He Gave Her My Home So I Took Back My Life Chapter 09
The second he finished speaking, the lobby erupted.
“Edited video? Did the police verify the original file?”
“Why are there marks on Ms. Hale’s wrists?”
“Is this really domestic violence, or did Mr. Ashford stage the whole thing?”
The cameras were no longer trained only on me. Reporters began filming the police paperwork and the red chafing on my wrists from the handcuffs.
Vivian’s face went white. She covered the scratches on her arm and stepped forward.
“Mr. Ruiz, you don’t understand. Nora has been very emotionally unstable lately. She ruined the dinner, attacked us online… Today she came here demanding the necklace again, and she even put her hands on me—”
“In what capacity are you evaluating my client’s mental state?”
Mateo’s question was like a whip crack.
Vivian froze.
“As her psychiatrist? A police officer? Or as Graham Ashford’s legal wife?”
A wave of shocked murmurs swept through the room.
Vivian’s lips paled, but tears welled in her eyes with startling speed.
“I’m just a mother who lost her husband. Graham called the police to protect me and my child.”
“Protect you?”
Mateo glanced at the scratches on her arm, his tone devoid of warmth.
“With a selectively edited video?”
Vivian’s face went ashen.
Graham stepped forward sharply. “What gives you the right to say that footage was edited?”
“Because the original has already been entered into emergency evidence preservation.”
Mateo finally turned to him.
“There are timestamp breaks, missing audio, and key frames deleted from the sequence. Mr. Ashford, you had better hope this was a system malfunction and not a deliberate attempt to falsify evidence.”
For the first time, a flicker of real panic crossed Graham’s face.
He lowered his voice. “This is a matter between husband and wife.”
“It stopped being a private matter the moment you submitted false evidence to the police and slandered Nora in front of the press.”
Mateo signaled one of his attorneys forward. Several sets of documents were handed to both the police and Graham.
“False reporting, public defamation, evidence tampering, and Ms. Vivian’s suspected perjury—we will be filing suit on all counts.”
He moved back to my side, blocking the flashing cameras.
“Everything you did to my client today—the false imprisonment, the defamation, the falsified evidence—my legal team will pursue each charge separately.”