Chapter 13
Victoria
“Are you out of your mind fraternizing with the enemy?” Jules came screaming into Victoria’s office about twenty minutes after she’d arrived at work.
“Excuse me?” She set down the pen she’d been writing with and let her hands fall flat on her desk.
His tie was crooked and hanging around his neck more like a noose than an accessory.
Sweat peppered his brow and his cheeks were ruby red.
She’d seen him flustered during and after his trials before, but nothing like this.
Still, she remained calm, or she gave the impression that she was remaining calm.
Inside she was trying to figure out if asking him “who the hell he thought he was talking to” might result in losing her job.
“What the hell are you doing having lunch with Donovan? This damn picture is all over the papers. Do you see the headline?” he asked as he tossed the folded newspaper onto her desk.
She stared down at the paper and held in the curse.
DEFENSE AND PROSECUTION TEAM UP FOR A SECOND SHOT AT ALLEGED MURDERER
“It was just lunch,” she replied stoically. “I am allowed to have lunch.”
His brow wrinkled and he huffed. “Not with defense counsel from the biggest case in this office at the moment,” he yelled back.
“He doesn’t represent Vega anymore.” It felt good to at least add that to her defense. Not that she felt as if she needed to defend her personal choices, but Jules was clearly pissed off about this and, after seeing the headline, a small part of her couldn’t say she blamed him.
“Right, that’s what the record says. But how do you think this looks?
How do you think this makes our office look?
No answer, I’ll tell you. It makes us look like a bunch of incompetent jackasses, running around grasping at straws to try and get this guy locked up for good!
And I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all! ”
And neither did she, but this was where she had to put a stop to the nonsense.“Are you finished?” she asked, still using the calm voice that he couldn’t tell was about to break. “Because if you are, I’d like to address this situation from my point of view.”
Jules didn’t respond. He only waved a hand in her general direction. An action she considered rude, as was this entire out-of-control rant he had going on.
“How I try this case will depend on the evidence and witnesses I have to work with. I do not now, nor have I ever relied on help from outside counsel to do my job. If you think I’m not doing my job in an acceptable manner, file a report and have me removed from the case.
But do not come in here questioning my integrity again. ”
Jules was her immediate supervisor and he wanted to run for District Attorney.
And if that depended on her vote he was most likely never going to sit in that office.
She loved her job and she did it well. What she would not do is be disrespected in the process.
If that meant she would lose the job she loved, then so be it.
He stopped pacing and stood directly in front of her desk. For a moment she wondered if his head would actually explode, he was still fuming, eyes wide, fists clenched at his sides. Then, he flattened his hands on her desk and leaned forward so that he was closer to her face.
“What did you talk about at lunch? What did he say to you and how long have you two been seeing each other?” he asked through clenched teeth.
Did he not just hear what she’d said? This was obviously one of those moments where he showed his privilege and authority.
It wasn’t enough that he was her supervisor.
No, this was the moment where he also reminded her that he was a white man and she was just another Black woman he tolerated. She almost shook her head.
Instead, she inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly. “What I do on my personal time is none of your business.” Her voice was cooler than it had been, her gaze intent on his. She would not look away or cower.
“You little bitch!” He yelled, this time slamming a fist onto the desk. “Do you know how important this case is? Do you know what’s at stake here?”
He was visibly shaking now, the sweat that had been just beads on his forehead were now running in rivulets down his cheek. He looked like he was about to have a heart attack right there in front of her.
“I’m going to ask you to leave my office.” She shook with anger but was still trying her best to hold it together. This situation could go from bad to much worse in seconds if she didn’t keep her shit together.
Jules looked like he was about to say something else but she stood and placed her hands on her hips. “I’m only making that request one time. Next, I’m going to call security and file a formal complaint against you for verbal assault. Now. Get. Out!”
Jules snatched his hand away from her desk, pulling the files and their contents with him to fall in the floor.
“If you mess this up I swear I’ll hunt you down! I’ll hunt you and I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” she inquired. “Say it right here, right now so I can call the police.” She wanted to do that more than she’d ever imagined possible.
He scowled and shook his head. “Just wrap this case up and get the conviction!” He moved to the door then, yanking it open until it slammed into the wall. The knob created a hole in the obviously cheap drywall that separated one office from the other.
When she dropped back into her chair, her hands shook and her heart hammered.
Not out of fear but out of fury. She’d wanted to wrap her hands around Jules’ fat neck and squeeze for the way he dared to speak to her.
Who the hell did he think he was? And why the hell had this pissed him off so royally?
There’d been leaks to the press about their cases before.
Hell, there’d been scandal linked to some of their cases before, i.e.
the DA who was sleeping with the lead detective who, as it turned out, had planted evidence in their double murder case.
A dull throb began in her temples as she wondered what her next step should be. The realization that her first instinct was to call Ben and tell him what had just happened didn’t sit well with her. But lying to herself at this point wasn’t an option.
Ben
“You can’t ignore my calls if I’m standing in your face,” Alma Donovan said a few minutes after she walked into Ben’s office.
Ben had been reviewing the statement of charges for one of his clients and had vaguely heard the bell to the front door chime.
His office building was secure, everyone had to sign in and show identification to the guards at the front door before the guards would call upstairs to let him know who was here to see him.
He hadn’t received a call and had been so focused on his work he’d barely realized someone had come into the office.
Considering the current circumstances he should have been on higher alert, but he also knew that there was a plain-clothes guard standing right outside of his office door as well as Devlin who was no doubt close by.
The guy really was like a shadow, one you never saw until you absolutely needed to.
Both of them would have seen his mother and not bothered to stop her entrance.
