Shadow Empire

Chapter 458 Pregnancy and queuing up to take the blame
Everyone will encounter problems that they may not be able to make up their minds about.

From the homeless man on the street to the President in his palace, they all need someone to offer constructive advice before they make choices about difficult issues.

Of course, this kind of question will only be asked to those you trust the most.

Lance lit up another cigarette, "I'll try."

"Emily is pregnant."

It can be seen that William's expression was a little embarrassed when he said these words. He really didn't know how to say this matter.

Ever since he began running for city council, Emily's sexual desires had been reactivated, as had his.

The couple often fights a long battle. At the beginning, they will pay attention to some measures, but there will always be some unexpected times.

The passion came too suddenly, without any preparation, and then they found that there were no problems, so they gradually relaxed their vigilance.

Then I got pregnant.

William had an expression on his face that was hard to tell whether it was happy or unhappy, probably both. Having another child in middle age is actually a very happy thing.

Especially since William came from a class of large landowners, children represented wealth to them. It had nothing to do with whether they were rich or not. This was a very traditional perception.

Deep down, he actually wanted this child, but he was also a little worried because his work would gradually become busier and he felt a little overwhelmed.

Lance looked at him for a long moment before asking, "Why are you worried about this?"

"It's a good thing that it's left over after it's born." He set the tone for Emily's pregnancy. "Besides, this kind of thing may not happen again in the future."

"Although Pat is already very old, I believe she will be very happy to have a younger brother or sister."

"And you know, after we get married, that new life will take her place and fill the emotional void in you."

After getting married, Lance did not plan to let Patricia move out with him. His "work" was busy and there were many dangerous situations. In addition, he could not be with Patricia all the time like a normal husband.

So letting Patricia continue to live with the Lawrence couple is the best option.

But she got married after all. Federal people are sometimes very sensitive to changes in identity. They will respect Patricia, who has independent social attributes, more instead of continuing to treat her as a child.

Many parents feel sad or even empty after their children become adults and independent, because the spiritual support that has accompanied them for more than ten years has left their lives.

But this newborn will fill this gap.

William actually wanted this child, but he needed someone to convince him, "What you said makes sense. I will seriously consider it."

Lance emphasized again, "What you need is not to consider whether to have the baby or not, but to let Emily give birth to the baby with peace of mind and give the new life a nice name."

William smiled a lot and nodded vigorously. He was full of energy at this time.

In fact, he had an idea that he didn't tell Lance. He hoped it was a boy.

Because only a boy can inherit his entire inheritance!

Not just his house, savings, insurance and the like, but also his political legacy.

In fact, he had thought about this before. It would be such a pity if he could achieve great success in the future but had no one to inherit it. He even wanted to urge Lance and Patricia to have a child first.

In the future, this child will inherit everything he has. Unexpectedly, before this idea was realized, Emily gave him a surprise!
Before William left, Lance asked him, "Does Pat know about this?"

William shook his head, “I haven’t told her yet, I’m afraid she might… need some time to accept this!”

Lance thought for a moment and said, "Let me talk to her."

"Then I'll leave it to you!"

After William left, Lance thought for a while. If the couple was sure that they were pregnant, then the child would be at least one month old.

Emily is still young, she still has her period, it may be delayed, but at least it should come.

Plus, they have to confirm and discuss things privately, which may take a month and a half or even two months. After a while, the pregnancy will almost become apparent.

So I should talk to Patricia now, after all, that is her home too.

Lance called everyone and went directly to where Patricia worked.

Her colleagues greeted Lance warmly. They also heard the news that Patricia was getting engaged to Lance, and they all sent their blessings.

William is now a city councilor, and Lance is so famous that no one would be stupid enough to cause trouble for their family.

Even the supervisor who seemed to be "business-like" and "rules-based with no human feelings" in the eyes of foreigners smiled and gave Patricia a break.

The two young men came to Lance's car, and Patricia was very happy, "Don't tell you I missed me!"

Lance looked shocked, "How did you know that?"

"I just haven't seen you for a few days and I keep dreaming about you. The longing has taken over my body and made me unable to think. I can't wait to come and see you!"

Patricia put her arms around Lance's neck and kissed him on the cheek, "How sweet, honey. I missed you too!"

Young people are always more passionate. After the two of them whispered for a while, Lance talked about the real reason for coming here.

"There is something William and Emily don't know how to tell you, so they asked me to tell you."

