When I was in high school, I had my mom and dad play the criminals while I acted as a lawyer, and my cousin Ezekiel was the judge. I loved it when they entertained me back then, so I took it seriously in college and finally earned my Juris Doctor to become a defense attorney.
The con of my career choice was that it took a lot out of me. My caseload was heavy, and sometimes, I had to defend people I knew were guilty of committing a crime. It was one of the reasons I wished I had chosen to become a prosecutor instead.
Salah stood at the front of the room, arms locked at her waist with a soft smile on her face.
“I love when my team knows how to be punctual.” Some of us laughed as we took our seats. “Welcome, everyone. I hope you all are having a good morning and have had your Wheaties. Today is going to be a very busy day for us. Well, maybe for about six of you,” she said, turning the board around.
I took out my legal pad and pen to begin taking notes. When my eyes landed on the board, my body stilled, looking at the multiple photos of none other than the Aldana family.
Holy shit.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you the Aldana family, known for money laundering, racketeering,embezzlement, murder, and our all-time favorite, drug trafficking. For years, the prosecutors have been trailing this family, but they have been flying under the radar, only getting slaps on the wrist for petty crimes.
“They can never get any of the charges to stick because they have everything so airtight, making them look like fools while they look like upstanding citizens. I think the prosecution has finally found a loophole in their system, so I need my best on this case.” My palms became misty as I thought of the one man who turned my world upside down. My first true love.
Emery Aldana.
His image entered my mind of his braided plaits, toasted pecan skin, full lips, long lashes, and famous nose ring that I would have frowned at if it were anyone else, had me clutching my legs together to calm the throbbing of my clit.
That man made me so weak yet so angry with how things turned out between us.
“Meet Emil Aldana. Allegedly, the head of the Aldana family was recently picked up for questioning in the murders of Alphonso Jordan and Raymon Streeter. He and his cousin, Ellis, posted bail, but the police and the prosecution are still investigating them. They have hired us as their defense team.”
Beside Emil’s photo was his cousin Ellis, a.k.a. Mook, and I was assuming the others were members of their crew. To the right of the board was another set of men labeled the King family, and beside them were the St. Claire family.
“. . . The same goes for the King, Banks, and St. Claire families. They believe these families are somehow tied together, but they can’t seem to place them all together. Their paperwork is legit, but the prosecutors believe these men are criminals, and I have been told they have a CI and a witness in place to take them down.”
“Who’s the informant?” I found myself asking.
Stupid. Why the hell did I ask that?
“Someone who used to work very closely with them and, apparently, a witness who was there the night of the shooting. You already know they aren’t giving the CI up. Ms. Lewis and Mr. Barkley, I’m putting you two on the King’s case, Mr. Smith and Mr. Simpson, you all will be on the St. Claire’s case, and my two best defense attorneys . . .”
Please don’t say my name. Please don’t say my name.
“. . . Mrs. Collins and Ms. Clark, you both will take the Aldana case.”
Shit!
Just when I thought she wouldn’t say my name, she did.
Speak up, Yumi. Tell her you can’t defend that family.
My mouth opened to speak, but no words followed. It felt like my tongue was slack, and I couldn’t get it to move. Everything she said after that was a blur as my mind went haywire.
Emery Aldana stole my heart in high school and never returned it. We were good together until I found out about his family’s history of how they had so much money. Emery never told me what his family did for a living, but I knew it was beyond my understanding.
All he told me was they owned a few businesses and a bunch of real estate. I believed him because I loved him, but when my parents told me what they had found out, I was devastated.
When I questioned him about it, he told me the truth, and that was ultimately how our love story ended. We couldn’t be on opposite sides of the law and live happily ever after, and as much as it pained me to sever our relationship, I knew it was for the best.
Defending his family was going to be a conflict of interest on my end, but something inside of me wanted to see him again. It had been years since we’d last spoken, and even though I knewI should tell Salah the truth, I opted to remain quiet, at least for now.
“Here are their portfolios and contact information. Let’s get on these as soon as possible because they’re out on bail and need us to get on the case immediately,” she said, dropping the case file in front of me.
“Well, looks like we have a mission to get to. We can meet in my office to look over everything before we head over to visit them,” Langston said, standing.
“Uhm, yeah, sure. Just let me use the restroom, and I’ll be down,” I told her, standing and rushing out of the room.
