Page 6 of Scarlet Embrace

Both Carmen and Natalia stared at me, both of them slightly confused as to what I had said. To an extent, they knew of my vendetta against the Cruz family. They knew that my father had died because of Cruz’s greediness, and they had sent my mother to an early grave, leaving me to fend for my younger siblings. Raising the twins was no easy task, and I had worked countless odd jobs to get them through high school.

“Let’s speak of something more exciting, girls,” Natalia said, wanting to change the topic.

Of the three of us, Natalia was the bubbly one. The hopeless romantic and the one who believed in people. I know for a fact that she and Roland would make a good couple if Natalia wasn’t in a relationship with Chris.

“Please don’t talk about Chris,” Carmen said right before Natalia told us that Chris was holding a concert in a week's time.

“I thought he gave up on music?” I asked with surprise.

“Yeah, he tried to, but his band members asked him to give it one more try. The concert will be his last attempt.”

Chris was, for a lack of better words, a horrible singer. He always boasted about how he would one day become a sensation, but we all knew that wasn’t going to happen. Singing really wasn’t his talent, and Natalia wasn’t willing to break the news to him. Carmen and I had tried to talk to Chris, but he barely cared about what we thought.

“I see,” Carmen said as she sipped her drink.

“Come on, you guys need to come around to support him,” Natalia hugged me.

“Well, I don’t have anything urgent next week, but I’m not going alone,” I said, looking at Carmen, who had a scowl on her face.

“Sorry, but I have an art exhibition in Chicago next week,” Carmen said almost instantly.

“Isn’t that in two weeks’ time?” I asked with a mischievous smile.

“The schedule has been changed,” Carmen retorted.

She’s trying to opt out of it.

We all knew that Carmen and Chris hated each other. The reason was simply beyond me, but the hatred was there, and they tried to avoid each other as much as possible.

“Please, Carmen. I’m begging,” Natalia said as she got up from her seat to sit right next to Carmen.

In the end, Carmen finally gave in and told Natalia she’d be there to support Chris. From there, we all went into how our day went. Natalia told me about the whole aftermath of Hutch’s case. Natalia worked as a legal secretary at the firm that had defended Hutch, and she always provided me info about the case as long as I promised not to divulge anything to Roland.

“People like Hutch walking free makes me feel angry,” Carmen suddenly said.

Her brows were tightly knit together, and I could see she had a dour look on her face. Everyone hated injustice, apart from’ the rich and poor. People like Richard Hutch, Lucas Cruz, and the rest of the Cruz family, the LaRosa’s, and all the powerful families around the country do not hold any regard for the law. In fact, they manipulated it for their own benefit.

All night, I kept thinking about what Carmen had said. Even after we all went our different ways and I went to my apartment, I kept thinking about how the poor and weak were denied the justice they deserved.

“But I’ll get you justice, papa. Even if it’s the last thing I do,” I said to the picture of my father that I kept next to my bed.

The next morning, I had to rush to court since I had a case to defend. One of my clients was arrested for violating his parole. Jenkins had told me how his parole officer was out to get him, and after making my investigation, I realized he was right. The parole officer hated Jenkins right from the start, and he had made comments about how it was only a matter of time before Jenkins was sent back to prison. Our trial had gone just as expected, and the judge had decided that Jenkins’ parole officer had abused his authority.

“Hiring you was the best decision, man. Guy told me I could trust you,” Jenkins told me.

Guy was once a previous client of mine who had been abused on a drug possession charge. The cops had harassed him, insisting he was resisting arrest, whereas Guy had willingly complied with their instructions. If there’s something I hate more than crime families, it is cops who like to abuse their power.

“Hope this will be the last time I have to defend you, Jenkins?” I asked him.

“About that,” Jenkins started as I folded my arms, wondering what he might have been up to. “Just messing with you. I swear this will be the last.”

I shook my head and told him that I wasn’t sure I could believe him. I spotted Roland at the door, and I waved at him. “Got to go now and remember, Jenkins. I don’t want to see you in court again.”

Before I got to Roland, I could tell something was wrong. He seemed quite tired, and he was wearing the same shirt and pants from yesterday, which meant he slept in the station overnight.

“Someone looks tired this morning,” I said.

“Trust me, you have no idea. I’ve been running on coffee all morning,” Roland told me.