FLASH MARRIAGE; CHARMED BY THE RUTHLESS BILLIONAIRE CEO - Chapter 172

Chapter 172: Confession 3

A fog of silence descended in the room over the next few seconds as Jerry’s video-taped confession came to an end. Nobody looked at anybody else. Nobody said a word. Everyone remained mute, lost in their own chaotic thoughts. The rising oppressive tension was broken only by the ticking magnificent wall clock in the room.

“Unbelievable!” Someone on the table finally expressed his shock, forcing every pair of eyes in the room to turn to look at him.

“This is the height of wickedness.” The mature man, who happened to be a distant cousin to Nana, said staring in Gwen’s direction. “How can anyone be so cruel to their own family member.”

“It beats my imagination.” Judith hissed out loud, prompting murmuring amongst other members of the family.

Matt kept his head lowered, his face hardened into a mask of fury, eyes burning with an inner fire as if he were silently battling demons from another world. Sweat trickled down his back with every scrape of a chair against the pristine polished marble floor as time seemed to crawl at snail’s speed.

“Please, tell me this is not true.” Lilian, Matt’s wife pleaded, her horrified eyes fill with woe.

“It’s all lies. I am being framed.” Matt replied, his perplexed expression betraying him.

“Then why are you sweating profusely?” Lilian demanded, her rising tone laced with bubbling anger. “An innocent man fears no accusation.”

“Allow me to think woman.” Matt snapped angrily at her. “I have just been accused of a grave crime before the entire family. Do you expect me to remain calm?”

“Then say something to defend yourself.” Lilian spat out holding back her anger.

“I will.”

The senator lifted his right hand in the air and the murmuring seized.

“Gwen…” The senator’s deep masculine voice echoed through the eerie silence. “What do you have to say for yourself? Will you remain in denial or come clean and confess to your evil ways for a lesser punishment?”

Millions of tiny goose bumps jumped out from Gwen’s trembling arm, like oil from a sizzling frying pan. She kept her gaze lowered, staring blankly at her paled trembling hands. Her pounding heart kept skipping a beat, the threat of a heart seizure imminent. She could feel her father’s narrowed laser beam eyes boring a hole through the centre of her head, making her gasp slowly for air.

“Gwen!” The senator roared, forcing her and her mother who were seated on either side, to jump out of their chairs like spooked kittens.

But before either Gwen or her mother could step further away from the table, they were stopped by an immovable human wall and made to take back their seat.

“Leave them out of this?” Matt finally found the courage to challenge his brother, seeing how frightened his mistress and illegitimate daughter were. He stood up, looking at his brother dead in the eyes. “I won’t have you harassing them or any member of this family any longer.”

“Is that so?” The senator reverted to his neutral tone, exercising control over his emotions. “Then maybe you should tell me why you want your own niece dead.”

“Why would I want to harm someone I call my daughter even after she had her husband shoot me under this very roof? Matt retorted back at his elder brother while sparing Blaze a quick glance. He couldn’t see Blaze’s eyes through the black shades the latter was wearing. But he could tell Blaze was glaring dangerously at him.

“Why would I want to hurt the child I carried in my arms when she was just a tiny baby? How could you ever believe such a ludicrous confession? Can’t you see through the lies? For all we know, the man in that video may not be Jerry Morgan. He could be someone made to look like Jerry just to support Amelia’s falsified tales of abduction and attempted assassination.”

Matt grew confident by the second as he commanded everyone’s attention including those of his panicked wife.

“If Amelia has the real criminal-minded Jerry Morgan, let her bring him here into this room and let him cough out these lies he is parading as the truth.” Matt sat down, feeling justified with his speech.

“Bravo, Uncle Matt,” Amelia said clapping her hands. “For a moment there, you almost had me convinced. “But guess what, the truth is never hidden under the sun. What you and your cohort did will not go unanswered. But for the sake of clarity. Let me reassure you that the man we all heard, talking in that video is the real Jerry Morgan. Unfortunately, he cannot make it here to this family gathering because he already has a previous appointment with his former investors. So, do yourself a favour and come clean now while you can to avoid more heartbreaks.”

“You are nothing but a child, Amelia,” Matt said, picking up his glass of wine and quenching his thirst. “You and your husband don’t scare me one bit.”

The senator remained mute as he watched his brother make a bigger fool of himself.

“Is that so?” Amelia asked in an aloof voice, crossing one leg over the other. Her countenance was calm and unaffected.

“Yes.” Matt was vehement in his response. “I will never confess to a crime I didn’t commit not even if your husband and his thugs threaten to shoot me in the head.”

“Alright, since you and the rest won’t confess. How about we get a confession out of you without spilling blood.” Amelia said, a devilish smirk dancing at the corner of her lips.

“What do you mean?”

“Watch!” Amelia pointed forward and another video was projected on the white wall

The sound of electrifying rock music at a notorious biker’s gang den bounced off the wall in the room as Matt was captured on video walking into the club dressed like a ruthless kingpin.

Matt’s face instantly turns pale, his wide open, showing a lot of the sclera at this sight. He felt his heartbeat stop, his jaw-dropping as watched the video in complete horror.

In the displayed video, Matt made his way into the inner room where a scary-looking man, whose entire body was covered in hard-core tattoos, was smoking weed and puffing out smoke through his mouth and nostril.

“Do you care for some?”. The scary man in the video offered Matt a stick of the best neatly wrapped weed. Matt took the weed, lit it up and started smoking the substance like a pro.

“You smoke!” Lilian’s opened mouth formed a perfect O, tears streaming down her reddened cheek as her eyes darted between her husband and the video.