Chapter 82
Chapter 82
Arianna POV:
Today was closing arguments, it was a crazy mix of emotions. Half of me was confident that we were going to see this through, the other half was sure he’d find a way to escape.
I didn’t know what to think or how this would end. All I could do was hold onto Giovanni and pray that it would be in our favor. I had somehow gotten used to being in the state, holding his hand, my palms sweaty, my heart racing as we listened to the closing arguments.
The defense was doing a good job of painting my father as a man taken advantage of by his employees, while his beloved daughter was cruelly turned against him by a business rival, who used the situation to take over his business.
The way he painted me out to be naive and foolish, the wicked strings that Giovanni held me by. My broken heart was swayed by his beautiful eyes and chilling smile. They may not be wrong there, but naive I was not, and he was the key to freedom.
I felt like he was trying to trap me again, paint me into this corner, make me a china doll to fracture so easily. Still, nothing he could do could make me come back, make me his successor.
Finally, the DA got up and made his attempt to sway the jury one last time.
“ Ladies and gentlemen, they may paint a very tragic tale of a father doing his best to save his daughter after a tragic loss. This is all to distract you from what you already know. You have lived in the city long enough to know that he has a tight grip on any form of success. To keep all of us beneath his feet, to keep himself high above the fray. His foot on the neck of any small business in town, demanding resources, bullying into submission. Be it your brother’s, your sister’s, or a single mom of two. What is it to the king? And when his daughter found out what he was doing. She didn’t do everything in her power to stop him. Was it her fault she found love along the way? No, and still these two do everything in their power to protect the city. To protect you. Don’t be fooled by a dramatic tale; remember what you’ve seen with your own eyes. This is your chance to do the right thing and stop him. To help these two fight the good fight. It is your civic duty to put this monster behind bars. For your children and your children’s children so that they can live in a free city and do whatever their heart desires,” he sat back down triumphantly.
I had to give it to him. He met their poetry with his own, and I could see it on the jury's faces. They were inspired to do the right thing, but what was it gonna be, bravery or fear?
I couldn’t blame them for wanting to cower beneath his shadow. It was all they’d ever known; how could they understand anything else?
The judge dismissed us for jury deliberation, and once again, Giovanni forced me out into the city streets so that we could look everybody in the eye and let them know that we were not afraid. We sat down to lunch at a diner, not far from the courthouse, as if it would be over today. I could see this taking weeks, if they were allowed to, they’d take months of not years.
If they put my father away, it was a target on their back. Any of his allies might do something just despite them just to curry favor with him, he had held onto power for so long. Some might just try and keep him there for their own sake. If these people voted for him to stay out, maybe they would be spared his anger, or perhaps they would get to live in the sunshine with him.
I knew the truth, though if he was going to be released, he’d come out swinging, nobody would be safe. He would put the city on lockdown, and all the people walking freely in the streets, forced back into their homes, hiding underneath the kitchen tables from the bombs he would drop.
I watched Giovanni as he ordered food for us, rattling off his favorites to the server. The green and his eyes flickering in the sunlight. It was a good thing that we had gone to Italy so we could have a little taste of what life might be like if today doesn’t go our way. I would be able to hold onto it, and it might just get me through the hard parts.
I couldn’t find it in myself to eat push pushing my food around the plate with my fork, trying to make it seem like I was eating.
“You know, I can tell you haven’t taken a bite, right?” Giovanni announced, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“ I’m sorry,” I blushed.
“ I’m nervous too, but starving yourself won’t do anything,” he scolded me. “I ordered the caprese salad. They still make their own vinegar,” he pointed to the tomatoes and mozzarella on my plate.
I laughed and forced myself to take a bite. It was good. Just as I was starting to relax, Detective Mosley busted into the diner, running up to our table.
“ Jury deliberations are over,” he announced out of breath.
My fork clattered back onto the plate, only one bite gone. Giovanni threw down a couple of hundred bills, and we scattered out of the restaurant.
It had to be unanimous for them to come to a decision this quickly; there had to be a complete agreement already, either he was completely guilty or they were letting him go. My stomach was saying as we went back into the courtroom, and I sat there clutching his hand, white knuckles. His other arm was wrapped around me, holding me tight.
The judge called everybody in the session, the jury filed back into the courtroom, and I’ll pass in a blur that all I had in my head were still them sitting down, the jury Foreman standing, and I could see his mouth move, but my ears didn’t listen. It wasn’t until Giovanni stood up and his clapping that I realized they were putting him in handcuffs.
My brain skidded to a stop. They were putting him in handcuffs. Guilty on all accounts.
Guilty…
They had found him guilty on all accounts. He was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole.
We walked out of the courtroom, and everyone was celebrating. The DA and Detective Mosley stood doing a press conference on the steps of the courthouse. Giovanni grabbed me and spun me around. I laughed in surprise.
Was this really happening?
Were we free?
I wanted to believe it, but something in my gut whispered no.