Beth stared at Melvin. "What did you just say?"
His voice exploded through the hospital room, raw with fury:
"Drop the act! Your father pressured the Bar Association into filing a professional misconduct complaint against Jeanette. They're holding a disciplinary hearing, and she could lose her license! Is that what you wanted? Are you happy now?"
He grabbed Beth by the arm and dragged her out.
The hearing was held in a conference room. Three investigators sat behind a long table, and both sides of the gallery were packed with lawyers and spectators.
Jeanette sat in the respondent's chair, face pale, tears clinging to her lashes, yet a thread of stubborn defiance in her voice:
"I truly had no idea that USB drive contained a video from a psychiatric hospital. Someone set me up! I have no grudge against Mrs. Henson. Why would I ever do something like that?"
One of the investigators pressed a button on the projector. Surveillance footage filled the screen: on the day of the anniversary gala, Jeanette stood at the control console, pulled a USB drive from her own purse, and plugged it into the media player.
Jeanette's mouth fell open. Not a single word came out.
Murmurs rippled through the gallery:
"So she really did it on purpose! That's disgusting!"
"She wanted to destroy Mrs. Henson's reputation. A lawyer who breaks the law on purpose doesn't deserve to practice!"
A middle-aged woman shot to her feet and pointed straight at Jeanette:
"You have the nerve to cry? Mrs. Henson was humiliated in front of hundreds of people because of you, and you're still playing innocent!"
Another voice followed: "Morally unfit to practice! Revoke her license!"
Jeanette hugged herself, trembling head to toe, tears streaming faster than before.
Beth stood in the doorway, watching it all. There was no satisfaction in her chest, no pity either. The whole scene felt like a circus that would never end, and she was bone-tired of it.
A water bottle sailed from the gallery and struck Jeanette's shoulder. She screamed, threw her arms over her head, and crouched down.
A binder followed. Then a notebook, pens, a drinking glass. Security rushed forward but couldn't contain the crowd's fury.
"Enough!"
A firm male voice cut through the chaos. Melvin charged up to the front in full view of everyone.
He pulled Jeanette behind him and spread his arms wide, shielding her. A glass tumbler caught him square on the forehead with a sharp crack. The glass shattered. Blood ran down from his brow, tracing a line past his eye.
He didn't flinch. He didn't wipe it away. He faced the room and spoke, his voice ringing out like a closing argument in court:
"That USB drive was mine! She had no idea what was on it! All responsibility falls on me!"
The room went dead silent.
Behind him, Jeanette clutched the hem of his jacket, shaking her head through her tears. "Attorney Henson, don't... You can't take the blame for me."
Melvin didn't turn around. He simply reached back and kept her shielded, his voice softening: "Jeanette, listen to me. Your talent shouldn't be destroyed by something like this. You're the future of the legal profession, and I have to protect you."
He turned back to the room, and his voice rang like steel:
"Jeanette Pruitt is the most gifted young attorney I have ever seen! Her litigation skills, her legal acumen, her commitment to justice surpass anyone her age! If we let a baseless accusation destroy her career today, it will be a loss for the entire profession!"
Blood still trickled down his forehead, but his back was ramrod straight, his eyes blazing with the conviction of a man defending a sacred cause:
"If someone has to face disciplinary action, discipline me! If someone has to pay the price, revoke my license! I will bear every consequence for Jeanette, because she is worth it!"
Jeanette lifted her head and gently took his hand.
Beth watched the scene before her, her gaze ice-cold.
The two of them stood side by side on that stage like comrades facing a common enemy, like lovers bound by life and death.
Her hands began to tremble. She wanted to laugh at how absurd it was, how utterly, impossibly absurd.
She remembered Melvin's first time in court, visibly nervous, and how she'd sat in the gallery and given him a thumbs-up. He'd taken a deep breath, straightened his spine, and won the case.
She remembered when he wanted to open his own firm but had no connections and no capital. She'd gone on a hunger strike against her own family to secure the Cox Group's backing. On opening day, he'd held her hand and said, "Beth, I will never let you down. Not in this lifetime."
She remembered the night he won the Elite Attorney Award. He'd looked straight at her from the stage and said, "I want to thank my wife, Beth Cox. Without her, I wouldn't be standing here today."
Now he stood on a different stage, bleeding for another woman, swearing oaths for another woman, gambling everything he treasured without a second's hesitation.
He said she was worth it. Then what about Beth Cox?
She had spent years by his side, loving him with everything she had, giving up her own career, helping him climb from a nobody to the youngest elite attorney in Harbor City.
What was she worth? Nothing. She was worth nothing.
Beth let out a cold laugh, loud enough to turn every head in the room. She walked straight up to Melvin, contempt etched across her face, and spoke one deliberate word at a time:
"Since Attorney Henson feels so strongly, the Cox Group is pulling every cent of its investment from his firm. Effective immediately. Your little firm? Shut. Down."
"Melvin, the building your firm sits in belongs to the Cox Group. The capital belongs to the Cox Group. Even your earliest clients came through Cox family connections. Without the Cox family, you are nothing. Who exactly do you think you are? What do you have left to protect her with?"
She turned to Jeanette. "And you. Get out of the firm. Now. And I promise you, not a single firm in Harbor City will ever take you in."
Melvin's face flushed crimson, his lips trembling. Jeanette went white, her fingers digging into his hand.
The room was silent as a grave.
Then Jeanette pulled out her phone, faced the crowd, and spoke:
"Everyone, I have a piece of evidence. I didn't want to use it, but today, I'm going to show all of you exactly what kind of person Beth Cox really is!"
