state her reason.
"Why did you kill her?" Daniella focused on the judge resting comfortably on the couch.
The judge's eyebrow furrowed, face slowly turned red in shame, "I had an affair with her. Before my wife found out about it, I asked for a break-up but," he paused for a moment to let out a bitter laugh, "she was delusional, she wanted me to divorce my wife and be with her instead."
Daniella leaned closer and rested her elbows on the desk, her palms supported her chin and decided to listen, "it is enough reason to kill her?"
The judged scratched the beard he didn't shave for days, "I was only trying to stop her from attacking my wife. I didn't - " his voice broke upon remembering the past, "I used too much force and she fell down the stairs," by that time, his eyes were staring at his hands, he could still feel the heat of her body before he pushed her, that scene was playing in his head repeatedly for years.
"I love my wife," he said after a long moment of silence, "I will do everything for her."
Daniella nodded and leaned back, she raised her chin and stared at the ceiling.
"Love," she tittered bitterly, "they should forbid it."
Puzzled by her words, the judge rose a brow. The pain in her voice, the look on her face, he realized that she was suffering.
"You are hurting," he stated in a doubting tone.
Daniella tilted her head a little confused why he said those words, crossing her legs with hands holding the armchair, she gave him a mirthless laugh, "hurting?" she shook her head, wondering if the judge has another definition of hurt, "judge I am not hurting but I am pissed."
She got up abruptly, walked towards the window and stood there staring at the night sky.
"You killed that model for your wife and yet she still divorced you," she swung her body to face him but remained by the window, "what did you feel after that?"
Anger rushed over the judge. How dare she to remind him of his painful past. She was right, his wife divorced him after he accidentally killed his mistress but how did she know about it?
He got up, walked towards her with big steps.
"How did you know?" he was dead serious. He always wondered how did she find out about the corpse in his garden, no one knew about it aside from his wife.
"Did my wife tell you this before she died?" by that time, he was standing in front of her, staring at her face desperately hiding her pain.
"What happened to you?" he asked before she could even answer his first question. Her eyes were glooming indifferently, it was definitely different than the one she had the first time they met.
Daniella looked aside, "I am not going to answer any of your questions."
"Then why are you here?"
Daniella ran her tongue over her dry lips, "I am here to return the model. You can throw her, burn her or bury her again in your backyard I don't care."
She walked past him, that's the reason why she came here. Only to return the bones of the woman he killed.
"Also," her lips froze, stopping her from saying the rest of her words.
"What?" he asked in perplexity. Now that she's going to return the skeleton of the model, he's certain that she will be asking for a big favour.
Slightly turning her body to look at him, Daniella parted her lips, "Can I stay here for some days? I don't have any place to go."
Stunned by her request, the judge could not help but nod his head.
"Great. Goodnight Richard."
Daniella has left the room but her voice stating his name played in his mind repeatedly.
He smiled, seemed like he won't be alone for some days in this house,
--
Outside of the warehouse.
Robert's face went poker when he realized that the place was empty. He and Scott didn't have time to clean the warehouse since Daniella didn't order them to do it.
After entering the place, his eyes went wide. The dark place lit up and showed the four chairs in the middle of the empty warehouse. Sitting on the chairs were Claire, Scott, Jenna and Irene. All have their mouth covered with a cloth while their hands and feet were tied up on the chair.
He stared at Irene who was glaring at him. The panic expression on her face made him realized that this was not a prank.
As the situation sunk in his mind, his hand moved to reach for his gun but before he could do that, a hard wood struck his head followed by his sight darkening.
Before his eyes shut, he looked at Irene's face currently shedding tears.