Third POV

Claire Vale stood outside Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport with nothing but a phone, a broken heart and her personal credit card which could only last her a few weeks. She had always used Alessandro’s card to finance her lifestyle, not thinking she would one day need to use her own money.

Her heart burned from the sting of betrayal as the last words of her Mr. Right as she thought. “Take her away, far away, to the state she would never be able to leave.”

These were the hardest to recall, being rejected by the man whom she couldn't stay a second without seeing.

Just hours before, she had walked in on Alessandro and her stepsister in a romantic moment. She had his body when she was always made to believe that she would be the only one who would see his body and touch it. Claire sighed, shaking her head with tears in her eyes. She turned around, she was all alone. The helicopter and the men who had dropped her here were gone. People passed by to their own businesses. She was on her own.

She would have to struggle to survive. It really hit hard on her. Georgia was a state of opportunity for some, a trap for others. For her, she had no choice other than to survive.

“I'll need to find some jobs to start afresh,” she mumbled in tears.

Claire spent the first few days of her stay on the streets, homeless, strolling around each morning to check out places, looking for jobs before returning in the evening to think about her life. The money in her credit card was sure to feed her till she found a job as soon as she believed.

Luckily for her, it happened. Merely six days after she arrived in Georgia, Claire signed up for cleaning jobs—hotel bathrooms, greasy spoons, even strip clubs after-hours. No job was too humiliating. She refused to be broken.

“Alessandro and Lilah must be thinking I'll be broken by doing this to me but I'll prove to them that if my family's hatred couldn't break me, their betrayal can't either.” It was a mere affirmation as she was dying inside from the loss of her man and then her baby to the woman who must have caused the death of two men that supported her marriage to her dream guy.

With the jobs, she was able to leave the streets and rent a single room. Each night she returned to her one-room shelter accommodation, thinking about what to do next. Further her education. It kept ringing in her mind for days without end.

“But I don't have the resources, what would I do?” This bothered her and most times she would cry herself to sleep but soon, some ideas flashed into her mind. Either apply for scholarships or start a GofundMe seeking help. With leaving college in her final year, it would be much easier to land with a GofundMe success as scholarships targeted high school graduates and graduates wishing to further.

With this, she started a GofundMe with hope, setting a global audience to reach out to more people. Claire wasn't afraid of stating her condition, just that she never mentioned names. Her revenge was set for the future, for now she was sourcing on how to get there.

Her campaign was honest:

“My name is Claire Vale. I was cheated on by my intending husband, a billionaire who made me have a baby for him before marriage. Just a night before our wedding, I caught him with my step sister and together both took away my baby, dropping me off on a faraway land, Georgia.

I’d dropped out of college in my final year years ago because of the same stepsister. Now I want to rebuild my life through education in order to seek justice. Help me please. I want to become a judge and fight for others who can’t.”

Her claims came with written and audio proofs carefully blurring off the identity of the culprits. She couldn't afford to expose them now, they would definitely hunt her down. She could only do that after rising to the ranks.

For weeks, she got pennies. Thirty dollars. Twenty. Ten. Until one day, a huge credit amount landed on her phone, she checked, it was from GofundMe, from an anonymous account.

$3,000,000 USD donated anonymously.

An additional note popped up from the top of her screen, redirecting her to her GofundMe account. “I'm likewise a billionaire, I can't bear seeing a woman like you suffer. You should forget about him and move on to fulfill your dream.”

It read.

Claire blinked. Her body began to shake, trembling. To make sure her eyes and brain were not playing her, she had to refresh the screen.

It was real.

Claire sank to the floor, crying until her chest ached. She so much wanted to send a zillion thanks directly to the sender but the account was locked and anonymous, couldn't receive messages.

“This amount is too huge to thank only publicly,” she thought to herself. “I'll render a special letter of gratitude to whoever it is online.”

With this, she applied and got admission. As a final year dropout, she will only need to retrieve her academic results online, attend a summer class to refresh and continue from the final year. Georgia had the best laws in education. One thing about the state that favored her.

Within a year, she obtained her first degrees in Law from University of Georgia School of Law with first class honors. Then proceeded to enroll in a Master’s degree program at Emory University School of Law. She majored in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Judicial Administration.

Claire gained popularity from her professors and the public, part of who raised money to help her further her education for her exceptional excellence in her academics. She didn’t party, nor engaged in romantic relationships, particularly as her son dealt severely with her mental health.

