BLACK CRESCENT

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CAMILA

"This is just another example of the way Latin people are treated in America today. How many Alejandro Cabello's are there all over the country? How many trials have been completely butchered by the public defenders who just don't give a damn?!"

"Completely untrue; public defenders are overworked and underpaid, yes, this was by all means handled horribly by the state police and the media. The evidence should have been handled properly, and no information should have been leaked to media. But to say this is a race issue is wrong. People of all races and ethnicities are all locked up everyday—"

"Preach!" Austin said, as he lifted his hand up to the sky, drawing my attention away from the debate that was going on most news stations now.

One week, that was all it took for this to become a firestorm issue. No matter what channel I flipped to, there was at least one segment on the Alejandro Cabello case. Lauren had an interview with KWNN coming up in the next few minutes, and it was going to be broadcasted globally.

"What? You think just because I'm a democrat my views on this would magically change?" he asked, when I sat back down at the conference table. "I don't think this is a race based case. I think anyone who had been involved in an affair with her would have suffered the same punishment."

He prepared himself for my comeback, but instead, I nodded my head, "I agree."

"You what?"

"I agree. All the evidence we have points to this being a series of disastrous events."

"The public defender is an alcoholic!" Vivian ran in waving a paper above her head. Zayn came up behind her, and took the paper out of her hands.

"How did you get this?"

"There wasn't much information about the public defender, so I thought I would go down to his office and see if he still worked there. He didn't. He was "let go" six months after the case. Since he wasn't officially fired, there was no write up. However, when he went looking for a new job, his former boss wrote a letter detailing his drunk stupors saying, 'that man should not be allowed to practice law.' "

"Where is he is now?"

"He died five years ago due to an alcohol-related liver disease."

"How sad. But dead men refute evidence. They just gave you this letter?"

"The new boss apparently is sympathetic to this case. She only asks we do not make too many connections between their office and him."

"Keep this up, and we might have to save a spot for you when you graduate," Zayn said as he glanced up at us. "Do you two have anything useful to add, or are you going to keep braiding each other's hair?"

Luckily, we didn't have to answer that question. Lauren came on the screen, and I hated the fact that her hair was slightly frizzled, and I wanted to be the one to fix it. And Her blazer was in off-green color made her emerald green eyes stand out even more.

I want to touch her again And I want her to touch me Again

Even with everything that was going on, and the fact that my life had changed overnight even more so than I ever would have thought possible, I still longed to touch her.

"Thank you for taking the time to speak to us Ms. Jauregui."

"No, thank you for bring up this case. For so long we've only heard one side to it."

"So. Do you truly believe that Alejandro Cabello is innocent?"

"I do."

"But you were married to Ariana Van Allen, were you not? Why would you even consider taking on this case?"

"I was, and my marriage to Ariana Van Allen has no bearing on this case. I understand that it must hurt her, but that was never my intention. People have been asking me why would I take this case and it confuses me. There is an innocent man on death row. I know that. I can prove that. I'm not demanding that the state release him, all I'm asking is that they revisit his case.

"The law states that the motion for a new trial can be sought if the correction of an injustice is needed, and when I look at Alejandro Cabello's case, all I see is injustice. Whether or not that injustice has been inflicted upon him because he's from Latin Community, I don't know, and I don't care... the fact remains; a grave injustice has been done and he is entitled to a legal defiance against the man who sat next to him; he was an alcoholic who was fired six months after Mr. Cabello had been convicted. We have in our possession, a letter from his former employer, which states that he shouldn't have been allowed to practice law. To me, this is a perfect explanation as to why he couldn't challenge one single witness."

How did he know that? We'd only just found that information out ourselves!

"Text messages are great, aren't they?" Zayn kicked his feet up. "They are in full fighting form right now."

"If the state truly believes that he is guilty, then granting a new trial should not be a problem. We have tipped our hand. All of our cards on the table. With these types of mistakes, mistakes not even my students would have made, a man's life is on the line, so I ask you here today, how can you turn your eyes from such an injustice? Alejandro Cabello had a life, two beautiful daughters, an amazing career as the chief writer and editor at the Boston Noble, under the pseudonym Carlos Estrabao—"

"Carlos Estrabao was Alejandro Cabello?" The reporter said in shock.

