Chapter 8
It seemed like every time me and Dom were around each other we were trying to create another baby as if we weren’t already baking one, which was the main reason for my tiredness today but on the outside, nobody would’ve known that I was truly exhausted.
The cameras were swarming the courthouse before I even stepped out of the SUV this morning with news anchors, gossip bloggers, law students with their notebooks ready, and everybody waiting to see if Carmen Royal was as lethal in court as the rumors promised she was.
Security cleared a path, and I walked straight through, with my YSL heels stabbing the floors, my chin up, and my hand resting lightly over my stomach and briefcase in the other hand.
I didn’t rush and I didn’t look at a single camera.
Because for what? They needed to see control.
They needed to believe I owned the room before I even entered it and that’s how I liked it.
Kilo was already seated at the defense table with his locs pulled back neatly wearing a cream button-down, no jewelry, and a nice and calm posture because as I explained to him, presentation mattered.
Did I think he did what he told me he didn’t do?
Absolutely, because he was big in the streets and his gang ties were strong.
I set my files down and took the seat beside him without looking at him as he leaned toward me whispering.
“You ready?” he asked.
I didn’t look up. “I stay ready.”
The courtroom was full of tension, and I could tell the jury was locked in paying attention.
Judge Alvarez looked down at us over his thick glasses; he’d seen me here before plenty of times and he knew I didn’t come to lose.
The State started with their performance showing photos, timelines, bullshit charts.
Their lead prosecutor tried to be intimidating. “The defendant was seen fleeing…”
I stood up before he could even get started. “Objection, counsel is testifying. The State has not established ownership of the recovered firearm, nor confirmed chain of custody. The lab responsible for the ballistics is currently under audit for case tampering.”
It got extremely quiet at first but then the prosecutor’s jaws tightened like he wanted to call me a bitch. I chuckled. Judge Alvarez nodded one time and spoke. “Sustained.”
I sat down again unbothered, flipping through the files just to piss prosecution off.
The cross exam was when the damage happened.
The State brought their star witness all nervous and eager thinking they were doing something.
I stayed still until it was my turn and then walked up slowly with one hand on the podium.
“You testified that you saw my client in the dark, in the rain, at a distance you admitted was maybe half a block. You didn’t see his face. You just… believe it was him?” I questioned.
The witness hesitated. “I… I think so, yes.”
I tilted my head to the side and ran my tongue across my top teeth. “So, what you’re telling the jury is that you are guessing?” I asked hearing the uncomfortable shifts behind me.
The witness swallowed. Hard. “I… don’t know.”
“That,” I said, stepping back, “is reasonable doubt.”
The judge finally adjourned. “Court will recess until tomorrow morning.” He spat as the gavel cracked.
Reporters instantly flooded the hallway.
Security closed in as I walked out through the side entrance at a relaxed pace just moving through the noise like it couldn’t touch me ignoring it all.
Kilo looked back as officers led him out although he wasn’t under arrest. He didn’t look scared ever, instead he looked like he believed me, as he should.
The courthouse doors opened, and the heat hit my damn skin so hard, I wanted to faint right there as the bright lights bouncing off concrete from camera flashes got my attention.
Reporters piled up front damn near knocking each other over with microphones in their hands stretching the arms out while yelling over each other.
To some this could have been intimidating but it wasn’t to me.
I stepped down one stair at a time making sure that I was careful before Kilo came over walking down with me.
I kept my posture straight with my gaze forward and Kilo looked like the killer he was wearing a hard stone face in front of the cameras simply wanting to get the fuck out of there.
The press saw a lawyer with confidence but what they didn’t see was the shadow moving with me.
The Royal Cartel was already in the crowd, but they were never obvious just like any other court day with this trial.
They didn’t have matching outfits and weren’t in formation with a heavy presence that drew attention.