Alma Donovan wore one of her signature business suits, this one in a pale pink color, the jacket short sleeves and the skirt with some type of flourish at her knees.
Under her right arm she clutched a pearl white leather purse that matched her shoes and the pearl choker at her neck.
She looked like a professional, which she was since she was the president of not one, but two non-profit companies.
“Hi, Mama,” was his reply to whatever she’d just said to him. He wasn’t totally sure, just knew that she was standing at the end of his desk with one hand on her hip giving him that glare that said “you’re in big trouble”.
“Don’t “hi, mama” me.” She started by slapping her purse onto the end of his desk and yanking one of the guest chairs closer so she could sit down.
“I’ve been calling you and calling you since I saw the paper this morning and haven’t received an answer yet.
Not even a response to my text messages.
And that’s just rude, Benjamin. One hundred percent rude to not respond when there’s no real reason why you cannot. ”
“I’m working, Mama. I have cases to try, clients to represent,” he told her knowing full well that excuse wasn’t going to fly with her. “And actually…” He paused, then looked down at his watch and back to his mother. “I have an appointment in a half hour.”
He loved her dearly, had never met another woman like her.
And lying to her went against everything he believed in, but if she asked him about that Vega case he couldn’t tell her what was really going on.
He didn’t have any idea how she could’ve found out since only Trent and Max knew.
But both of them were married and could have easily told their wives under that full disclosure rule that came with the marriage vows.
One of the women would’ve definitely wanted to tell Alma.
“Then you have thirty minutes to tell me exactly what’s going on between you and that pretty little prosecutor you had lunch with yesterday,” his mother continued.
She spoke so matter-of-factly Ben had to do a double-take before getting the full gist of what she’d said.
“How did you know I had lunch with Victoria Lashley?” he asked giving her his full attention now.
“Everybody in town knows that was a perfect picture of the two of you smiling at lunch. I told your father we should frame it since we never see you with your women.”
Ben didn’t mean to be rude but his fingers moved quickly over his keyboard as he pulled up the local newspaper and searched for the picture his mother referred to and…dammit!
He thought he held that curse in as he slammed back in his chair. But the way his mother’s brows raised and her lips thinned, he’d definitely said it aloud.
“Sorry,” he said.
“I take it you didn’t want people to know you were dating her.
I can see that since she’s prosecuting that case you just finished with.
But listen Son, the heart does not take politics or any of these other prejudicial things into account.
It wants who it wants and there’s not a whole lot you can do about changing that. ”
“We were just having lunch. We were discussing our work. It wasn’t really a date,” he told her and felt good about that being basically the truth.
“You could probably make other people believe that, Benjamin, but not me. A mother knows these things.” She paused then, watching him as if he didn’t need to say a word for her to know exactly what he was thinking and or feeling.
“But you already know how you feel about her. You know but you’re not sure about her feelings. Is that it?” she asked.
Ben looked down at his mother’s hands, clasped neatly in her lap, the sparkling diamond wedding ring set on the left hand and a multi-jewel encrusted anniversary ban on the right.
Those had been symbols of his father’s love for his mother, but Ben knew Everette and Alma’s love went much deeper than jewelry.
Just as he’d watched his Aunt Beverly and Uncle Henry show how much they loved and respected each other by staying in a healthy relationship and keeping their family close.
His cousins that had wives, loved unconditionally, protected with a fierceness Ben hadn’t felt before now.
So his mother was absolutely correct, he knew how he felt about Victoria, had known for quite some time now.
“We met in law school,” he began. “She’s still too hung up on the Donovan reputation to see what a great catch I am,” he finished with a smile that had his mother responding likewise.
“She looks like a really smart girl, I’m sure she’ll come around.”
“I hope so,” he replied still leaning on the honesty fence. “But we both have work and that’s a little distracting right now.”
Alma nodded. “You got out of that case just in time. That man’s no good.”
“I know. I’m thinking now I should’ve never agreed to represent him in the first place.”
“No,” Alma shook her head adamantly. “Don’t do that. The past is in the past for a reason. It’s over and done with, regrets are a waste of time. You did your job and you’ll continue to do your job.”
Ben leaned forward and let his elbows rest on his desk. “But what if the job I’m doing is all wrong? What if I shouldn’t be helping criminals get off?”
Alma shook her head. “When you first came to us and told us what you planned to do with your law degree, your father and I asked if you were sure. You said you were certain you wanted to be a part of the people who gave hope to the hopeless, who helped those others thought were helpless. And that’s what you do, Ben.
You give people what they’re legally entitled to in this country, a right to a fair trial and unbiased legal representation. ”
Her words sounded familiar. “But at what cost?”
“Only at the cost you burden yourself with. If you don’t do this job, someone else will. Someone who’s not as good and not as honest as you are. Is that what you want?”
“I want to feel good about what I do and the people I’m helping. Ramone Vega is not someone I can say that about.”
“Not everybody’s guilty,” Alma replied with a knowing smile.
Ben grinned. “Man, I must’ve been some kind of advocate for defense attorneys. I remember saying that, too.”
“You’re an advocate because you believe in what you do. Don’t let one bad apple deter you from your calling. And don’t let circumstances keep you from the woman you love.”
Hours after his mother had left the office Ben was still thinking about her words.
For all that he and probably any grown-up hated to admit that their parents were right, Alma normally was.
Today had been no different. Ben wasn’t quitting his job, he just wasn’t going to represent scum like Ramone Vega anymore and he wasn’t going to let said scum keep him from doing what he knew was right.
With that in mind, he picked up the phone and made one of the toughest calls of his career.