I gave him a soft smile and nodded. A few moments later, the judge and jury returned as I watched the woman in her mid-fifties stand up with a paper in her hands.
“Has the jury reached the verdict?” Judge Cason asked. I took hold of Emil’s hand.
“Yes, Your Honor. In the case of Emil Aldana and Ellis Aldana with the impending charges of murder in the first degree, racketeering, embezzlement, and leading a criminal empire, we, the Jury, find the defendantsnotguilty on all charges.”
I smiled in triumph as Emil pulled me from my seat to hug me, and Ellis followed. The courtroom erupted in shouts, and some people were cursing and crying out. I was assuming it was the family of Alphonso and Raymon.
I suddenly felt guilty because I knew Emil and Ellis committed the crimes they were accused of, but I was a defense attorney for a reason. People paid me an obscene amount of money to make their problems go away. If this were anyone else who had committed these crimes, I would never have taken the case. Emil and Ellis were like family. Well, they were soon going to be my family, so I had to win for them so they could relieve my fiancée of his stress.
We all headed out of the courtroom and out into the hall. I could see my family standing by with looks of disappointment on their faces. I couldn’t understand why they’d even come if they weren’t going to be happy for me, but I already knew why they were here. They were hoping to see them go to prison for the rest of their lives. Their hate for them was crazy insane.
I walked over to them while they waited for me to approach.
“Congratulations, baby,” my mom said, pulling me in for a hug.
“Thank you.”
“Yeah . . . Congrats, Cousin. I hope you get your name on the building.” Zeke’s fake ass smiled at me, but I could tell it wasn’t genuine.
My dad gave me a half-smile. “Baby girl, I pray you get why you want out of life. I never want you to feel as if I don’t care or am trying to stop you from shining. I want you to make the right choices.”
“Have I not?”
“You have; you have. I just—come to the house and have dinner with us. We miss you.”
“I would love to, but I already have plans.”
“With them?” Ezekiel asked.
I rolled my eyes. “No, actually with Carmen, Chloe, and Chanel.”
“Oh! That’s good. Will you come by tomorrow then?” my mom asked, looking optimistic.
“Sure. I’ll call you.”
“Ready, baby?” I heard Emery behind me. I could see my father and Zeke’s faces twist in disgust, and I shook my head.
“Yes.” I smiled at him. “I’ll see you all tomorrow, and we’re going to talk,” I told my family, then walked off with Emery. I was going to get to the bottom of their bullshit once and for all. Emery had never disrespected my family; hell, he rarely even spoke to them or came by because I was always at his house, or we were hanging out, so for them to be this upset with his presence was baffling to me.
“Still salty, huh?” he asked.
“Very.”
“They’ll be alright. I’m proud of you.” He placed a kiss on my forehead and wrapped his arm around me, guiding me out of the building.
“Thank you, baby. You know, I never got that surprise you promised me,” I reminded him.
He smiled. “Change of plans. You’ll get it real soon. Just wait on it.” As soon as my foot hit the bottom step outside the courthouse, Ellis rushed me, picking me up, and spun me around.
“I knew you was the goat!”
“Nigga, if you don’t put my wife down. The fuck?”
I laughed as Ellis placed me on my feet.
“Shut yo’ whipped ass up.”
“Good shit, sis. Thank you again, man,” Emil said, hugging me again. He was much calmer than he’d usually be, and I couldn’t help but see a little sadness in his eyes that I’d never seen before.
