Pampered by my three brothers: the return of the neglected heiress

Chapter 1618: Reasonable doubt

Grace never planned to celebrate her birthday with a client, but since she'd already spent a lot on these birthday dinners, letting it go without at least eating felt like a waste. Besides, Hugo was with them. That alone explained everything. "Grace, you're the best!" Hugo exclaimed, giving her a thumbs-up while stuffing his mouth with food. "Best ever! Don't change, Grace. Don't."

Grace rolled her eyes and shook her head. Her gaze shifted to Cassandra and Kiara, who barely touched their meals as they kept smiling at each other. At this point, Grace was convinced they were best friends.

They looked like they were excited to gossip about boys, she thought, chuckling to herself as she took a bite of her steak.

"Hmm!" Hugo suddenly choked. The three of them just stared as he clung to life.

A flicker of worry crossed Cassandra's face, but seeing Grace and Kiara watch like it was a show made her bite her tongue.

Hugo pounded his chest and finally reached for a glass of water. The struggle was brief but painfully awkward. When he managed to clear his throat, he exhaled in relief.

"That was close!" he huffed, beaming at the ladies. "The food's great."

That's all he's going to say? Cassandra wondered, glancing between Kiara and Grace. He's not going to mention how they just sat and watched while he nearly died?

"Sometimes, I don't doubt that you survived the war," Grace said, while Kiara nodded in agreement.

"I'm amazing, that's why." Hugo grinned, ready to dig in again. But now that his initial hunger was somewhat sated, his curiosity took over. "By the way, Grace, I know you have your ways, but how did you get her bail?"

Now that he mentioned it, the other two women turned their focus to Grace. Their eyes brimmed with curiosity. Not that they were ungrateful - they were just dying to know how she pulled it off. At this point, it seemed impossible.

Grace raised an eyebrow and looked between the two until her gaze settled on Cassandra.

"I forced the judge to take his hands off the case," she said after a beat, drawing confused frowns from all three.

"You asked him to step down...?" Cassandra whispered. "How?"

of interest," Grace

if he was sure there were major flaws in it. Problem is, the police followed protocol and everything in the book. They knew exactly who they were after, and they were not

lawyer didn't consider the judge," she continued in a matter-of-fact tone. "So, I paid him an early visit and told him to recuse himself. Otherwise, I'd escalate the case to a higher court -

did you

"Like I said

of someone from Senator Smith's rival party list. That's

muttered. "Is that really a conflict of

friend might just be a member, but it's still the rival party of your grandfather's. It's easy to

table as

influenced by the rival party?" Hugo asked cautiously.

the world in just two shades

replied. "But like I said he would be, if we played dirty. And

More silence followed.

at Grace. It shouldn't surprise them. She was a lawyer - one who clearly knew how to wield the

it was surprising. None of

again, none of them had realized just how

judge

had the case reevaluated

along

of

a lot persuasion, the new judge agreed that Cassandra Smith wasn'ta flight risk. The prosecution argued she was leaving the country

didn't know she was going to be

tilted her head toward Cassandra. "You were attending a

and Kiara thought

good-running from

to find