He looked at me like it suddenly clicked to him who I was, closed a file slowly and folded his hands. “Mr. Mensah. I assume you have a problem with that.”
Treasure’s breath trembled beside me, but she held her head high. I walked toward his desk.
“You know exactly why I’m here. My son needs a bond, and you’re refusing to give him one.”
Lennox gave a shallow shrug. “Your son murdered two men in broad daylight. Those two men are my sons. My blood. Don’t barge in here begging for your son’s life when he didn’t spare mine.”
Treasure flinched, and I felt her pain. I could tell she was ready to go on the attack which she had every right. But I needed to handle this, so I lightly squeezed her hand to remind her I was here to take care of this shit.
I kept my eyes locked on Lennox. “Your sons showed up at my son’s place of business threatening him. They approached Kay’Lo like they wanted to fight him. They weren’t innocent.”
He stared back at me without blinking. “Do you expect me to care that they started it? My boys are dead, Mr. Mensah. Dead. And your son is going to pay for it.”
My jaw tightened and heat crawled up my spine. “Your sons made a choice. They came to my son’s shop prepared to hurt him. He defended himself. You know damn well if the roles were reversed you’d be claiming self-defense before the bodies even hit the ground.”
The other man stepped forward slightly, as if he feared something would happen.
“Mr. Mensah, I am well aware of your status on this island. You’re used to getting whatever you want,” Lennox said. “You walk around this island like you built it, and maybe in some ways you did, but that doesn’t change the fact that your son executed my boys. This case is personal now.”
I leaned forward on his desk. “And everything is personal when it threatens family.”
“And that,” Lennox said, “is exactly why your son will not see a bond. He will not walk free while my sons lie in the ground.”
Treasure stepped closer. “We are not asking to free him. We are asking for due process. He deserves a bond, the same way any other citizen would.”
Lennox turned his gaze toward my wife like he’d had enough of me.
“I understand you’re hurting. I truly do. But your son didn’ just take my boys from me and my wife. He took them from our family.”
For the first time, I seen a flicker of grief in Lennox’s eyes like he could no longer be strong.
“And they approached my son,” Treasure replied softly. “Why doesn’t that matter?”
“Because I’m the attorney general,” he said, “and I decide what matters.”
Before I could speak again, he looked at me and added, “And I assure you, Mr. Mensah, nothing you do will stop the direction this case is going. You can pull your strings, wave your money, threaten to shut down networks. It won’t help you.”
I stepped closer until only his desk separated us. “You think I need to wave money to get results? You think I need to beg? TrillNet powers every digital breath this nation takes. You’ve built your whole judicial system on data that runs through my infrastructure. If I wanted, I could flip this shit into darkness.”
Lennox didn’t blink once. “And if you did, you would be placing your son’s execution on a silver platter. Because you don’t scare me, Mr. Mensah. I buried two sons. Do you truly believe I fear a man who still has his child breathing?”
Something snapped inside me.
I grabbed Lennox by the front of his suit and jerked him forward so hard the papers on his desk blew off the edge. Treasure gasped and reached for my arm but I didn’t let go. The other man rushed forward and tried to force my grip loose.
“You listen to me!” I growled, my face inches from his. “If you think I will allow you to murder my son, you are out of your fucking mind! I don’t care what laws protect you. I don’t care what title you hold, muthafucka!I don’t care who you know or what strings you pull. If my son dies, I will burn every inch of this fucking island until there is nothing left for you to rule.”
The other man finally managed to wedge himself between us. Lennox smoothed his suit with a smirk as if nothing happened. He straightened his papers. Adjusted his cuffs, then he looked right at me.
“Are you finished?” he asked calmly. “Because if so, you may see your way out of my office. This conversation is over.”
Treasure touched my shoulder gently, her voice breaking as she whispered, “Do not let him get away with this.”
I stared at Lennox, feeling a rage I hadn’t felt in decades. It was something dark and primal that made my hands shake.
“You have no idea what you’re provoking,” I said. “You think you’re fighting one man. You’re fighting an entire legacy.”
“And you’re fighting a father,” he replied, “who has nothing left to lose.”
