Adonis sat in the far back booth of the restaurant, waiting for Sasha and Jr. He had been sitting there for over thirty minutes and Sasha was late. His patience was wearing thin and he was starting to think that she wasn't going to show up. The owner had already been eyeing him suspiciously because Adonis hasn't ordered anything yet. Adonis ignored him though. This would have been much easier if they just met at Sasha's apartment. As long as he's known Sasha, she would take forever to get ready. Sasha had several excuses of why they couldn't meet at her place. Adonis read between the lines quickly, knowing that Sasha probably had another man living with her. He honestly didn't care about all of that. Sasha wasn't his concern anymore.
He took a few days and did a lot of thinking. If Jr's biological father didn't want to be in his life then Adonis wouldn't just walk out of his life especially since Adonis was all Jr knew. He was the only father figure that Jr ever had.
Adonis had become used to getting his son everyday or every weekend to take him out and spend time with him. Now he just spent his time with Ember and since she had been away for a few days, he spent most of his time in the gym.
The thought of leaving crossed Adonis's mind just as Sasha made her entrance inside of the restaurant with Jr. The second Jr saw Adonis, he picked up speed and ran towards Adonis with excitement.
"Dad! I missed you!" He shouted.
Adonis smiled as he hugged him and helped him in the booth, "I've missed you too. How have you been kiddo?"
"Good!" Jr says swinging his feet. He was three, and most times he was quiet but today he seemed overly excited. He picked up the crayons and begin coloring.
Adonis looked over at Sasha who slid in the booth across from them, not saying a word. He studied her for a minute, trying to read her but he got nothing.
"What's up Sash?" Adonis asked.
"Nothing." She mumbled. Sasha didn't feel like seeing his face today, especially because of his rudeness from the other night.
He figured that was the reason that she was still mad, and Adonis had no problem being the bigger person, "Look, I'm sorry for calling you out of your name."
Sasha raised her brow a bit. It took a lot for Adonis to apologize. Being around him, she's never heard him apologizing to be honest, "You? Apologizing? Hell must be then froze over."
Adonis kissed his teeth, "Do you accept it or not? We got to be cordial with one another anyway."
"No we don't because Jr knows who his real father is. Gervonte doesn't want you around his son so this gone be your last day seeing him. I don't have to deal with you at all and I'm so grateful for that."
"Thought you told me he didn't want to be in Jr's life." Adonis reminded.
"We had a talk and he decided to step up and be a real father." Sasha says putting emphasis on the word real.
Adonis chuckled, "What about his name?"
Thinking that Adonis would never find out about Jr not being his son, Sasha named him after Adonis, making him a Jr so that nothing would be suspicious. For Sasha it was all about being with someone who had money and she loved the thought of having materialistic things. Being with Adonis, she didn't have to pay bills. He always told her that she would have nothing to worry about because she was the mother of his son. Her unfaithful ways messed that up completely for her.
"I'm working on that."
"What you mean you working on it?"
"We're changing his name. He's not going to be named after you anymore." Sasha tells him.
"Oh, aight."
"And he knows you're not his dad. I don't know why he still calls you that."
"I'm the one that was raising him, Sasha. What you expect? This all on you for not telling the truth to begin with."
Sasha kissed her teeth, "He knows now, Adonis. What's the big deal?"
"You know what the big deal is." Adonis says.
No matter how much Adonis hid his feelings, Sasha knew him like a book. It hurt but he wasn't going to admit that to her.
"Are you here to see Jr or here to keep trying to argue with me? I'm not even supposed to be here with you." Sasha tells him.
"So you back with that nigga, huh?"
"What's it to you? You jealous? Your new hoe must not be putting it on you right."
Adonis looked at her as if she'd lost her mind, "Jealous?"
"Yup. That girl will never be me and you know it."
"You right, she isn't out here hopping on dicks just because a nigga got a little bit of money."
"So, now I'm a gold digger?"
Adonis licked his lips and chuckled, "You said that shit, not me."
"You're really full of shit."
