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?"

interest," Grace

if he was sure there were major flaws in it. Problem is, the police followed protocol

tone. "So, I paid him an early visit and told him to recuse himself. Otherwise, I'd escalate the case to a higher court - which, of

did you do? How

"Like I said

"He's a friend of someone from Senator Smith's rival party list.

Cassandra muttered. "Is that really

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

table as they

influenced by the rival party?" Hugo asked

to see the world in just

if we played dirty. And I don't mind

More silence followed.

was a lawyer - one who clearly knew how to wield

surprising. None

realized just

the judge stepping down,

had the case reevaluated

along

of

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

didn't know she was

tilted her head toward Cassandra. "You were attending a conference,

and Kiara

good-running from everything

engagement, trying to find