Page 2 of Driftwood Daffodil 2

“Kato Levi Ford,” the judge said. “This court has found you guilty of manslaughter in the first degree…”

Manslaughter was such a bullshit charge. What Kato did was nothing short of cold-blooded murder, and the people who watched were just as guilty. I only had one of those motherfuckers left to pay a visit to.

“Do you understand the charges?”

Kato said nothing. He just nodded like a broken puppy.

He had no idea what was coming to him. Every time I had to walk past my brother’s empty room and remembered Atlas’s smile, I added another beat down to the list. Kato would never forget what he took from me. I wouldn’t let him. Every day he sat in that cell, I’d make sure he was reminded of my brother’s face. Why shouldn’t he feel the same pain I did?

Sometimes a noise would waft down the hall, or my nose would pick up a familiar scent, and suddenly I’d think Atlas was just around the corner. But he wasn’t. He was gone. Murdered like our mother. And just like her, one day, my brother would fade away too. There’d be nothing left but the fractured remnants of screaming in the back of my mind.

“Before I carry out sentencing, I understand a family member would like to make a statement?”

They would?

Why would my father want to make a statement? We already knew how this was going to go. At least, that’s what he told me.

I cocked a brow at Romeo, who lifted his shoulder in a shrug.

“Yes, your Honor,” Harry Rynfield–the defence attorney–stood up. “Miss Novalee Ford would like to make a statement on her brother’s behalf.”

Would she now?

All eyes turned to Novalee as she rose from the bench and marched forward. A little girl like her should have been terrified by all these people watching her, but I didn’t see a single quake or quiver in her confidently raised chin. What exactly did she think she was going to accomplish?

“Be careful,Gattina.” I whispered as she strode past.

Little bitch paused long enough to glare down at me. “Bite me, asshole.”

Oh, she was angling for a beat down of her own. I had no problem smacking around a chick. No one talked to me like that. Especially not trailer trash like her.

I moved to grab her, but Romeo clasped my arm before I could stand up. “Leave it alone, Gio.”

He was fucking kidding, right? She was a Ford. As far as I was concerned, they could all rot in hell, which was something I planned on pointing out, until I saw my father staring at me.

He didn’t need to say anything. I could read the ‘don’t make a spectacle of yourself’ written all over his expression.

We handled our shit quietly and didn’t get our hands dirty unless absolutely necessary. Regardless of how much said person deserved it. That didn’t stop the urge to say something from rising in my throat, but I wasn’t about to prove my father right. He thought I was irrational and too uncontrolled to handle shit.

Not that he would know shit about me. He’d have to pay attention for that. So, as much as it hurt to do, I swallowed down my argument, gritted my teeth, and sat back to watch Novalee step up in front of the judge.

My eyes narrowed as she cleared her throat and puffed her chest out.

She was up to something. I didn’t trust her, nor did I like the way her lips tightly pursed.

“Hello,” Novalee nodded at the judge. “I’d address you formally, Judge, but there’s nothing honorable about you.”

Did she just fucking say what I thought she did?

The judge cocked a brow, while Kato dropped his face in his palm, and his lawyer muttered a string of curses.

Yes, yes, she did. Wow, it took a lot of balls to insult a judge. Needless to say, he did not look impressed with her statement.

The judge cocked a brow as quiet murmurs spread through the room. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You’re a crooked bastard.” Novalee snarled while swinging her finger around the room. “You’re all a bunch of crooked bastards.”

This might not be so bad after all.

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