Sentencing Sapphire (Sapphire Dubois: Book 3)

Chapter 4

"Princeeeeess."

Most, but not all.

Sapphire took another spoon of the green goo, eyes down.

"Mind if we sit, Princess?"

Her body tensed as Chops and her menacing entourage sat down around her.

"I get the feeling you think you're better than I is. Is that right, Princess?"

"Are we talking grammatically or...?" The sardonic words slipped out before Sapphire could stop them.

"You calling me stoo-pid?"

"No," Sapphire hurried. "Proper speech is overrated... dawg."

Chops bared her sharpened teeth, eyes burning with anger. Some said the nickname came from her fangs, others because she bit off a guy's penis before she killed him. Lucky for Sapphire, she was penis-free.

"One of my close friends told me your trial's tomorrow. Same friend told me nobody showed up to your hearing, not even your momma."

The memories of court came back like a slap in the face.

She was shuttled to her pre-trial hearing in Beverly Hills two days after the-son-of-a-bitch, formerly known as Aston, sent her to Lynwood. She'd tried to get a hold of the Dubois family lawyer, Mr. Goldstein, but he was nowhere to be found.

She'd stood in front of the judge in her orange jump suit and listened to the female prosecutor list the horrors of her actions. The hearing was closed to all but friends and family, but her mother never showed, Chrissy was nowhere to be seen, and even Julia, the traitor who'd told Aston where she was, didn't come. She'd called Father O'Riley who was back in the States, and told him to stay away from Lynwood and the upcoming trial. He wasn't connected to her Beverly Hills life, and she had to keep him out. She was screwed if the prosecution found out they had a relationship and put him on the stand; he knew everything about her Serial Catcher life, and he would never lie after putting his hand on a bible.

The only person at her side was her public defender, Mr. Leary, who came in with his hair in disarray, and kept calling her Saffron. They pleaded not guilty on both accounts and when the judge set her bail at $1.3 million, Sapphire knew no one was going to pay it.

She'd been right to hide her Serial Catcher activities from the people close to her all those years. Now that the truth was out, nobody, not even her own mother, stood behind Sapphire. She'd never felt more alone than she had in that empty courtroom.

She was shipped back to Lynwood and spent the last twenty-five days awaiting the trial.

"Is there something I can do for you, Chops?" Sapphire asked, then pinched her lips to stop the next words. A back shave? Advice on dental care?

Chops stuck her nose in the hair of a dainty woman next to her and inhaled. "I got months in this place before my trial starts and I like me the looks of you." She nodded to Sapphire's body and winked. "Catch my drift?"

"You're a very... er, handsome woman, but," Sapphire looked over at the inmate next to Chops, "I don't want to step on your girlfriend's toes."

"She ain't my girlfriend; she's my bitch," Chops snapped in disgust. "I ain't gay."

Sapphire glowered at her. As judgmental and superficial as Beverly Hills could be, at least she'd grown up in a community where sexual orientations were never frowned upon and always celebrated. Here, it seemed the jail-veterans used it as a power play.

"And it ain't a question, Princess." Chops grabbed Sapphire by the collar and yanked her forward. "If you don't give me what I want, I'll have my close friends haul you off into the Doom Room and you ain't even gonna make it to your trial. Got it?"