The Gavel That Cracked.

I took bribes disguised as 'consulting fees.' Property cases, custody battles, deportation orders ' the right payment steered the outcome. I told myself I was only speeding up what would happen anyway. The envelopes came through clerks, solicitors, intermediaries. Clean hands, dirty decisions. It lasted twelve years. Then one junior barrister refused to look away. She recorded everything. Bank transfers, burner calls, timings that matched my rulings perfectly. The room was silent when they played it back in court ' my own voice bargaining across the speakers. I didn't fight it. I folded. The papers called it a 'shock betrayal of trust.' My daughter read it at school before I could tell her myself.