I could pinpoint the exact moment when Gianna's mossy green eyes hardened to a glare. My gaze followed hers as it locked onto a redhead, the diamonds on her neck gleaming even in the light of the courtroom. Fucking gold digger. My mood instantly soured as I looked back to Gianna, surprised to see no resemblance of shock on her face.
"You knew?" I whispered harshly in her ear as she finally tore her eyes away from the women on the other side, both a bane of my existence.
"I didn't have time to tell you. You weren't home the whole day yesterday."
My heart thumped weirdly in my chest as I chose to ignore the fact that she now referred to my bachelor pad as home.
"A warning would have been nice." I muttered as she shot me an apologetic look, unable to say anything else as the judge started speaking.
Carla waved her fingers at me tauntingly from the other side of the room where she sat beside Eleonora. The prosecutor stood up to give his opening statement as my eyes latched onto his form, the need to beat his pretty face up extremely strong. I hadn't needed Gianna to spell it out for me to know that the creep made her uncomfortable. I had spotted the relief on her face when I entered the room, acting as a shield between my woman and him, as I warned him off subtly by showing him the pocket knife that the security at the front had missed out on during their check. That little shit had nearly pissed her pants before putting up a front of false bravado before fleeing the scene. If I found out that he had even laid a hand on Gianna, his death would be the next sure thing on my agenda - something really worth going to jail for rather than the murder of my father which I hadn't committed.
Before I could catch up on what was going on, Gianna strode up to the podium to say something briefly, my focus on her before she came back to sit beside me.
"He's going to call his witnesses now after which I'll get to cross question them. And the same thing will happen with you, alright?"
"I know how this goes, Gianna." I whispered softly but reassuringly. "You've told me a dozen times already by now, remember? I might as well be a law student with the extensive amount of coaching you've given me." I joked as the judge called the prosecutor to bring forth the first witness.
I could feel the waves of anger rolling off of Gianna as Carla's name was called out, knowing that this was as much personal to her as it was to me. Dio, I couldn't wait to see what my girl had in store for that woman. I tuned out Ralph as he started out with basic questions like what her name was, how she was related to me and where she was the night of Bruno's murder. Within a few moments, Gianna was in front of Carla while Ralph took his seat, gesturing something to his witness.
"Miss Russo, as questioned previously by Mr Nelson, you were present the night of Bruno Agosta's murder. Is that right?"
"It is." Carla replied snootily, acting as if Gianna was a piece of gum stuck to her heels, rather than a reputed lawyer who was damn good at her job.
She was just jealous that she couldn't even be half as smart as Gianna was, I thought to myself as I crossed my legs, wanting to enjoy Carla being beaten at her own game in a few moments.
"And you were at Mr Agosta's side when his father was killed?"
"Objection, your Honor! Irrelevant." Ralph cut in as Gianna maintained her calm composure.
"Overruled." The judge said simply, gesturing for Gianna to continue.
"I uh yes."
"And did you see him kill Bruno Agosta? Did you see him pull the trigger."
Carla swallowed heavily, all of her bravado draining out of her as she shot a nervous glance at Ralph. "N-no."
"So on what basis did you accuse my client of something as serious as manslaughter and murder under four counts?"
"I-I uh -
"Objection!" Ralph said aggressively standing up from his seat, his face a deep shade of red now. "Argumentative."
"Overruled. And please sit down, Mr Nelson. We need to maintain decorum in the courtroom."
I held back a snicker at the judge's obvious dismissal, the fact being proved that Carla had just made baseless assumptions and wasn't a strong enough witness. When Gianna motioned that that was the end of all the questions for her, Carla scurried out of her seat and almost ran towards Eleonora as if she couldn't get away any faster from Gianna. My girl was biting back a smile as she flipped through the papers as the judge spoke the next few words.
"The jury has decided to take a short break while they contemplate the worthiness of the prosecution's witness."
Mindless chatter broke out as the judge and the jury exited the room, my hand automatically reaching out for Gianna's as she made her way back towards me.
"Damn, mia gioia, I didn't think you could get any fiercer and there you go, proving me wrong." I said in awe as my hand landed on her thigh, squeezing it under the table.
"Never underestimate a woman, Agosta." She said teasingly as I smiled affectionately at her.
"Never."
Our conversation was cut short as Gianna's phone rang, her screen showing Esme's name on it. She held up two fingers to me and I nodded in response before she made her way towards the furthest corner in the room, where it was a little quieter.
"You think you can get away with this so easily, huh?"
I rolled my eyes internally before turning to face Eleonora, her perfuming wafting into my nostrils and almost making me want to throw up.
Ignoring her question, I looked a red faced Carla in the eye before I spoke the words that I had been dying to say for so long. "Doesn't feel so good to be given a taste of your own medicine, does it?"
"Your bitch was purposely trying to make me look dumb in front of everyone. Though everybody knows that she's just jealous of me."
My hackles rose at her arrogant tone and the way that she had referred to Gianna. Standing up abruptly so that I was towering over her, I spoke lowly.
"Say another word about her again and I'll make sure that it's your body lying dead next to dear old daddy's. I'm not above killing a woman if she threatens to destroy the people I care about. Understood, Carla?" I threatened as I watched her nod her assent, satisfied as hell that my point had gotten across.
"That's how you get everything done your way, no? Is that how I raised you?"
