Kyle was face-to-face with the judge who pulled the strings, holding a briefcase. Kyle wore glasses, which he had put on before entering the office—strange, considering he didn’t need them in the first place.
He was surprised he had even managed to get an audience, considering this was an important figure—or at least, that’s what he had been told. Kyle had to pay a substantial amount to secure the meeting and demonstrate a glimpse of his financial wealth. In total, he had spent $1,000,000 to show that he was a serious person. The judge knew that Kyle was a big spender and agreed to meet with him as soon as possible.
He had been discreet. The payment couldn’t be traced back to him, nor could it be retrieved if it was found that he was guilty. Travis was a man prepared for these types of situations, but Kyle was about to exploit his willingness to bend the law to his advantage.
“Hello, Judge Travis. I must say, you’re a very busy man,” Kyle began the conversation.
The man, well into his fifties, was much older than Kyle had expected, though he also looked emaciated, despite his bulging stomach threatening to burst out of his shirt.
“Kyle, was it? Is there something you need my help with?” Travis asked, getting straight to the point. He was a busy man and wanted to wrap this up quickly.
Kyle was wearing a wire, but there was something he planned to do that he hadn’t informed Priscilla about. He knew she would stop him, but he needed it on record.
“That’s right, I’m Kyle. As a matter of fact, there is something,” Kyle responded with a smile. “A man doesn’t pay this much if he doesn’t need your help.”
“Pay? Is this some kind of joke?” Travis replied.
“He’s good,” Kyle thought to himself. Travis’s body language gave nothing away, and if Kyle didn’t know what he was involved in, he would assume the man was innocent. But Kyle trusted his instincts—his instincts were all he could be sure about.
“Hahaha, I’m just trying to break the ice. The truth is, I need your help with an ongoing case,” Kyle confessed.
“And what may that be? If you have evidence that could help the case, you may present it now,” Travis said, but this was code for a bribe.
Kyle smirked. Travis was careful. Even though Kyle was wearing a wire, he hadn’t said anything that could incriminate him.
Kyle reached into his briefcase and pulled out one of the largest envelopes Travis had ever seen. Travis’s eyes dropped in disbelief, and he had to double-check that his eyes weren’t deceiving him. This had to be well over a million. But the judge was confused—what could Kyle possibly need help with? He could only assist with cases assigned to him, and there wasn’t a case in his current docket that would warrant such a hefty fee.
Travis looked up at Kyle with confusion, but one thing was certain: Kyle had his undivided attention.
[“I want you to give my friend, Justin, full custody of the child, and also deny the mother any access to the child. Please, do not inform him because I know he’s already sweetened the pot with you, but this is my way to make sure nothing goes south. Think of it as my gift to him while satisfying your sweet tooth.”]
Kyle informed Travis via a handwritten note, which could easily be destroyed. This made it impossible for Priscilla, who was listening in, to decipher his intentions.
Travis knew that Kyle was a man of substance because, as the walls had ears, this was something that couldn’t be tied back to either of them.
“I see, this is new information,” Travis said, his smile oozing with distaste.
Again, this was an unusually large fee for something so trivial. He would have been happy to accept a few hundred thousand, but this made the offer even harder to turn down.
“Thank you very much for your time,” Kyle said, though the irony wasn’t lost on him. He should have been able to sway the judge in Cassandra’s favor, but instead, he had chosen the opposite.
It was a strange decision, but Kyle didn’t want Priscilla to act until the verdict was given. If the judge was dismissed without issuing a verdict, the custody battle would continue. But if the judge gave a verdict and it came to light that it had been manipulated, the person who benefited from it would lose the trial by default.
This meant there would be no need for a trial, and Cassandra would have full access to her child, with no need to give the father any right to see him.
It was extreme, and Kyle knew Cassandra wouldn’t want that because a child needs his father. But Kyle wasn’t willing to gamble on the father entering the child’s life and poisoning his mind against his mother. He was taking matters into his own hands, removing the father from the equation.
Priscilla, on the other end, was wondering why things had gone quiet but soon realized that Travis had been careful to avoid saying anything that could implicate him. Kyle had likely caught on and played it cool, but there was no clear evidence to prove the exchange had even happened. That meant she had no case to press and would have to wait for Kyle to return with a proper update.
She didn’t have to wait long before Kyle came out of the building. Priscilla wasn’t in the same vehicle as him, but he called her to brief her on what had happened. He informed her of the exchange and how it was a success but that he hadn’t been able to gather any evidence otherwise.
This was a lie. It was 2024, and Kyle didn’t need outdated methods like a wire to get evidence. The glasses he had worn confirmed everything visually. This included the money exchange and the message written on the envelope.
Travis had been careful—but not careful enough. The amount Kyle had spent to get an audience with him made him drop his guard because no one would be foolish enough to spend that much money only to squander it.