Claire worked part-time in a legal clinic, assisting abused women and wrongfully accused persons. With the encouragement from her professors, she took the bar exam early, passing on her first trial.

But Claire didn’t stop.

Next, she enrolled in a Ph.D. in Criminology and Justice Policy, specializing in Behavioral profiling and forensic psychology. She took additional certification in constitutional law and civil litigation procedure.

Within five years of setting foot in Georgia, the Georgia Judicial Nomination Commission fast-tracked her application to become a judge. Her clean record, academic excellence, and years of experience made her one of the rarest yet eligible candidates in recent history for the position of Judicial Appointment.

At the age of twenty-eight, Claire Vale was sworn in as a Superior Court Judge, one of the youngest in Georgia’s modern judicial history. From a broke, frustrated, exiled mom, she became a woman whom lots of people began to talk of.

Merely resuming duty, a letter arrived, embossed with the seal of the Nevada State Supreme Court.

“Judge Claire Vale,

You have been selected and assigned as a guest judge to Clark County, Nevada. This is a special case of federal interest involving multiple cases and high-profile individuals. You are to report in two weeks for formal swearing-in at the Las Vegas Supreme Court.”

Claire stared at the letter, blinking in stunned silence. Las Vegas? The very city where she witnessed the miserable treatment of her family, the brutal murder of two men who supported her and the betrayal of the man after her own heart. For the past eight years, these past memories have haunted her. She sought revenge but could not.

“Perhaps it's an indication that soon I'll be getting my revenge.” She pressed her suit, nodding her head. Coming to her hometown, she would fight for more than just her career.

“I'll make sure that those who made my life miserable pay ten times more. First I'll have to take my child away from them.” She swore Delilah, her evil step-mom, not be excluded.

On her second day in Vegas, she turned on the security channel, her usual watchhub, while pouring herself a coffee in her residence, her mind distracted with thoughts of Alessandro and her stepsister, how to take her revenge as well as her son back. She expected a regular morning broadcast, but she was about to receive the greatest shock of her life.

“Breaking News:

FBI confirms the apprehension of a billionaire assassin. The suspect has been under the investigation of the FBI for the past eight years, traced back to two high-profile murders: that of Eric Walson, CEO of the prestigious Walson Bank who has funded Las Vegas for years, and his business colleague and friend, Gerald Arcoles.”

Claire froze.

The exact information she has been seeking to know for years. The cup in her hand dropped, splashing the hot coffee on her but she didn't flinch. Her jaw dropped, legs shaking.

“God, is this really happening?”

Her eyes, steadied on the TV, continued to listen.

“Sources confirm that the suspect recently murdered Lilah, his third confirmed victim and spared only their eight-year-old son.”

A CCTV footage of a man in black holding the gory body of a woman in his arms was shown, stepping out of what seems to be a luxury mansion, walking towards the garage but it was blurred and distorted at some point to veil the identity of the man, the woman she was carrying and the location of the residence.

Trying to relate, Claire's heart jumped to her throat.

Alessandro? Her ex-husband? Could he be the assassin? The man was about the same height and structure so she couldn’t see his face.

Her knees grew weak and she crumbled onto the couch, wishing this was a dream or there was a mistake in the broadcast. But it was real.

“Could this be the special case I was invited to preside over?” The next question haunted her mind. It was a shocking, sweet moment for her even as she hadn't yet come to terms with the situation.

She wondered if it was actually him.

As the law stipulated, the identity of high profile criminals like this weren't revealed until the day of the court hearing.

“Investigators reveal that the culprit claims he spared the child because the boy reminded him of someone he always loved but had to let go to protect her.’”

“To protect her? Loved?”

The more she heard, the more it seemed like Alessandro.

“Medical reports show the suspect has a terminal brain tumor while the FBI mental health experts label him a ‘functioning psychopath’ with the nicest, most gentlemanly behavior.”

Exactly what Alessandro claimed his dad had, the latter, what she labeled him upon his rejection after bearing a son for him.

These facts slowly crept into her mind, invoking the deepest shock. “This is unbelievable,” she whispered, her face dazed and her eyes growing darker than a thundercloud.

“The US government has reviewed all the available judges and has chosen Superior Court Judge Claire Vale as the most impartial and well-qualified individual to oversee the trial of this billionaire assassin.”

“It couldn’t be Alessandro.”

“Could it?”

Was this the moment she has actually been praying for years?