Adonis shook his head deciding to let it go and not entertain her anymore. He gave Jr his full attention wanting to spend as much time with him as he could since he was never going to see him anymore after today. Jr wasn't his child so it was all out of his hands.
"And you know what hurts the most, Adonis? When I told you that I wanted to see other people and you didn't try to fight for our relationship. I just wanted to see where your heart was and where I stood with you. Your response hurt like hell." Sasha rambled. "Did you ever love me?"
Adonis looked over at her, straight in the eye, "I did but you wanted to move on, so I gave you what you wanted."
"What I wanted was for you to fight for us and everything that we had. We could have repaired our relationship. I didn't feel loved. We could have talked about this but instead I searched for love in another man. Yes, at one point I did want to move on because I let people like my mother put things in my head about you. I realized that was the dumbest mistake I've ever made." Sasha rambled. She wanted him to know how she felt.
"I wasn't going to fight for something that was already dead, Sash." Adonis tells her. He never chased women or begged for them to be with him.
"And you moved on so quickly..."
Adonis cut her off before she could continue on, "I ain't come here to try and fix nothing between us and I don't want to hear how you felt about anything when you were cheating on me from day one. I just want to spend time with Jr, that's all I asked so dead all of this shit. I don't want to hear it."
"Okay." Sasha says lowly and just like that their conversation was over. Sasha felt some type of way and she was a bit pissed at Adonis for not wanting to hear her out.
After spending time with Jr, it was hard to leave him because once Adonis buckled him inside of the backseat, Jr started to cry. He always acted this way when he knew that Adonis was leaving him with his mom.
"Jr, come on don't do this to me." Adonis says.
Sasha rolled her eyes and pushed the back door closed, "Please move, I got somewhere to be. I don't have time for this."
"You can't be that heartless, Sash." Adonis says.
"He's a kid, he'll get over it and I'm sure you will too." Sasha said before she quickly climbed into her car and drove away, leaving Adonis standing there. He felt bad for Jr. The only thing Adonis wanted was for him to be happy.
Things between him and Sasha failed because it just wasn't meant to be. Adonis had no intentions on getting back with her, ever.
Once he got home, he joined Paisley on the sofa in the living room where she had been watching TV. There was a long silence between the two of them. They were both deep in their own thoughts.
"I'm scared." Paisley finally spoke.
"Of what?"
"Tomorrow. What if he gets away with it?" Paisley asked.
Adonis knew that she was referring to the trial for Ezra tomorrow. They were all going to be there, "There is no way that they're going to let Ezra off the hook. Not after what he's done to you."
"I just got a bad feeling about this. That family is dangerous." Paisley says.
"Everything is going to be okay, Paisley. We're not going to let anything happen to you." Adonis assured her.
~
"Ezra, what do you have to say for yourself?"
"Is it true? Did you really sexually assault a teenager?"
"Why did do you it?"
"Ezra Young you're a disgusting pig!"
"I hope they butt rape you in prison!"
Ezra's security pushed their way through the crowd of people, leading him towards the courtroom. Those questions were something that he was asked every single day. It was starting to become annoying. He let out a sigh of relief once he was inside of the room and out of earshot from the nosy people outside. He noticed that all of his family was on one side of the room, happy that they came to have his back. He claimed his seat and listened to the whispers that he could hardly hear.
Silence filled the courtroom. Everyone was awaiting for the trial to start. Ember slid down in her seat, embarrassed that her parents forced her to attend her uncles court day. Her father was there to show support but her mother didn't say too much about it. Ember knew that her mother had a lot to say, but she kept quiet because of X. Sahara may have not been afraid of anyone, but nobody knew her husband like she did. He could be very heartless. Justin was quietly sitting next to her, staring off into space. He didn't have a clue about what his uncle had done. Ember wished that they would have never dragged them here.
Ember's eyes darted around the room, landing on Adonis who had been sitting with his family. Since she had been gone for almost a week, she hasn't seen him in so long. The urge to walk across the room and kiss him wouldn't leave. He'd glanced over at her a few times too, their eyes locking, occasionally. He would smile and Ember would return it.
