Jason pushed up his glasses once more. "It turned out that his mother had married his father as part of a political marriage. Already, the feelings in such a situation should be quite thin I assume."
"After giving birth to two children for Mr. Dalvin Stone, and seeing that his company had grown powerful enough, she had solicited a young woman in the company to seduce her husband. Making use of a very powerful aphrodisiac on the market, the unsuspecting Mr. Stone fell victim to the ploy."
Jason smiled with amusement. "In order to keep the evidence 'fresh', the young woman, Amelia Waters, reported that she was raped to the police the very next day."
"As you know, with rape cases, there are two issues to be resolved when judging whether innocent or guilty. The first is consent and the second is penetration."
"Consent is hard to prove and usually, the man has to prove that there was consent. If not, it's his word against the woman's, and usually, this issue goes to the woman's favor obviously."
"Penetration is easier to prove by comparison and is an issue that falls on the woman's shoulders to prove. After all, there cannot be rape if he didn't penetrate, right? That is why it is always advised that rape be reported immediately, so that the evidence stays."
"Hearing this, Mr. Stone's fate was sealed. No matter what he said, it would only make things worse, so he had to accept an out-of-court settlement. In truth, this is usually what happens to most wealthy men and celebrities involved in such sex scandals."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Most cannot even fathom the R in Rape, but are caught in a tough spot once the allegation is made and there is evidence." Jason joked lightly, but no one laughed. He coughed to hide his embarrassment, before continuing the story.
"According to the statistics most allegations of this type are sorted out of court, because the accuser can't be certain if unwanted variables might appear in the case to absolve the 'rapist' and their target is usually the money anyway."
"However, out of court settlement is rather viewed as the rapist admitting indirectly to the crime, so by doing the only thing he could, Mr. Stone had sunk himself deeper into the quagmire."
"After Noellie took Felicity away, along with half the money in a righteous manner, no one suspected anything, not even Mr. Dalvin. In fact, he spent the better part of the next few years trying to reconcile with his wife and bring the family back together."
"10 years ago, when Felicity Stone was 14 years old, she was sent by her mother to trick her remorseful father into signing a contract that would, as she put it, guarantee that Dalvin Stone would fund her idol career as an investor and manager."
"Happy to be a part of his daughter's life again, Mr. Stone unwisely ended up signing it before reading the actual content, most likely afraid that his daughter might get angry and leave. Who can fault a father who might be faced with the consequence of never seeing his own child again?"
"According to the audio evidence, we know that she wasn't even asking for much, only a pittance. Not to mention supporting his daughter could impress his wife and make his attempts to bring the family back together fruitful."
"Unfortunately, the actual contract completely absolved Mr. Stone of all his company shares to his daughter, Felicity Stone, to be overlooked by her mother until the recipient came of age. Naturally, upon finding out about the deception, he was enraged, then heartbroken."
"After escaping into alcoholism, Mr. Dalvin Stone committed suicide not half a year later."
The room was still quiet up to this point. Strangely, Darius himself seemed unmoved by this story, as if it had nothing to do with him, rather using the opportunity to look at the scenery.
"And? How did this matter come to light?" Germaine Rothschild asked with visible interest on his face, not at all bothered by the tale.
Jason nodded and continued. "By that point, anyone could see that there was more to the previous event. As such, after 3 years, Darius Stone eventually did some investigation into the matter."
"You would have to ask him himself just how he managed it, but he got the false accuser, Amelia Waters, to confess to her crime with video evidence, even obtaining photo evidence of the correspondence between herself and Noellie Stone."
Jason's eyes darted to Darius for a split second, and the fellow smiled even though his eyes were not focused on anyone. It was clear that Jason did have some theories as to how Darius got Amelia to confess, but didn't want to mention.
"Afterward, he also got evidence from Noellie and Felicity Stone of the plan and the contract fraud. This was the audio evidence provided, in which both females narrated their actions to Darius for reasons unknown."
Once again, Jason darted a glance at Darius, and once more, Darius smiled thinly.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"After that, what happened next should be obvious. There were two cases held, both for defrauding by false pretenses. The first and second were both won, allowing Darius to regain all of the assets Noellie took with the divorce, as well as the assets signed away to Felicity Stone."
"A year later, another case was lodged, this time a criminal case, and saw both women imprisoned." Jason concluded with a sigh.
Tion Davis, who was the afro guy from Microsoft, blinked with confusion. "Is that it?"
Jeremy Yeager, who was the other fellow from Microsoft also frowned. "While it's certainly detailed, it feels like there is something missing?"
Jason glanced at Darius silently. Darius took his eyes away from the wall and nodded to him. "Feel free."
Jason smiled bitterly. "You'd think that after this scandal was made known in our city, and that everyone was sympathizing and supporting Mr. Stone, nothing would happen."
Jason scratched his head. "Unfortunately, 2 years ago, when we were in level 200 of Edgeworth Leaders College, another false allegation was made."
"This time, the victim was Darius Stone himself, who was now quite wealthy since he had regained the majority of his family's assets. The accuser was his high school sweetheart with whom he had been together for 5 years."
Jason rubbed the bridge of his nose with a wry smile. "Incidentally, she was also the one to help Darius unveil the scandal surrounding his mother and sister."