Chapter 232: Even The Dead Don’t Want Her

[FROLO]

"Objection, Your Honors!" the defense counsel, Advocate Valentin Smirnov, who everyone had almost forgotten existed, said, and the Chief Justice slammed his gavel.

"Sit down."

Then Chief Justice Orlov turned to Milan in the court that had gone eerily quiet, perhaps from shock at the revelation or perhaps from more that was headed their way.

"Miss Milan Popova, you will remain seated unless addressed by this court," he said, and Milan sank into her seat, while Yaroslav, who had stood up, got no reprimand from the judge.

The Beta just sat quietly too, his eyes looking in the direction of Katya, whose eyes were still on Milan.

Yaroslav had never experienced such levels of heartbreak in his life. Ever.

"Doctor Hamid, you have identified Miss Milan Popova before this court. Are you testifying under oath that she approached your team regarding Mr. Romanov?" Prosecutor Rostova asked.

Her eyes never once left the doctor, like she knew the storm was here already.

There was only so much they could try to keep it down.

"Yes."

"Doctor Belyaeva, was Miss Popova present during those meetings?" she asked the therapist.

"Yes," the therapist answered with trembling lips.

Strangely, the courtroom had stayed quieter than anyone had expected.

The occasional murmurs weren’t as loud as before the confirmation, and that was creepy as hell.

"Your Honors, I object," Advocate Smirnov said, standing, before adding, "The prosecution is attempting to implicate a member of the gallery who has not been charged and has not been sworn."

"The objection is noted. The witness is answering only what she personally observed," Justice Hoffman said.

"Proceed."

The prosecutor nodded, turning to the witness stand.

"Professor Sorokin, you confessed on tape that payments reached your group through intermediaries. Who introduced those intermediaries?"

"She did," he said, looking at Milan.

"No! They’re lying to save themselves!" Milan cried out, suddenly getting up, her hands shaking violently.

"Miss Popova, this is your final warning. If you interrupt these proceedings again, I will have you removed from this courtroom," Chief Justice Orlov warned, slamming his gavel.

"So, all three of you independently place Miss Popova inside this conspiracy," the prosecutor resumed.

"..."

"Doctor Hamid, who decided that the pregnancies would not survive?"

"Professor Sorokin."

"What?!" the professor asked, looking up.

"You made the medical protocols!"

"I wrote protocols because YOU kept asking how to hide your mistakes!"

"I never—"

"You absolutely did!"

"STOP IT!" Doctor Belyaeva shouted, her voice echoing through the courtroom.

"You’re both cowards," she began before looking at the prosecutor. "Sorokin lied using research, Hamid used surgical medicine. And I convinced Mr. Romanov he was the problem."

"And who instructed you to continue lying?"

"We were paid too much," Doctor Hamid defended.

"I did not ask why. I asked who."

"She brought the offer," the surgeon said, pointing to Milan again.

"No, that’s a lie!" Milan screamed at the surprised courthouse, whose whispers were starting to grow louder again.

"Yaro, they’re trying to ruin our love," she cried desperately, clutching her hand on Yaro’s arm as if to make him choose her. But would he?

"Did you do it?" he asked tiredly. You would think he wasn’t already calculating the different ways to torture Milan to death after this court.

"I love you," she deflected.

"Answer the question."

"I did everything because I loved you."

"That isn’t what I asked," Yaro said, his voice lower and colder.

Milan just stared, scratching her palms rigorously like that would make it better for her.

"Miss Popova, you will answer only the questions put before you," Justice Orlov demanded firmly.

"I love him!" Milan shouted. "I loved him enough to fight for him!" she added desperately, even as Yaro gripped her arm for the first time since the second court session had begun.

Through it all, Katya hadn’t moved, hadn’t breathed, hadn’t said a word. And the Romanov camp was worried for him, but they didn’t push. This was not the time.

Milan tried to pull her wrist from Yaro’s tight grip, but he didn’t let her go free.

"Milan... Did you plan this?" Yaro demanded.

And in that moment, it was as if something snapped inside Milan, because her face was suddenly devoid of the emotions she had been showing minutes ago. She looked like she couldn’t believe she had gotten to this point.

There was no remorse on her face at all.

And it was unnerving.

"Fuck this," she laughed in disbelief as she stared at the witnesses on the stand, who looked at her with horror on their faces.

She laughed.

A broken, ugly laugh.

"I wasted so much money buying your silence. Keeping your shady businesses under wraps so no one would question you. For five years, I paid you even when you were useless to me, even when I was already in his bed," she scoffed bitterly, her eyes never leaving the witness stand.

"You were just a group of ten greedy little shits when I first met you, already earning millions and still wanting more," she laughed angrily.

"I gave you access that no one ever could give you. I used my family’s money to keep you away from the authorities, even when you kept messing up. Fuck, you all had just one job... just one job," she added, her laughter unsettling inside the courtroom.

"You wanted to kill him, and I told you there wasn’t a need. But now look at you. You turned into songbirds because of that insane man. You couldn’t even keep your mouths shut over things that didn’t kill him.

"So, what if I had asked you to kill him, huh? Would you have..." Milan said, scratching her head harshly till she bled.

But she didn’t stop.

She didn’t even try to pull her hand from Yaroslav’s grip. She could hear the judges trying to silence her, but all she could see were the three people she trusted with a secret so simple, who had refused to keep it.

"I funded your stupid research, Professor. Bought you more surgical equipment for your stupid private clinic. I even gave you access to more broken clients who needed a good therapist.

"I made your reputation better, made you into something... all you had to do... all you had to do was fucking keep your beaks closed. But you had to be songbirds, right?" Milan laughed brokenly.

Her voice was so hoarse and betrayed, like this was really now the ending she had planned for herself and her man.

"I told you what would happen if you joined a choir," Milan said, her voice deathly cold, before she reached into her jacket.

Everything happened faster than anyone could have thought possible.

The piece of steel she had been keeping in her jacket flashed as she pointed it toward the witness stand.

"Gun!!" the prosecutor shouted, and the entire courtroom shifted into chaos mode as a shot rang toward the witness stand and several screams followed.

"You fucking shot me, you lunatic bitch who can’t get her own man!!" Doctor Hamid raged as he looked at the hole in his hand. He would never be able to do surgery again, even if his hand healed.

This damn woman had stolen his future from him. Did he ever have a future to begin with?

Everyone dove under the benches, screams following.

But Katya...

He just sat there, even as his friends and parents hunched over to save themselves from the gunshots.

Yaroslav looked at his ex-husband, who was still looking at Milan, unfazed. You would think Romanov Steel Empire was also producing guns, and Katya was already used to the sound.

And it was then that Yaro moved and twisted Milan’s arm before she could fire a second time.

And of course, a second shot rang out, thankfully to the ceiling, not hitting anyone. The gun hit the floor, and Milan reached for it again, shouting in rage about the way she had been betrayed.

The court marshals tackled her before she could reach it.

"Order!" the court marshals called out.

"Court security, secure the firearm and seal every entrance! No one leaves this courtroom!" Chief Justice Orlov said, to everyone’s surprise.

And before everyone could even get over their surprise, the courtroom doors sealed shut. The windows came down as paramedics rushed to the witness stand to the surgeon.

Armed court officers stood at the exits, the disbelief at the absurdity obvious.

No one had expected this.

It made no sense that the woman had managed to walk in with a concealed weapon when even Yaroslav hadn’t carried one. But everybody already knew Moskowskys were more dangerous without their weapons now, no?

"This court was moments away from becoming a murder scene..."