"Let's get one thing clear, Eleonora." I snarled as I turned my fury upon her. "You and Bruno did not raise me. Nonna did. Zio did. And I raised myself. Honestly, you both were a pathetic excuse for parents."
I felt the familiar ache in my heart at the mention of Zio's name before I schooled my expression into a neutral one.
"Is that why you killed my husband? Your father?" She asked, seeming genuinely hurt.
But I didn't believe it for a second, knowing that the only person my mother cared about was herself. And of course, my father's billion dollar property that she'd get if she won this case.
"You're after the property, aren't you?"
"You're my only son, you think I like to press these charges against you? Hand me over the papers and we'll pretend that none of this happened."
Bingo. My mother was a gold digger right to her core. No wonder her and Carla got along so well.
"Besides, that property wasn't even supposed to be Sebastian's, but thankfully Bruno got it afterwards. Though, it's a surprise that he didn't tell me." She continued casually as if we were talking about the weather.
"Have you thought that maybe he didn't want you to know because you're so conceited and obsessed with money that you'd turn your own son in order to get your hands on those papers? And yes, I know that after me, everything will go to you. A bit desperate for cash, aren't we? You could've asked me if you were in a financial crisis, mother." I sneered tauntingly as she let out a dramatic gasp that had several heads turning our way.
I scoffed at the fact that drama went everywhere Eleonora did. I could always trust her and her fucking dramatics.
Before she could come up with a witty reply, the judge and the rest of the jury slowly trickled in as Gianna sidled up to me, now done with a phone call.
"Mrs Agosta, do I need to remind you what I told you last time? Stay the fuck away from Sergio and stop fucking harassing him." My fierce warrior hissed as Eleonora gritted her teeth in frustration.
Gianna grabbed my arm and led me away from the two infuriating women just in time as the judge banged the gavel.
"Order in the courtroom, please!"
I occupied the seat that Carla had previously been occupying as Ralph sauntered over to me, a malicious glint in his eyes.
"I'll make sure to take you down, Sergio Agosta. You and that little slut of yours." He said as he slanted his head towards Gianna.
"Not if I take you down first." I said through clenched teeth, my hands resting on my lap, itching with the urge for violence.
I settled for imagining how his blood would look on my hands. How I'd carve his face out with my favorite knife, making that mouth that was used to spewing filth completely useless.
Ralph seethed, angered since he had failed at getting a rise out of me.
"Mr Nelson, you may begin your cross examination of the defendant." The judge ordered as Ralph relaxed his features once again.
He pulled out newspaper clippings from the file that he held in his hands. I bit my tongue as I saw my face plastered on the front pages, dating from several years back. I admit that I hadn't been the most cautious man in the Cosa Nostra when I'd first been initiated into the family business. But I had learnt and grown since then, obviously. Though how the prosecution had found those headlines from so long ago baffled me because Bruno had threatened the journalists to erase them from their systems and distribution channels as a form of damage control.
"Evidence that Mr Agosta has been heavily involved in criminal activity and is in fact, infamous for it throughout Italy. He is a part of the Italian crime syndicate Cosa Nostra," He continued, ignoring the frantic murmurs behind him, "the evidence of which has been submitted to the jury." He finished with a satisfied grin.
"Objection, irrelevant!" Gianna said from the other side, a determined expression on her face.
"Overruled."
"The consolidated evidence goes to prove that Mr Agosta is in fact, very much capable of murder." Ralph tucked his hands in his pockets as he turned to face me again. "Mr Agosta, you did not have the best relationship with your father, the late Bruno Agosta. Is that true?"
"Yes." I replied easily, looking him in the eye.
"Isn't that enough motivation for a murder? Maybe for inheritance? Maybe for power and other reasons unbeknownst to us, your Honor."
"Objection. Speculative, your Honor!" Gianna cut in again, her face slightly less confident than it was mere seconds ago.
"Sustained. Miss Ricci may continue with her argument."
"Your Honor, we do not have evidence that suggests that Mr Agosta was the one who killed the victim. The prosecution cannot assume that my client was the one to initiate the killing just because he didn't have a good relationship with his deceased father."
I could hear the jury behind me whispering and taking notes as I glanced at a flustered Ralph. He asked me a few more pointless questions that Gianna immediately shot down with arguments of her own before I was asked to take a seat at the defense table again.
After a few moments of a discussion between the judge and the jury, the interpreter spoke up while another woman beside her kept typing on a typewriter.
"The jury will be taking time to review the evidence submitted by both parties. The next hearing is set for the 23rd of September 2022." She said in a monotone, my eyes flicking towards Gianna beside me.
She sent me a reassuring look that said everything would be alright before the jury got up to exit. Everybody slowly trickled out as Gianna and her team stayed seated, heads huddled together as they went over a few things.
Alessandro was by my side as soon as the room emptied, his face a blank mask as usual.
"Ready?" I directed the question at Gianna as she nodded her head, packing up her stuff before we stood up and went out, Alessandro trailing us like the ever loyal soldati that he was. My car was parked beside a Porsche, the custom number plate gleaming in the bright lights of the parking lot. I would recognise that car anywhere, even in my sleep. The bright teal blue color was honestly hard to miss. Carla stepped towards us, apparently still not having gotten the message to stay the fuck away. Here we fucking go again.
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