They couldn’t have another black man in power over the city. An agent showed up to his home, knowing the threats that had been put on his life, with a gun. Trying to gain access into his home, and he exercised his right to bear arms.
It was an open and close case to me, but there was so much politics around this case that I’ve been drained. Now today was closing arguments and hopefully we had a verdict.
Goo: Good luck today.
I smiled as I looked at his message. He was mad at me but still took time to wish me good luck.
He’s lucky I had court because I would have met him where he was at and fucked him. Angry sex was the best kind of sex if you asked me. I powered my phone off because Judge Case had a pet peeve when it came to phones being on in her courtroom.
Kora didn’t spare me because we shared the same blood with each other. She held me responsible like every other attorney that entered her courtroom. The lights flashed and the sounds of everyone screaming on the front steps of the courthouse caused me to look back.
Kofi came in with his security and went through the metal detectors. He was on house arrest and even then, they didn’t want to give him that. They fought that he was a flight risk because he had family in Trinidad.
He was drained.
I could imagine how he felt. Not knowing if this crooked ass system was going to see that you were actually the victim. They painted a picture that the agent that was murdered was a good man. He was a family man, a father who devoted his weekends to his children, and one who sacrificed time. Meanwhile, my client, a child of Trinidadian immigrants, worked his way up in tech and now owned a med-tech company worth billions. He still volunteered at the community centers in his old neighborhood, and was heavy into police reform and helping innocent men gain freedom.
Every attorney at our firm played around with his case when his assistant reached out to us. No one wanted to touch this case, and Teddy even called himself trying to give me advice on leaving the case alone.
“Hey Kofi, want to have a word in a private room?”
“We can.”
Kofi had to be reserved within the public eye. He had to watch every move he made. It was like living in a fish bowl and having the entire nation with their eyes on you. Every agency had their eyes on this case and was in support of the dead FBI agent.
Even prosecution had been trying every trick up their sleeve. The stress of my personal life along with this case had been a lot. It was no wonder I was popping anxiety pills like mints.
We found a private room to dip into. I sat my briefcase on the table and made sure the blinds were closed. This case had been all over, and even though no phones were allowed, there were pictures of Kofi floating around the internet.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like I’m going to throw the fuck up… I could sit in prison for the rest of my life for a nigga trying to kill me.”
It was a hit, no doubt.
We knew that, however, Kora warned me not to use that in my defense. She said it would open up even more chaos if I chose to go that route. Being that she saw things on the other end, I trusted and listened to her advice.
“I’m confident.”
He snorted. “No offense, Zoya. You can be confident, but only one of us gotta turn in our designer garb to get into a jumpsuit.”
“Fair. I’ve prepared my closing statement, and I will warn you that it’s short. It’s straight to the point.”
“Always hated to beat around the bush.” He grinned.
I held my hand out. “You told me when we first met that you only had one requests.”
“To make it home to my daughter.”
“And I’m making that shit happen. I need to make sure your security is good… when this goes our way, because it will, there will be outrage and you need to be taken out the back.”
“Fuck me… what about you?”
“I’m good.”
Kofi didn’t need to know who my family was, or how I was going to get out of this courthouse when they read that not guilty plea.
Even though my sister was the judge on this case, this case was tried fairly. There wasn’t any special favors or switching the jury. I was an attorney, and the best, because of my knowledge, not because of my connections.
