Jason nced down at her, with a hint of a question in his eyes.


    Estre, on the verge of saying something, finally just smiled reassuringly, “It’ll happen


    when it’s meant to be.”


    With a nomittal grunt, Jason bent down and kissed her cheek. As he moved to kiss her lips,


    Estre pushed him away, “You reek of booze. Go shower first, and I’ll make you


    some tea.”


    “Damn, can’t even get a kiss now,” Jason grumbled yfully, pinching her cheek before taking the


    clothes she had pressed into his arms and heading to the bathroom.


    Watching Jason’s retreating figure, Estre couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.


    Soon after, when Jason emerged from the bathroom, Estre had brewed the tea and even prepared a


    fruit tter for him, ying the part of the doting wife for a change.


    Jason wrapped his arms around her. As he was about to kiss her, Estre blocked him, “Eat something


    first to line your stomach.”


    This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Jason eyed her suspiciously. Estre picked up a slice of fruit with a smirk, “If you don’t fill up, I doubt


    you’ll have the staminater.”


    Jason was momentarily speechless-wasn’t she always the one begging for mercy?


    Estre fed him fruit, and after a few bites, Jason’s kisses became more urgent, though not as fierce,


    betraying the weight on his mind. With her arms around his neck, Estre whispered, “Still not over it?


    Should I go out and pick up a kid for us right now?”


    That made Jasonugh, “Would any kid be the same as one you’d give birth to?” With that, he yfully


    tumbled her onto the bed.


    Estre braced herself against his shoulders, “Easy tiger, remember my stomach.”


    Jasonughed again, “I can’t reach that far.”


    Estre burst intoughter, “Jason, you’re even naughtier than I am!


    Their fingers interlocked. Then, Jason leaned down to kiss her deeply. He gotta work hard to get


    Estre pregnant.


    After their lovemaking, Estre was left exhausted on the bed, and Jason easily pulled her into his


    arms. Half-awake, she muttered into his neck, “We’ll have a child someday eventually, just be good to


    me.”


    Jason nuzzled her gently, affirming with a soft hm,’ though it wasn’t clear exactly what he was agreeing


    to.


    Over the weekend, Estre made a trip to the office and took some time to rest at home.


    10:41


    Come Monday, Lexi’s trial resumed.


    Entering the courtroom alongside Zoey, Estre saw Nick standing cocky and smug, his hands in his


    pockets as if the case was already won. His arrogance inmed Zoey’s eyes to red, while Jeffery and


    Haley in the audience regretted ever misjudging such a man and agreeing to the marriage.


    As both parties returned to their seats, the judge and jury arrived, and the judge announced the


    continuation of the trial, turning to Estre to ask, “Does the intiff have any new evidence rting to


    the charges of intentional harm and murder?”


    Rising confidently, Estre replied, “Your Honor, regarding the case of Mr. Lexi’s fall and her injuries,


    we have new evidence and insist on charging the defendant, Mr. Nick, with


    intentional harm and murder.”


    “Let’s review some images and videos of the defendant to establish his motive for the alleged murder,”


    Estre continued, picking up a remote and casting images of Nick and Piper together onto the


    projection screen.


    “As you can see, the defendant Nick met thedy in the photos, Piper, at an upscale gym in town this


    April. Piper, 34, is a divorced entrepreneur with two sessful clothing businesses, both online and in


    brick-and-mortar stores, and is quite well-known.”


    “Piper is financially stable. In the seven months since meeting Nick, she has transferred him a total of


    $260,000, not counting cash, and even bought him a luxury Mercedes SUV.”


    As Estre’s investigation turned to Piper, Nick’s face paled, his neck veins bulging. He stood up


    abruptly, pointing at Estre, “What the hell kind of evidence is this? Piper and I are just friends. This is


    an invasion of privacy!”


    “Calm down, will you?” Estre retorted coolly.


    The judge, unimpressed by Nick’s outburst and profanity in court, brought down his gavel, “Defendant,


    please control your emotions. And the intiff’s attorney, please continue with the evidence pertinent to


    this case.”


    After the judge’s prompt, Nick sat down, seething but silent.


    Estre resumed with poise, “Your Honor, this is just the beginning of the evidence chain.”


    “Proceed with your evidence,” the judge instructed.


    With a nce at Nick, Estre continued the presentation, “The defendant ims he and Ms. Piper are


    merely friends, yet we have found several instances of them checking into hotels together over these


    seven months.”


    “Their longest recorded encounter was nine hours. I’ll leave the nature of their interactions to your


    imagination, but from the photos of their daily interactions, it’s clear they were more than just friends-


    they were lovers.


    “Given this, we must question whether the defendant, Nick, wanted to end his marriage


    10-$10.


    with the victim, Lexi, to be with Piper, and upon being refused, chose murder as his exit


    strategy.


    “Or maybe the defendant didn’t want to tarnish his image in front of Ms. Piper, fearing to be seen as a


    gold-digger who dumped his wife for wealth. So, he chose to push the victim, Lexi, down the stairs,


    fabricating the excuse that it was a suicide. In doing so, he could still y the role of the devoted lover


    in front of Ms. Piper, trying to ingratiate himself and garner sympathy.


    “Our team is now leaning more towards this second suspicion because, from the conversation captured


    on the video, we can hear that the defendant has been using the victim’s fall to gain sympathy and


    swindle money. He imed to have been constantly by the victim’s bedside at the hospital, but


    ording to our investigation, the defendant visited the victim only twice after her fall, with the total


    time amounting to less than thirty minutes. His visits to the victim were even shorter than the time he’d


    spend on a single


    hotel room rendezvous.”


    When Estre reached this point, Lexi’s mother had already burst into tears in the audience seats,


    while the father trembled with anger.


    This jerk had an affair. He could have simply filed for divorce if he wanted out of the marriage, but why


    did he have to kill their daughter? That was a human life.


    As Estre listed the preliminary evidence, the spectators in the gallery were seething with anger, each


    of them hurling insults at Nick, calling him an asshole, convinced that Lexi must have been pushed by


    him.