PART 19:

“The prosecution wants you to believe that complex engineering failures can be reduced to simple villain, that every corporate decision is either heroic or evil.” Vance gestured at the jury. “But the real world is complicated. Sometimes good people make difficult choices with incomplete information. Sometimes tragedy happens despite everyone’s best efforts.” he pointed at Nathan.

And sometimes disgruntled employees spend years building conspiracy theories to explain their own failures. The prosecution’s case rests on documentation created by a man who was fired for incompetence, maintained by a woman who lost her job after making reckless accusations and supported by a witness who’s trading testimony for immunity.

Ask yourselves if that sounds like truth or revenge. David Hang took the stand first. He’d lost weight since the preliminary hearing. His suit hung loose on his frame, but his voice was steady as he walked through the conspiracy again. Email chains, recorded meetings, wire transfers proving bribes. Vance cross-examined for 3 hours trying to break him, suggesting he was lying to save himself, implying the evidence was fabricated. Huang didn’t break.

“I’m guilty,” he said calmly. “I participated in this conspiracy for 10 years. I signed off on defective designs and denied warranty claims I knew were legitimate. I am absolutely culpable. He looked at the jury, but so is everyone else at that conference table. And Daniel Mercer orchestrated all of it. The second day, Warren called automotive safety experts who explained in excruciating detail how Nathan’s original engineering report had been correct, how the defects were preventable, how every death could have been avoided if Crossline had issued a

recall. Vance tried to muddy the technical explanations, suggested the experts were biased, but the science was too clear, the failures too obvious. On the third day, Nathan testified. He walked through his documentation again, explained every repair order, every shipping manifest, every engine that had been sent to his garage to be fixed quietly.

The jury looked exhausted by the sheer volume of evidence. Vance came after him hard during cross-examination. Mr. Keller, you’ve admitted to having a romantic relationship with Vivien Cross. Correct. Yes. A relationship that began during your collaboration on this case. It developed during our work together. Yes. How convenient.

The disgraced engineer finds an ally and the disgraced CEO. Both of you with axes to grind against Crossline Motors. Vance smiled. One might wonder if this entire case is just an elaborate revenge fantasy between two bitter ex employees. Nathan kept his voice level. My documentation predates meeting Vivien by 9 years. I started building this evidence in 2014.

I met her in 2024. Documentation you created alone with no oversight, no verification. documentation that has been corroborated by David Hang’s evidence, by federal investigators, by independent accident reports. Documentation that conveniently supports the narrative you and Ms. Cross have built together. Vance leaned forward.

Isn’t it true that Ms. Cross has been living with you during trial preparation? She’s been staying in Ashton Ridge. Yes, in your home. Nathan’s jaw tightened sometimes. How many nights? Warren objected. The judge sustained it. But again, the implication hung in the air. The suggestion that Nathan and Viven had coordinated their testimony in bed.

Vivien testified on day four. She was composed and precise, walking through her tenure as CEO and what she’d failed to see. Admitting her culpability while making clear that the conspiracy itself had been orchestrated before she ever took the position. I should have questioned the profit margins, she said. should have investigated why warranty denials were so high.

Should have demanded to see safety reports instead of trusting executives who told me everything was fine. She looked at the jury. Those failures are mine to carry. But the decision to hide known defects, to bribe inspectors, to silence whistleblowers, that was Daniel Mercer. Vance tried to paint her as a scorned executive seeking revenge for being fired.

suggested her relationship with Nathan had clouded her judgment. “Isn’t it true, Miss Cross, that you only became interested in this case after meeting Mr. Keller? That your sudden crisis of conscience coincided remarkably with falling in love?” Vivian didn’t flinch. “I became interested in this case when I discovered my company had killed 73 people.

My relationship with Nathan Keller is separate from the evidence. The conspiracy exists whether we’re together or not. But it must feel good, doesn’t it? Having someone support your narrative after losing your career. What feels good, Vivien said coldly, is finally telling the truth after spending years as the face of a lie.

Nathan didn’t give me that. I chose it. The prosecution rested on day six. Mercer’s defense was aggressive, but thin. Vance called former Crossline executives who testified that safety was always the top priority, that engineering reports were carefully reviewed, that the defects were unforeseeable complications, not negligent design.

Warren tore them apart on cross-examination, showed them their own emails discussing costbenefit analyses of recalls versus settlements, played recordings of meetings where they explicitly discussed hiding defects. One by one, their testimonies collapsed. On day eight, the prosecution called a surprise witness. Robert Patterson wheeled himself to the witness stand.

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