They looked like anybody else in the crowd with a couple on their phones, a man in work boots holding a coffee, a female checking her purse, a group of three young dudes talking quietly along the sidewalk, just all cinematics but every single one of them had their eyes locked on me and hands resting where the guns were hidden.
A reporter stepped in too close to me and before he finished the movement, a tall man in a black tee shifted his weight just enough to block his angle although he didn’t touch him nor did he speak.
The reporter stepped back without realizing why and wasn’t even aware that had Royal all over it.
Just then another voice broke through the crowd.
“Mrs. Royal, are you representing the alleged kingpin Kilo as part of your husband’s influence?”
I stopped walking and felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
My security didn’t touch me, and they didn’t need to.
I slightly turned my head just enough to address it but not enough to entertain it.
“I represent clients based on law,” I said in a calm voice enough to make the crowd lean in begging for me thinking they were about to get an earful.
“My work happens in the courtroom, not in headlines. If the State cannot prove guilt, that isn’t my client’s fault.
That is theirs.” I addressed the answer as the flashes went off once again. I continued walking.
Another reporter pushed forward. “Do you feel your marriage to Dominic Royal compromises your ethics as an attorney? People are saying your loyalties are…”
Before he finished his sentence, a woman from the crowd stepped beside him.
She was in her mid-thirties with curly hair and rocked a denim jacket.
She softly bumped him looking like she was just shifting her bag.
He never noticed her sliding between him and my path, but I did.
She wasn’t random either, she was one of our people.
They were everywhere but they didn’t hover, they just blended.
The crowd was loud, but it couldn’t touch me mentally or physically because I never let it get to me. I told Kilo, “Hey! Be ready for tomorrow and remember they’re watching waiting for a slip up so stay out of trouble.”
He nodded his head and showed his gold teeth when he smiled. “Nah boss lady, I’m ‘bout to go to my baby mama house and lay up. I’m cool…”
“Good,” I told him. I reached the SUV door, and the driver opened it. I placed one hand on the frame and turned back around looking over my shoulder one more time. The press saw a composed attorney with her guard up and always would. I’m not sure what they thought.
The SUV eased off from the courthouse and crossed back into the old Miami streets on my order.
I wanted to get some good food from the hood, the streets with the cracked sidewalks, and corner stores with faded paint, and murals of people the city forgot.
I told the driver exactly where I wanted to go, and he didn’t argue because he knew better.
Sometimes you needed food that tasted like somebody’s auntie prayed over it instead of all of the fancy stuff.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, the smell of fried catfish, collards, and grease hit me the second I stepped out. My security naturally spread even instead of in circles where it was obvious and blended where they needed to.
Inside, the air was warm and loud in a familiar way with the music playing and plates clanking from the back.
A TV was hanging on the wall playing the daytime shows and it just felt like family, even the baby crying across the room.
A group of old men playing dominoes slapped them hard enough to shake the table.
In here, it was just what felt like a normal life and the kind of peace you couldn’t buy.
I didn’t get far before I saw O’Shynn tucked lowkey into a booth near the back wearing her big sunglasses even though we were indoors.
Her hair was sleek down her back, and she had her nails done stiletto style.
My eyes shifted across from her and there he was sitting back with broad shoulders wearing a diamond chain as the lights above bounced off of the diamonds.
It was Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Malik “Stone” Jefferson.
I recognized him instantly. Hell, half the world did but right now they were letting him chill.
I didn’t know what he and O’Shynn were talking about, but they were laughing.
The kind laughing O’Shynn was doing was laughing that she didn’t do unless she felt safe and unseen and right now, she looked extremely safe with him which told me this wasn’t their first interaction, and they were very familiar with each other.
Her eyes got wide when she saw me and mine widened right back.
I walked over slowly until I was right in front of them.
“Oh, so this where you’ve been at when you’re ‘in meetings’ and why you’ve been so quiet lately? ”
O’Shynn took her sunglasses off just enough to look at me over the rims. “Girl, if you don’t get out of my business.”