"Actually, I think... this is a very common thing, but I also think it might make you feel emotionally up and down, so you have to be mentally prepared."

Patricia's expression suddenly changed. She was a little nervous and uneasy. "Is it bad news?"

"No, strictly speaking it's good news."

She sat up straight and took a few deep breaths, "Come on, I can handle it."

"Emily is pregnant, and there's a good chance they'll have the baby."

Patricia's eyes lost focus in an instant, and she was obviously immersed in subconscious thinking. After a long while, she covered her cheek and let out a feeling of "unbelievable"!

"I mean...I don't know what to say, she's pregnant!"

Lance hugged her, "We should all have this premonition and cognition, right?"

This made Emily's face visibly red. Lance said that sometimes Emily's voice was very loud. Although there was a room between their bedrooms, Emily's voice could still be heard sometimes in the dead of night.

"They hope you can accept this child. That's what I think. After all, this is a life, and it's either your brother or your sister."

Patricia was a kind girl. She accepted the arrival of this new life without any "struggle".

"This is the fruit of their love, and we will have it in the future. As a future mother, I don't think I should resist these things happening."

"I can't wait to go back. Can you give me a ride?"

Lance did not refuse, and no one stopped Patricia from asking for leave, and soon they saw Emily directing the maid to clean the new villa.

Seeing Patricia suddenly come back with Lance, she showed an embarrassed expression, "I told William not to tell anyone about this for the time being!"

Seeing that the mother and daughter wanted to have a private conversation, Lance did not stay for long. After instructing the servants to be careful, he left.

This is an interesting experience, and it can also bring him a small, indescribable feeling.

Someone related to him is about to be born.

When people face the birth of a new life, they will be shocked, just like facing the disappearance of a similar life for the first time, which will give people a very wonderful feeling. Come and go, the cycle of life, the greatness of the universe.

People always feel a sense of insignificance when looking up at the starry sky, just like they feel awe towards the world when facing the arrival and departure of life.

The lawsuit against the Liji Group has reached the trial stage these two days, and there is actually not much evidence that needs to be collected and organized.

Lawyer Robben's friend took this case, and he also took it last time and won the case.

Sometimes winning a lawsuit doesn’t mean you really win, and losing certainly doesn’t mean you really lose.

Not many people attended the trial. Lawyers on both sides submitted their own evidence and reasons, expounded their own views, and made their own demands.

There was no "doubt" in this case. The judge made a ruling in court, requiring Liji Group to fulfill its breach of contract liability and pay liquidated damages in accordance with the terms stipulated in the contract.

The lawyer of Liji Group stated in court that they would continue to appeal and believed that this was not a simple breach of contract lawsuit but may involve contract fraud.

As the party making the claim, they need to collect sufficient evidence to support their claim before the next court hearing, otherwise the current judgment will be upheld.

"So will there be any other twists and turns and risks in our lawsuit for this case?"

In Lawyer Robben's office, in front of Lawyer Robben, Lance discussed this topic with the lawyer who represented this case.

Lawyer Robben's friend gave an affirmative answer, "There may be some problems."

"During this trial, I tried my best to separate these issues into independent issues, that is, the issue of Garden Trade and Liji Group, and the issue of wheat sprouting in the warehouse."

"I convinced the judge that these were two separate cases, so there was no direct relationship between the liquidated damages we received and the wheat sprouting. These were two separate events."

"If they want to pursue the issue of wheat sprouting, they have to open a new case, investigate, provide evidence, and then find a defendant."

"But their lawyers are trying to combine these two cases, which should be separate, and if they succeed, the lawsuit could drag on for a long time."

"There's a lot of evidence to be added, a lot of investigation to be done, a lot of other issues to be resolved, and I've heard that they may use some public relations tactics."

“After all, this is a lot of money!”

Lawyer Robben also nodded and said, "I have a... friend who told me that the public relations team of the Liji Group is contacting the Court of Appeal."

"Once the Court of Appeal accepts the appeal, the verdict of the case will be postponed for at least half a year, or even longer."

“It depends on how much money they are willing to spend on PR.”

When an individual or organization is dissatisfied with the trial results of the local court, they may appeal to the Court of Appeal.

If the appellate court believes that there are indeed problems with the outcome of the case, they will accept the case and conduct a new trial.

However, if they believe that there is no problem with the results of the local court's trial, they will dismiss the appeal.

