𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙖
"what do you mean he's speaking on trial today?!" I exclaimed as jonathan told me some news.
"alipate's speaking on trial today" he told me.
I sighed at that shitty ass news, why am I not even too surprised that he is. especially since that prosecutor is already trying to get joe locked up. this just made me stressed out and pissed off even more. I could already tell that the minute joe saw alipate walk up there, he was gonna be furious.
"ain't that some fucking shit" jon said.
"he's definitely gonna lie on joe" colby added.
"who would've known that haku raised a bitch for a son" leati said.
"is that his father?" I wondered.
"yup. he's a tough ass SOB, seemed to had raised his kids the same but I guess not" he told me.
"alipate's just being a dick because of his hatred for joe to be honest" josh said.
today was already gonna be dreadful and it didn't even start yet.
later on in the trial
"may alipate leone come up to the bench?" judge grant announced.
my stomach already began to turn as alipate walked up to the bench. he already had his little smirk on his face and once he got up to joe, it got bigger. I couldn't see joe's face but I could see his body language, and he seemed pissed.
"mr. leone, do you solemnly swear that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God under the pains and penalties of perjury?" judge grant said to him.
"I will" alipate responded as he sat down in the bench.
"so mr. leone, you're the CEO of G.O.D inc. mhm. you also worked for anoa'i incorporated for three years as an COO until you were let go last year right?" thomas said to him.
"yes" he said.
"how were those three years? i've been told that you were one of the first people that my client hired when he took over the company in 2015" thomas asked.
"joe and I had known each other for years prior to him taking over anoa'i incorporated. matter of fact, we worked together before he became a CEO. we got along pretty quickly at our old job and outside of our job, we would hang out, drink beers and smoke cigars, just casual shit" alipate explained.
"when joe told me that he was gonna take over his father's company, joe came to me and asked me if I wanted to be his chief operating officer. he felt like I would be good for the job because of my authoritarian manner. I accepted it and it was myself, joe, jonathan and joshua fatu, and celine matthews, his former secretary".
"we ran that company. personally i'd say, i'm the main reason for anoa'i incorporated's success. I practically carried that bitch" he said.
and people call joe the arrogant asshole.... alipate was on a whole other level of cocky.
"oh really? then if you're the reason for anoa'i incorporated's success? why were you abruptly let go from the company last year?" thomas asked him. "and how come you and joe's friendship fell apart?".
"oh y'all wanna know the truth huh?" alipate smirked.
"well it was last year and I had walked into the office, feeling good and ready for the day. then once I got to my office, there was a pink slip on my desk saying that I was being "terminated". I was confused on what I did wrong, I did absolutely nothing wrong for me to get fired" he started to explain. it was already bullshit.
"when I went to ask joe why I got fired, he was screaming and yelling at me and calling me all of these curse words. I was calm and polite when I was trying to simply reason with him on why I was being fired and he started to threaten me and say that he was gonna "splatter my brains on the walls". he was going on a rampage, I think it was the pills and alcohol that he was taking".
"that's a whole lie, that's a whole ass lie!" joe exclaimed.
the jury gasped at this and I already knew that he was lying and I was pissed. all of us were pissed. the judge banged her gavel to calm everyone down and my blood was heavily starting to boil.
"you know mr. leone, you have yet to say exactly why you were fired. so do you know why you were fired?" thomas asked him again.
"it turns out that I was fired because joe was jealous of me. he fired me for exactly no reason. joe's always been a jealous ass bitch though. you know years ago, before he started to date his now ex girlfriend, I had a girlfriend and then all of a sudden, I catch them having sex in my hotel room!" he said.
"joe could never keep his dick in his pants, and clearly it continues on today. theres a reason why I said his "ex girlfriend"...".
"joe has always wanted to have my life, ever since we met. I did his bum ass charity by helping him out in that shitty ass company. his daddy ain't do shit so I had to carry the son".
"so that's why.... hm well, let me ask you this. have you ever seen joe use any type of suspicious money moves to profit the company?" thomas asked.
"of course. it was about two years ago when it started. joe's finance got higher and he started coming in with all this new expensive shit. cars, clothes, jewelry, just about any and everything. and then one time two years ago, we had a financial meeting and our finance report was really high. I knew that we were successful, but not that much. I was suspicious" he started to say.
"so then one day I was in his office getting something for him, and I saw a paper. turns out it was the real finance report with the real numbers and joe was just using fake numbers and fake money. what really made me realize it though was when his phone was ringing and I answered it. the person said "roman it's fale, we have the money". I traced the number back and it was people from japan. so that's how I put two and two together and figured out that he was using counterfeit money".
I know this man didn't just flip his own story on joe...
joe got up and started to charge at alipate before thomas and some security guards had to get him. jonathan, josh, jon, and colby even had to get up and restrain him. joe is a big man so he was clearly using his bodyweight to try and get him. I looked over at patricia and she had tears in her eyes as she saw her son completely have a breakdown like this in front of a grand jury. it broke her heart and it broke mine.
"OKAY EVERYONE! we will resume court at the top of the hour. you may all be dismissed" judge grant said as she banged her gavel.
they all took joe out of the court room first to avoid him from alipate. I followed suit and they took him into this little room in the courthouse. I heard yelling coming from the room and joe's voice sounded hurt and angry.
"that man is lying on me and you're not doing shit to help it!" joe exclaimed, to who I assume was to thomas.
"what do you expect me to do?!" I heard thomas yell back. "as far as the judge is concerned he's telling the truth! alipate's too smart for me to get the truth out of him".
"well be fucking smarter!" joe yelled back at him.
"it's bad" I said to trinity. "he's pissed.
"I don't blame him, alipate's lying on his name and I bet the jury will believe that he's even more guilty".
"this is a shitshow" renee sighed.
thomas stepped out of the room and he looked right at me.
"he wants you" thomas said to me.
I walked into the room and everyone was standing around in silence and the minute I saw joe, his eyes softened up at my appearance in the room.
"ana" he softly smiled.
joe came over to me and gave me the biggest hug. I truly missed being under his touch and this little moment that we were having was so refreshing and it lifted a bit of weight and stress off my shoulders.
"are you okay now?" I asked him.
"a little bit. everything is just pissing me off. alipate just brings out the absolute worse in me, and he's out there lying on me" joe said.
"I know, it's pissing me off too" I told him. "but I told you before, don't let him. alipate's not gonna be the one that decides if you're going to jail, the jury and the judge will".
"but his words are being used against me ana" he sighed.
"like what the fuck am I supposed to do? they all already think that i'm some monster. everyone thinks that i'm some asshole that uses money, women, and people. you saw the way those jury people were looking at me! they already hate me. I already know what's gonna happen to me".
I was trying to keep the tears that were building up in my eyes from falling. I rarely even cry, but these past few weeks have made me so Damn emotional.
"I just wanna come home" joe said. "that's all I want".
"imma get you out of here. I swear I am" I told him. "if it's the last thing I do".
"whatever you do, just be careful. I have no idea what alipate got and who his people are, so just be careful" joe said to me.
"I can handle it" I said.
joe leaned in and kissed my lips, which was the first time in forever.
"you trust me right?" I asked him.
"absolutely" he said.
I smiled back at him and I walked out of the room. all of this confidence, yet stress and overthinking loomed over my head. but in the end, I knew what I had to do.
time to travel fifteen hours across the world. all the way to japan.