"Come on brother, why won't you help me here?"
Rafael walked in right after his secretary turned the door knob in time for him to walk into his huge office. She waited behind the two men as they found their way to the large sofa at the far end of the cold room, close to the artificial chimney, watching Rafael try to force his tie to loosen a little bit with the way he yanked it right and left.
He was exhausted.
Why wouldn't he be after spending over three hours standing in a court room trying to defend the innocence of a forty year old man who was about to be sentenced to death in a week. Not like he had any problems nailing it, he always did. That was why he was Rafael Okonkwo, the youngest, best, highest paid attorney in the country, one of the youngest professors too.
He shrugged his shoulders, worsening his frown as He glared at the man sitting right across him while his secretary poured him a glass of water.
"Come on man, why won't you help me this one time? This last time?" He asked Rafael earnestly as he watched him reach for his glass and take a sip from his water.
Was he even listening?
"You said that the last time." Rafael said as soon as he dropped his glass back on the tiny glass table beside him. He raised his gaze slowly to him, raising his thick dark brows at intervals, his black eyes, staring into his with his perfectly carved, rosy lips, pouted in a tiny frown while his secretary filled his mug hurriedly again.
"I know I did-"
"This was supposed to be my final case." Rafael continued. "Today."
"I know but-" He exhaled. He knew he had to get himself together. He knew he had to come with a good reason, a reason good enough to shake the man sitting in front of him a little bit, the man he had known all his life, the only person close enough to be called his brother. His best friend.
"Come on brother, trust me, this case is going to be worth your while."
He said just as Rafael slouched into the sofa, pulling the both sides of his jacket away just a little bit so he could be comfortable enough.
"There's no better person that can win this case besides you. You're the only person good enough to help her."
"You want me to help a murderer get out of jail, just so you could impress your police girlfriend?"
"She's not my girlfriend." He snapped. Rafael scoffed with a little bit of disgust. "At least not yet."
"Tony-"
"Just hear me out okay, I promised her I'd talk to you about it- I know I shouldn't have but I needed to convince her in some way that I wasn't going to be a waste of her time. I might have bragged about how close we were and given her the impression that you were definitely going to help."
"God , Tony." Rafael rubbed his forehead
"Look, I just really want to impress this lady okay, and I think helping her is the only way I can. I need you to help me here brother, all you have to do is meet with the lady in question and hear her side of the story. I'm sure there's something her lawyer must have missed at her first trial, they won't re open her case but I'm sure there might actually be a way to help get her out of that place, a way you can help her just like you've helped a lot of people-."
"I-I don't think I can."
Rafael slowly sat right up, rubbing his palms and trying to avoid direct eye contact with Tony.
"What? Why?"
"You know why."
Rafael looked at him.
"Tony, I can't help you gain the freedom of a murderer. There's a reason she was found guilty six years ago, she killed someone-"
"You've helped people that have or was said to have committed way worse,"
"She killed her husband, her husband," he repeated just in case Tony didn't hear him the first time, "and she was caught, I'm sure there's a lot of evidence pointing against her innocence. Why on earth does she deserve her freedom? You don't get to be free after doing something that terrible, after hurting someone you promised to love and spend the rest of your life with."
The hurt in his voice was becoming so obvious now, more than it was minutes ago.
"No matter how you or your girlfriend have refused to believe that, the truth is she killed that man, and she's in jail for it just like she is supposed to be, that's exactly where we should leave her. I honestly don't care and I don't want to get involved."
Tony nodded his head, pretending to agree with everything Rafael was saying. He understood perfectly, all he had to do was wait for him to finish.
And then he did.
There was silence in the room for a few seconds before Tony looked right back at him.
"Are we still talking about Olivia Silver here or is this about you now?"
"Oh God, give me a break." Rafael looked away
"Rafael, what happened to Constance and Kamsi wasn't your fault."
Rafael got up quickly. Obviously Tony had just touched a really sensitive subject, a subject Rafael had tried to bury somewhere in his head for the past four years.
He hurried to the large table in the middle of the room, hoping Tony would just stop and not come after him but he wished Tony was less persistent. Tony followed him right to the table
"You didn't know that crash was going to happen."
He watched Rafael sink himself into his office chair, trying so hard not to listen to anything he was saying.
"It's been four years brother. When are you going to stop hating yourself for what happened to them?"
"Can you just stop?"
Rafael said almost in a yell. He was trying so hard to keep his emotions in check. Tony was the last person he needed to lash out at at at that moment but he was testing him.
"This is not about Olivia Silver, it's about you. You're scared of helping her because if you can prove that she's innocent then you could actually believe what happened to your family was not your fault. You could learn to forgive yourself."
"Tony-"
"And you don't want that do you? You'd rather live the rest of your life, hating yourself for something you had no control of, something that wasn't your fault. That's why you're quitting all you've ever worked hard for, all you've ever dreamt of, all this." He gestured to the big room "Just so you could punish yourself for being left behind."
"Stop it."
"They are dead Rafael, they're not coming back and it wasn't your fault. Just don't let an innocent woman suffer because of your guilt when you know you're her only chance of ever getting her life back. This is not about me or the lady I'm trying to impress anymore, this is about you. This is about saving yourself and if you don't want that more than anyone else, if you won't see that woman and hear her out at least then I don't know how else I can get you to help yourself my brother."
Rafael exhaled
A lot was running through his head. A whole lot.
He wasn't sure how to react or what to choose. All he did was stare at the tall man in a pair of glasses in front of him with a tiny frown on his face.
Why was he doing this? Why was he trying to change his mind so badly?
Rafael exhaled.
"Fine then."
He got up from his seat and tugged his jacket in place.
"Let's go see this lady and hear her side of the story. Let's try to save myself."
"Really?" Tony wished he heard what he thought he did. "Wait, are you serious?"
Rafael tried to button his jacket back up.
"Do I need to sit?"
"N-no, of course not. " Tony smiled.
Rafael exhaled and turned to his secretary
"Cancel all my appointments for today and let my driver know I'd like to visit the federal prison ."
The lady bowed and walked as fast as she could outside the room, grabbing on tightly her phone.
Rafael slowly turned to Tony
"This had better be worth my time and cancelled appointments or I'd kill you."
Tony chuckled
"Trust me. It would be."