Cassie showed no emotion.
“Additionally, you are ordered to have no contact—direct or indirect—with Mr. Bryns or Ms. Grant for the duration of your sentence and for ten years post-release. Violation of this order will result in immediate reincarceration.”
The gavel came down, and it was over.
I didn’t look at her once during sentencing. My eyes stayed on Halo beside me, her hand in mine, her thumb rubbing circles on my palm. I wanted to be mad, but how could I? Had that fire not been set, I wouldn’t have the love of life tucked under my arm.
When the bailiff led Cassie out, she tried one last time. “DaVinci, I won’t be here forev—”
“Keep it moving,” the bailiff said, his voice firm.
And then she was gone. I knew she wouldn’t be here forever, and I wasn’t worried about her threats. I wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet through her eyes if she came near my family or me. My defense was in black and white.
Giveon turned around and gave me dap. “That’s it. She can’t appeal. The no-contact order is binding. And with her psychiatric eval, she’s not getting parole early. The board won’t even consider it until she completes the full treatment program, and that’s a minimum of 5 years. You won’t hear from her again.”
“Good,” I said, shaking his hand. “Appreciate everything, Giv.”
“Anytime.”
My parents met us in the hallway. Ma hugged me first, then Halo.
“How are you feeling?” Stetson asked.
“Relieved,” I said. “Ready to move on.”
“Good.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “That’s what you do now. You move forward.”
Omni looped her arm through Halo’s. “You hungry? We can grab lunch before y’all disappear for your little vacation.”
“How you know about that?” I asked.
“Because I know you,” Omni said, smirking. “And I know you’re about to whisk your woman away to some private island on some romantic shit.”
“Mind your business.”
But I couldn’t hide my smile. That’s exactly what I was going to do. Like the selfish nigga I was, I was for sure about to fall off the face of the earth with my woman.
“Never.”
The weight I’d been carrying for months eased up. Not all the way, but enough for me to breathe again. Enough for me to think about the future without wondering if Cassie’s crazy ass was gonna pop up and blow it to pieces.
“How are you feeling, baby?” Halo asked as we walked out of the courtroom.
“Yeah.” I squeezed her hand. “I’m good.”
We made our way through the courthouse, past reporters who’d been camped out all week, past people with their phones out trying to get a picture. Langston cleared a path, but we weren’t moving fast. The lobby was packed—cameras, microphones, courthouse staff trying to manage the chaos. We kept pushing, heading toward our future with no intentions of looking back, unless it was to acknowledge where we had come from.
Reporters were everywhere, lights flashing like somebody had set fireworks off indoors. I kept my hand locked in DaVinci’s because if I let go for even one second, somebody was going to get knocked out. And I wasn’t in the mood to be misunderstood. This had been long overdue, and now that it was over, we were both waiting for that feeling to come over us.
“Mr. Bryns, how do you feel about the sentencing?”
“DaVinci! Halo! Look this way!”
“Is it true you’re retiring?”
It was all noise.
That messy, unnecessary chaos that came with loving a man the world didn’t know how to mind their business about. I tuned it out and focused on breathing, one step at a time, eyes on the exit. We were close—so close—and then the crowd bottlenecked around the staircase and stopped moving.
