Chapter 487: The Verdict

Chapter 487: Chapter 487: The Verdict

The groom’s mother shook her head, her attitude firm. "No, we’re settling this right now.

When our families were discussing the marriage, you never mentioned that Zoe Dawson was involved in something as despicable as human trafficking! We can’t accept a daughter-in-law like that. The engagement between our children is off!"

The police came to arrest her right then and there, without any regard for the occasion. They must have had solid evidence she couldn’t escape.

She’s definitely going to be sentenced. We can’t have our son wait for her to get out of prison, can we?

No, absolutely not. This engagement has to be called off!

Zoe Dawson’s father was about to speak, but then he saw the groom’s father clench his fist and slowly rotate his wrist.

The man’s bulging muscles and menacing expression successfully made Zoe Dawson’s father swallow his words.

He then thought about pleading with his future son-in-law, but before he could even open his mouth, he saw the young man hiding behind his parents, averting his gaze, a clear sign that he was letting them make all the decisions.

Seeing this, Zoe Dawson’s parents’ hearts sank.

’That’s right,’ they thought. ’This son-in-law is easily swayed. When Zoe was around, he’d listen to her. Now that she’s not, he listens to his parents.’

’Getting him to speak up is a lost cause.’

At this realization, Zoe Dawson’s parents completely deflated. It was over. The marriage was well and truly off.

Having seen the whole spectacle, the people in the reception hall left, satisfied, ready to share the day’s events with their friends and family.

Meanwhile, Zoe Sawyer and Heath Hale escorted their prisoner back to an interrogation room at the police station.

Unlike the man in the duck-billed cap, who stubbornly refused to talk, Zoe Dawson’s psychological fortitude was much weaker. With a little pressure, and after being presented with Mila’s testimony and the evidence Zoe Sawyer had found, she confessed everything she had done and why.

Zoe Dawson’s motive was simple: she needed money. Desperately.

In college, she had lived beyond her means, buying numerous luxury goods. When she couldn’t pay off her debts, she was too afraid to tell her parents, fearing they would kill her, so she turned her attention to illicit ways of making money.

It was around this time that Zoe Dawson met the man in the duck-billed cap. One night, while drunk, she learned about his money-making schemes.

The collection messages came every day, leaving Zoe Dawson’s nerves frayed. Finally, she gritted her teeth and decided to join him. ℯ

She quickly locked onto a target.

Compared to the other students in her class who had both parents, Mila—an orphan who worked herself to the bone every day and had few friends—was the perfect prey.

Only the director of her orphanage cared about her whereabouts, but she had many other children to look after and wouldn’t be able to search for long.

The more Zoe Dawson thought about it, the more appealing the idea became. In the end, she made up an excuse, led Mila on a winding path to avoid surveillance cameras, and completed the kidnapping.

Zoe Dawson confessed to her crimes without holding anything back, even revealing details that Zoe Sawyer hadn’t seen through the door.

Meanwhile, Heath Hale followed the trail from the man in the duck-billed cap, working his way up and down the chain to round up the entire network.

For the crime of human trafficking and for causing severe social impact, Zoe Dawson was sentenced to twelve years in prison and ordered to pay financial compensation to Mila.

Zoe Dawson’s parents, who had been running around trying to help their daughter, stopped all their efforts after hearing the verdict. They quickly cut ties, claiming they had no knowledge of Zoe Dawson’s actions and couldn’t believe their daughter would do such a thing.

They stated their full compliance with the court’s decision but refused to compensate Mila, claiming their family was not well-off.

Because Zoe Dawson was a legal adult with the ability to support herself when she committed the crime, her parents’ refusal to pay compensation was legally sound.

Left with no other choice, the police could only liquidate Zoe Dawson’s personal assets to compensate Mila.

Although Mila was not the mastermind behind the poisoning, she was sentenced to five years in prison for failing to stop the plan after learning about it from Victoria Ford and the others, and for even cooperating in burying the body.

The cases of Victoria Ford and the other two, including Mila, were relatively easy to resolve. However, the situation with Naomi Rivers and Selene Rivers was not so simple.

Mr. and Mrs. Rivers looked at the heavily pregnant Naomi Rivers sitting across from them. A flicker of disgust flashed in their eyes before they spoke. "I know you were wronged in this matter, but she was also injured because of you. How about you each issue a letter of forgiveness?

After you get out of prison, we’ll make it up to you. What do you say?"

They couldn’t just ask her to drop the charges; the law was the law, after all.

The only thing they could do now was to have both of them issue letters of forgiveness to get the mildest possible sentences. Then, they could pull some strings on the outside and apply for medical parole.

That way, even if their business partners found out, they could come up with an excuse. They absolutely could not let these two affect the family business!

"I refuse. Let the court decide the sentence as it sees fit.

Also, I’m legally a dead person now. I’m not your daughter, and I have no relationship with you. Don’t come here trying to claim kinship," Naomi Rivers said, her face cold as she flatly rejected her parents’ request.

She hadn’t enjoyed her time with the Rivers Family for long anyway. ’The family has always been thinking of you,’ ’Mom and Dad will definitely make it up to you’—what a joke.

From the day she returned home to the day she disappeared, the only money in her pocket or her bank account was the 10,000 yuan her parents had transferred out of guilt when she was first found.

She hadn’t seen a single cent of the other compensation they’d promised, yet Selene Rivers had been in Brellwood, bragging to her about the properties and savings in her name.

Naomi Rivers had never imagined such a melodramatic plot would unfold in her own life.

’No matter what this couple in front of me says, I will never forgive Selene Rivers!’

’As for whether it will affect the Rivers Family’s factories?’ ℯ𝐥.

’What does that have to do with her, an outsider?’

Unable to get Naomi Rivers to yield, Mr. and Mrs. Rivers left, their faces ashen.

They came back a few more times over the next few days, but each visit ended with the same result.

In the end, Mr. and Mrs. Rivers gave up. They could only make thorough preparations to prevent the verdict from affecting their factory’s business.

Selene Rivers’s verdict was the same as Zoe Dawson’s: twelve years, plus the compulsory liquidation of all assets in her name, which were all to be paid as compensation to Naomi Rivers.

Naomi Rivers, like Mila, was not a mastermind, but she had cooperated with Victoria Ford and her accomplice, and had also assisted in burying the body. She was sentenced to five years in prison.

However, Naomi Rivers had also drugged Selene Rivers, slashed her face, and broken her leg in a situation that was not self-defense. This constituted intentional assault.

Taking into account the harm Selene Rivers had inflicted on her, the court showed leniency, adding only three years to her original sentence.

As for the people of Brellwood, the local government, for humanitarian reasons, had them collectively cremated and buried in a common grave.

With the sentencing of Naomi Rivers and Selene Rivers, the entire case was officially closed.

Many people followed the police’s case report to find information on the Rivers Family and their factories, then flooded their official social media accounts with comments.

This did, in fact, torpedo quite a few of the company’s business deals.