The Court of Appeal plays a very important role in the federal judiciary!
Each appellate court corresponds to a different judicial district, not necessarily a state, but an entire judicial district.

Likale State belongs to the Ninth Court of Appeal, and the Court of Appeal is located in the capital of Likale State, so it is reasonable for Lawyer Robben to have access to this information.

Lance had always suspected that he had some connections in the Ministry of Justice. Otherwise, why would the entire state's judicial system give him some face?
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is under the Federal Department of Justice. Attorney Robben can arrange matters in public prisons managed by the Bureau of Prisons. This can only mean that he at least has someone in the Bureau of Prisons, or even in the Ministry of Justice.

Lance really didn't know much about judicial matters. "What's the best way for us to do this?"

“Or should we also do PR with the judges of the Court of Appeal?”

Lawyer Robben shook his head. "I don't think it's necessary or meaningful."

"Your request is for a judgment to be handed down as soon as possible, and for a judicial determination that they should compensate you with a large sum of money."

"So even if we go to the Court of Appeal for public relations, as long as we cannot win the support of all the judges, then our public relations will become a bit meaningless."

"It's like a relationship of destruction and construction. We need to make all the judges think that this case does not need to be retried before it can be dismissed by the Court of Appeal."

"But as long as they get two or three judges to agree that a retrial is necessary, then it will definitely be retried."

"So we discussed it and decided to change our strategy."

"Our previous idea was to separate the 'cause' and 'result' of this case, and then conduct litigation and pronounce a verdict in our favor based on the results."

"But now the situation is different, we can consider another approach."

"If someone takes the blame for the 'cause' part and it has no direct connection with the 'result', then even if they make a public appearance in the Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeal will dismiss their appeal."

Lance found this confusing. "I don't quite understand. Explain it in simpler terms."

"Find someone to take over the germination issue," Lawyer Robben went straight to the point.

He didn't know whether Lance was responsible for the germination of the wheat, but this matter was definitely related to Lance.

This kind of thing has never happened in the Liji Group over the years, but it suddenly happened inexplicably. Coupled with Lance's lawsuit, how could there be no causal relationship?

But as a lawyer, even if the person he needs to defend is a devil, when he is working, he can only become an angel in his eyes, not to mention that Mr. Lance himself is not a bad person.

Lance understood, "If someone takes the blame, how long will they have to sit in jail?"

Lawyer Robben and his friend discussed for a while, and finally gave Lance a relatively simple answer, "If they can afford the compensation, they can be released in about three years."

"If they can't afford the compensation, it could take more than 10 years."

"This is indeed a very long sentence. Even if we intervene later, we will still need to be detained for five to six years before we can get out."

If you kill someone while driving and actively pay compensation, you can return to society after a year and a half.

However, it causes huge and irreparable losses to the capitalists, and it takes half of one’s life to deal with it.

Everyone tells people that "life is an invaluable asset in life", but no matter how precious it is, it is not very valuable in the face of money.

Money, wealth that can be seen with the naked eye, is the real wealth.

The so-called life, the independent individual, is actually worthless.

Lance nodded noncommittally, "Let's follow this plan."

"I'll arrange it."

Neither of the two barristers was surprised by this. For ordinary people, "taking the blame" may be a very unfamiliar and disturbing word.

But for big shots and gangsters, taking the blame is as common as who to have dinner with.

As for whether it is the truth or not, it doesn’t matter at all. People just want to see blood, not the truth.

Some people have received the punishment they deserve for their actions, the judiciary has gained people's respect because of the trial, and the victims have been comforted by the result. That's enough.

No one cares whether the man who stabbed the girl with a knife was a glamorous social figure or a "home robber" who was about to go to jail.

Lance asked Alvin and Bolton to ask if there was anyone willing to take the blame. The payment was two thousand dollars a year, to be given to the family or paid in full when the prisoner was released.

He will also ask lawyer Robben to make arrangements so that he will not suffer or be bullied during his sentence, and everything will be arranged properly.

When the news came out, Lance originally thought that there might not be too many people signing up. After all, it would cost people five years of freedom. But he didn't expect that there would be so many people!
Two thousand dollars a year is equivalent to two hundred dollars a month.

Many people have never saved 2,000 yuan in their entire lives, but now they can do so by serving a year in jail!
And it took five years to sit there!
You can get 10,000 yuan in five years, which is equivalent to what many people can earn in their entire lifetime!
All those who responded at once had to line up to compete for these few spots...

(End of this chapter)