Page 1 of Scarlet Embrace

CHAPTER 1: ELENA

DENIED JUSTICE

“The jury finds Richard Hurch innocent,” the words filled the courtroom.

The reaction in the courtroom was quite different. Richard’s friends and family were filled with joy hearing that Richard was found innocent of the charges against him. On the other side, Caroline, Sam’s wife, collapsed onto the floor, bawling her eyes out. I could only imagine how she was feeling at the moment: the fury, the disappointment, the pain. To an extent, I understood how she felt since I was in the same shoes a couple of years ago.

A different courtroom, a different case, but the circumstances were almost similar.

“We need to go, Elena,” Roland said to me.

The rather calm and cold man seated right next to me was none other than Detective Roland Gray of the Philadephia Police Force.

“What?” I looked up at him.

“The trial is starting soon,” he told me.

The real reason why I was in the building was not to watch Richard Hurch’s trial. His trial was actually more like a side attraction. Richard Hurch owned a number of pawnshops and retail stores throughout the city. The LaRosa cartel used his business ventures to launder money, something Roland and I haven’t been able to prove so far.

The LaRosa cartel was one of the many cartels that operated in the city but not the major one. No, that award went to the Cruz cartel. From money laundering to drug trafficking to human trafficking, the Cruz cartel had its hand in every pie. They started as a small gang twenty-eight years ago and had entered the real estate business, turning everything to their advantage. Now, they dominated the entire city, and they were behind every major incident that happened in the city. A member of the Cruz family was the reason why Roland and I were in court. Roland was one of the detectives working on bringing Cruz’s empire down, and he wasn’t the only one. In fact, I was one of the few people who wanted to bring the Cruz family to ruins.

“Do you think Hurch will ever pay for his crimes?” I asked Roland as we left the room.

“Honestly? I don’t think so. I guess it was due to a slip that the detectives even came close to catching him,” Roland answered as he thrust his hands into his pocket.

Roland was the optimistic one, the one who believed in the system. I did not think that way because I knew better. Justice doesn’t always work; in fact, in this city, only the powerful and rich can rely on justice.

“Yeah, having Richard go to jail will only affect the LaRosa cartel. Especially with their new competition with the Cruz cartel.”

As if on cue, the hallway filled with noises of reporters who were escorting Alexander Cruz, brother to Andrew Cruz, the leader of the Cruz empire. On the surface, they masked themselves as a real estate company, which was only a front for what they truly did. Standing in the hallway, both Roland and I watched as Alexander Cruz walked through the hallway with his storm of reporters. It took all of my willpower not to lash out at him.

“Here comes Lucas Cruz,” Roland said to me, and I turned my head just as the heir of the Cruz empire stepped into the hallway.

Like the few times I have seen him, Lucas Cruz was wearing a suit. He walked through the hallway with confidence, as if he had nothing to be scared of. I felt anger rise within me as he passed by Roland and me. He barely noticed us, and I did not expect him to. To him, we probably didn’t exist in the building.

Philadephia’s most eligible bachelor had walked into the courtroom, and a few ladies were going wild. Tall, handsome, and charming were some of the few qualities to describe him, but those weren’t the qualities I’d use to describe him.

“Andrew’s probably not showing today,” Roland told me as he looked at the doors.

“Even though his brother’s being tried?” I asked.

He nodded, telling me that, at the moment, the Cruz patriarch was believed to be outside the country. The news slightly displeased me as I wanted to look at the Cruz patriarch one more time. The trial was due to start in a matter of minutes, and Roland told me we needed to get in to get a seat. Roland was my ticket into the room and the reason I was sticking with him.

While my job as a lawyer provided me with access to courtrooms, Alexander Cruz’s trial was not one that anyone else could attend. In fact, Roland had to call in a few favors to get both of us a place in the room. Reporters, the family of the victims involved in Alexander’s hit and run, Lucas Cruz and Alexander’s girlfriend, and a few people I couldn’t recognize.

Two weeks ago, Alexander had hit thirty-two-year-old Jane Miller, who was trying to cross the road. Intoxicated and high on drugs, he had run her over, and after realizing what he had done, he had sped off. It took a few days to capture him, seeing how he was trying to flee the country. Rumors had it that Andrew Cruz had thrown his brother under the bus, while others said it was actually Lucas Cruz.

Lucas Cruz had been trying his best to gain control over the Cruz empire, though word on the street was that some of his people were not looking forward to his leadership. Leaning against the wall, I focused on Lucas, who was busy on his phone. He had a frown on his face, and it seemed like something was wrong. I wanted to dismiss it as nothing, but there was no denying the fact that he looked very troubled. For the duration of the trial, Lucas seemed focused on his phone, and I couldn’t help but wonder if whatever he was dealing with was more important than his uncle’s trial.

Maybe something to do with his empire? Or was the reason his father wasn’t here?

Alexander and Lucas had quite a bit of a strained relationship. In fact, the only person Lucas seems to have a good relationship with is Rufus Cruz, Andrew’s older brother and Lucas’s uncle. Unlike the rest of the Cruz family, Rufus lived a crime-free life. He once worked as a port official, and after retirement, he spent most of his days either attending to his pets or taking a walk around the city. I knew for a certain that Rufus wasn’t involved with whatever the Cruz family was doing because I had looked into him myself.

Discovering that someone in the Cruz family wasn’t involved in crime came as a shock to me. I had wasted months tailing and looking into Rufus Cruz, just wanting to prove that Rufus Cruz was a liar. At the end of my month-long investigation, I had to accept the fact that Rufus Cruz was really who he portrayed himself as.

I barely paid any attention to the trial as I found myself looking at Lucas. Something was bothering him, and I wanted to know. For years, I had been looking for a dent in the cartel’s operation, but each time I came close, their fixers would step in. It was frustrating, but there was no way I was giving up.

I need to get justice. I must bring them all to justice.