Chapter 5 Trial by Lies

The courtroom was packed, but no one saw her.

Not as Mia Harper.

Behind tinted glasses, a dark brown wig, and layers of muted makeup, she sat in the last row, a ghost among the curious and the loyal, a shadow at her own funeral.

It wasn't a trial in the legal sense. Not yet. It was a hearing, a public performance choreographed by Daniel Ward to justify the destruction of a name he once claimed to honor. A performance Mia had every intention of disrupting-just not today.

She watched Daniel take the stand with the ease of a man who had rehearsed every word. He wore grief like a tailored suit, subtle and well-cut.

"Mia Harper," he began, voice somber, "was like family. Her father was my mentor. Losing him was devastating. And now, seeing the evidence of her betrayal... it's like mourning the dead twice."

There was a pause-strategic. The courtroom leaned in.

"She diverted client funds over a six-month period. Thirty-six million, routed through shell companies linked to offshore accounts. We didn't want to believe it. We investigated, hoping to clear her name. But the trail was damning."

Lies. All of it.

Mia's jaw clenched behind the quiet of her disguise. The real trail had led to Nathan. She had followed it the night before she "died." He had used her access, mimicked her digital signature, and built a story so convincing it made her look like the villain and him the grieving survivor.

And then he'd tried to erase her.

She remembered the explosion. The car she'd never gotten into. The decoy body. The carefully planted evidence that allowed the authorities to conclude her fate: Mia Harper-deceased, likely from a tragic accident, body unidentifiable but circumstantial evidence "conclusive."

Except she wasn't dead.

She was watching.

"Isn't it true," the moderator asked from the panel, "that Miss Harper had no previous infractions? That she was scheduled to inherit full controlling interest in Harper & Ward?"

Daniel nodded, painting sadness into the gesture. "That's what made the betrayal so shocking. She had everything to gain-and she still chose greed."

Mia's hands curled into fists beneath the folds of her coat.

You chose greed.

She could hear her father's voice again. Not in words, but in the weight of the oath he made her take before his death-protect the legacy, protect the truth. She hadn't protected anything. She'd walked right into Daniel's trap, blinded by trust and grief.

Now she was learning.

The real trial wasn't about proving her innocence in a court of law. It was the game of shadows she was playing now-building her network, exposing Daniel's web from the inside. One false identity at a time.

Today, she took notes under a different name.

Tomorrow, she'd plant seeds of doubt.

Soon, she'd start to turn allies against him.

Nathan was too comfortable. He thought Mia Harper was gone. But Mia had only shed her skin. What sat in that courtroom wasn't just an accused woman-it was the beginning of something cold and methodical. Something patient.

Outside the courthouse, media vans crowded the steps, feeding headlines to the city.

Inside, a lie stood on trial, and no one knew the victim was watching.

Waiting.