Other
Read books online Ā» Other Ā» Unprotected with the Mob Boss: A Dark Mafia Romance (Alekseiev Bratva) Fox, Nicole (best chinese ebook reader .TXT) šŸ“–

Book online Ā«Unprotected with the Mob Boss: A Dark Mafia Romance (Alekseiev Bratva) Fox, Nicole (best chinese ebook reader .TXT) šŸ“–Ā». Author Fox, Nicole



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... 91
Go to page:
of her father shouting and the angry hubbub of the other people who came out to see justice be served.

Jennyā€™s father rushes past me, roaring, trying to get over the bar that separates the galley from the judgeā€™s perch.

The bailiff grabs him before he can mount it, shoving him down.

ā€œThis is a court of law!ā€ the judge bellows. ā€œTreat it like one or be thrown out!ā€ He slams his gavel again and again.

Finally, the court slowly quiets, the silence only permeated by Mrs. Dresslerā€™s muffled crying.

Mr. Dressler raises his hands in defeat. He looks so tired.

ā€œIā€™m sorry, Iā€™m sorry,ā€ he mumbles. The bailiff releases him.

Dressler goes back to his seat next to his wife. He doesnā€™t look at her or the judge or at anyone, really. He just stares into the distance like thereā€™s nothing worth seeing anymore.

The last of the proceedings resume. I keep my eyes on the jury as Deputy Richards finishes speaking. Theyā€™re avoiding looking in the direction of the victimā€™s family and Elizabeth.

After the jury is thanked and excused, Mr. Dressler walks up to Elizabeth, followed closely by his wife, who is still shaking with tears.

ā€œWhat the hell happened?ā€ Mr. Dressler hisses. ā€œYou let that monster free.ā€

Elizabeth takes a deep breath and stops packing her things for a moment to look Mr. Dressler in the eye. Her voice is firmā€”empathetic but professional. ā€œHeā€™s a good-looking man who is a good actor. He knew how to play the jury. Iā€™m sorry, but thereā€™sā€”ā€

ā€œThatā€™s not good enough. I donā€™t want your excuses. You blew it. You could have gone after him much harder and all you did was act like a pretentious ass. You were too confident and you didnā€™t try hard enough.ā€

Elizabeth sighs and runs a hand through her blonde hair. She opens her mouth to speak again, but I cut in. ā€œIā€™m sorry,ā€ I say, butting forward. ā€œIā€™m deeply sorry for the loss of your daughter, but DA Hardick did what she could. The defense has an easy jobā€”all they need to do is plant doubt in the juryā€™s minds. They only need to convince a couple jury members that he could be innocent and they could persuade the other members if they were charismatic enough. Itā€™s not fair. I completely agree. I wish it turned out differently.ā€

He slides his gaze to me like Iā€™m a piece of dog shit stuck to his shoe. ā€œYou ā€˜wishā€™ it turned out differently,ā€ he repeats slowly. ā€œYour ā€˜wishesā€™ arenā€™t going to put my daughterā€™s killer behind bars, which is the very least of what should happen to him. Save your wishes for a new DA that will actually do her job.ā€

Mr. Dressler looks Elizabeth up and down, disgust written all over his face. Then he storms away, half dragging his wife with him.

I let out a deep breath that I hadnā€™t even realized I was holding in.

ā€œYou shouldnā€™t have gotten involved,ā€ Elizabeth says to me, gathering her files. She shoves them into her briefcase. ā€œIā€™m sorry. This isnā€™t the case I should have brought you in on. Take a breath. You need to relax.ā€

I look down at my hands. My fists are clenched so tightly that my nails are digging into my palms.

ā€œI donā€™t understand,ā€ I mutter. ā€œHe was guilty.ā€

ā€œAll we had was circumstantial evidence. We didnā€™t have surveillance footage, we didnā€™t have his car, we didnā€™t have any proof that there wasnā€™t another car on the road that night. I believe heā€™s guilty too, but the jury did their duty. They couldnā€™t say for absolute certainty that he did it, so they had to let him go.ā€

ā€œHeā€™s just going to go out and do it again,ā€ I protest. ā€œMy father said heā€™s suspected in another hit and run, but he was never charged because of a lack of evidence.ā€

ā€œYour father is right. Just keep breathing, Allison. Sometimes the bad guy wins and we canā€™t let that get us down or weā€™ll be too defeated to fight the next one. Come on. Iā€™ll take you out for lunch.ā€

I scrape at the nail polish on my thumb. Coral pink. I thought itā€™d look professional, but now it just feels pointless.

ā€œYou donā€™t have to do that,ā€ I tell her, looking up. In her heels, sheā€™s nearly three inches taller than me and with her dark blonde hair, she could star in a law show.

I feel dull and insignificant next to her. In comparison, a casting director would make me a dead hooker with a crack addiction because the mixture of fluorescent lights and my dark hair always makes my skin look pallid.

ā€œI know my father pulled some strings to let me shadow you, but we donā€™t need to hang out. Iā€™ll end up spending the whole time complaining about the case and youā€™ll want to kill me.ā€

ā€œAllison, Iā€™d never kill you. Mostly because your father would have the whole NYPD trying to convict me and I donā€™t have time for that in my life.ā€ She zips up her briefcase. ā€œIā€™m not asking because I want to please your father. Iā€™m asking you because youā€™ve sat with me through this whole case and Iā€™m hungry. So, instead of a third night of Chinese food, letā€™s go find a place that serves something decent, and Iā€™ll give you some more advice on this prosecuting stuff.ā€

I let my hands drop to my side. ā€œIā€™m guessing the first piece of advice is to learn to let things go.ā€

ā€œThatā€™s the second piece of advice,ā€ she says as I follow her out of the courtroom. ā€œThe first one is donā€™t piss off the chief of police. And thatā€™s why I wonā€™t kill his daughter.ā€

* * *

Welkinā€™s has a grayish-blue themeā€”the walls, the tables, the lawyers in their gray and blue suits.

As the hostess leads us to the back patio, I can see my future. I see myself sitting with a stack of documents, fully immersed in the injustice of a high-profile murder.

Or, at least, I dream of that until I see the menu.

ā€œThey seem to

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... 91
Go to page:

Free ebook Ā«Unprotected with the Mob Boss: A Dark Mafia Romance (Alekseiev Bratva) Fox, Nicole (best chinese ebook reader .TXT) šŸ“–Ā» - read online now

Comments (0)

There are no comments yet. You can be the first!
Add a comment