Ember noticed that Paisley hasn't looked up at all. She continued to stare down at her feet and Ember's heart went out to her. Although she may have never been through the things that Paisley has,
"All rise." The bailiff says just as the judge took her seat. Judge Joan Parks, an elderly black woman with grey hair, studied the pieces of paper in front of her. People heard that she was strict and didn't let anyone off easily especially when it dealt with harming children. "The court of general sessions seventeenth judicial circuit is now in session. Please be seated." He instructed.
Joan began speaking just as everyone took their seats, "Good morning everyone. Calling the case of McKnight versus Young. Are both sides ready?"
"Ready for the people, your honor."
"Ready for the defense, your honor."
Once they started presenting evidence, Ember was watching the argument, intensely. Their family lawyer was going hard for Ezra but Adonis's family lawyer had more of a valid point. The funny thing was, Ezra was denying it all when there was evidence. He refused to admit to his wrongdoing. Knowing that the things that he had done in the past, betraying people, and hurting their families would be bad karma if he went to prison. He knew that people on the inside hated him and would have a field day with him since he didn't have any protection. From the looks of it, Joan didn't seem too thrilled about the case and Ezra knew that they had no chances of winning. It had already been hard to find a good lawyer to represent him because half of them refused to represent a pedophile.
"Why the hell did he have to put us through this?" Sahara mumbled. Ezra had only brought attention to himself and his family. They were lowkey for years now they had to deal with the feds, something that they weren't too fond of.
Ember opened her mouth to say something to her mother in response but X glared at her causing her to close her mouth again. The past week, he's hardly said a word to Ember. He saw her as a betrayer and she was no daughter of his. There was no way that he would continue to raise someone who disobeyed his orders and ran around with the enemies. Everyone knew what happened to people who were disloyal to him.
He saw the looks that Adonis and Ember were giving one another and he wasn't going to let that go. When they got home, he would be sure to handle it.
The trial seemed to last forever until the judge came up with her decision. The look on her face told it all. After signing the verdict, she returned the paper to the jury.
"Will the defendant please rise for sentencing? Will the foreperson please stand and read the jury's verdict?" The judge says.
Ezra stood to his feet with his head held high. He was confident seeing that his lawyer put up a good fight for him.
"We the jury sentence Ezra Young to life in prison for the first degree kidnapping of Paisley McKnight."
There were a few gasps throughout the courtroom and some whispers.
"Having heard the evidence, the court finds the jury's verdict to be appropriate and fair to the defendant. Do not hold any person here responsible for your sentencing and do not cause any trouble to those who are involved in your case tonight. Do we have an understanding Ezra?" Joan asked as she looked over at him through her glasses.
Ezra only chuckled, he didn't say anything. He could hear sniffles coming from his soon to be ex wife and he was afraid to look back at his son, Damien. He'd expressed hatred for him just a few days ago when he came to visit. It hurt like hell to see his own flesh and blood hate him.
"I'm sorry, I can't hear you too well." Joan continued.
"I understand very clearly, Joan." Ezra says. Not calling her your honor was the ultimate disrespect in the courtroom.
"Court adjourned. Get him out of my courtroom." Joan ordered.
Ezra was being lead towards the exit. He looked over at his wife, who had still been crying, his son who looked at him with no emotion.
"We going to make sure you good in there." X tells him as he walked by.
"We just a phone call away." Ian added.
Ezra nodded, not wanting to say much else. He didn't have anything to say, honestly. Ezra looked over at Ricky and his family. His eyes landed on Paisley who had finally looked up. Their eyes met and Ezra's lips curled into a smirk.
"You're not innocent Paisley but I guess we all got our secrets." Ezra tells her.
"Don't you speak to my fucking daughter!" Ricky shouted.
"Pops, it ain't worth it. He's going to get what he deserves." Adonis held his father back so that he wouldn't go getting himself into trouble.
Ezra didn't get a chance to say anything else as they escorted him out of the courtroom with handcuffs. Life in prison, never in a million years that he thought this would be happening to him.