Carlos Estrabao was the master of breaking news. He wrote about everything and one from presidents to politicians and called them out, to exposing headline stories. If you wanted to know what people were going to say on the news on Monday, you had to read Carlos Estrabao on Friday.

"Yes, and the moment Alejandro Cabello was arrested, the Boston Noble hid all ties that connected them to him, and gave the name he had created for himself to a ghost writer. If this had been brought up in court, the Jury would have known that Savannah Van Allen was given not one, but two feature articles that year. The first one was offered to her, and the second one she personally requested. She knew him. She was involved with him. The more you pull on the string, the more evidence there is that falls out of the closet."

"I can't wait to read the Boston Noble in the morning," Austin snickered to himself.

"They, and Lauren Jauregui, are already trending on Twitter," Vivian said as she scrolled through her phone. Looking around, I hadn't noticed how many people had come back into the room just to watch Lauren on the screen.

There are people who are moved by the world, and then there were people who moved the world. Lauren Jauregui was the latter of the two. She just had that ability. She commanded respect, and people who listened to her would follow her anywhere... myself included.

Zayn stood, rereading whatever was on his phone before speaking. "I hope you all took notes, what She just did was force Boston Noble to respond, and by doing so they make this case larger. Pack up and go home, we're done."

"What? How are we done?"

"Let me rephrase. Pack up, go home, kiss your partners, and get as much sleep as you possibly can. We've been granted a hearing and we will most likely get a retrial, and then, this stops being easy," he said as he walked out, leaving me speechless as I fell back into my seat.

This was only the first part of it, and already it had taken so much out of me. I needed to be stronger.

LAUREN

Grabbing my guitar, I laid on my office couch mindlessly strumming the tightly wound strings. The day seemed to have passed by in a blur of camera lights, interviews and meetings.

"God, no," I groaned at my phone.

"Tough day?"

"Shut up."

Zayn placed a glass of water in front of me like that was supposed to do something for me tonight.

"Water? Seriously?"

"You have an even bigger day tomorrow," he said as he stretched and then collapsed onto my chair. "If you start drinking now, you may never stop."

He was a pain in the ass, but he knew me. "Look in the front pocket of my bag."

"Why?"

"Just do it." I kept on playing.

Reaching in, he pulled the small black card out. He stared at it for a while and dropped it on the table.

"Jauregui, Malika and Associates? I'm finally getting my name on the door... a door that might not even be there when we finish this case."

"Have more confidence. Besides, it's the thought that counts."

"You swore never to be partners with anyone again... the last guy you were partners with slept with your wife."

"Thank you for the reminder, asshole. Luckily, you are married and in love with my sister. I trust you. You're a good lawyer, and you've always stood behind me even when I was standing on bullshit. I should have done this a long time ago."

He sighed, leaning back into his chair, "We better win this or I'm going to be pissed off as hell. Not to mention having to deal with you, if Mila never speaks to you again."

"First of all who is this Mila huh? Call her Camila or Ms. Cabello and secondly I'm not doing this for her." I wasn't even sure if that was a lie anymore. Maybe I had spent so much time convincing others of my reasons that I was starting to convince myself. "This has become so much bigger than just her and I—"

"So what you're saying is, you won't go see her in the conference room?"

"What?" I sat up, and he grinned.

I pretended that I didn't care anymore and lay back down. I glanced at my watch.

1:00am

"Someone should tell her she doesn't get extra credit for being here at this ungodly hour," I said.

"I'm not her teacher," Zayn cracked.

"Ariana told me that I purposely look for Someone who is broken and too young for me," I told him.

And when I thought about it she was right. So what did that say about the type of woman I was?

"Bullshit."

"She has a point—"

"Sure, if you look at it from the dark and cloudy prescriptive of your psychotic ex-wife, but over here on our side of the rainbow, I can see just fine."

What the hell?

"I think you are trying to tell me something, but you're not speaking English."

He rolled his eyes, and leaned towards me, sitting on the very edge of his seat as though he was about to kiss me. "For as long as I've known you Lauren, you've been attracted to strength. Whether it was cars, homes, cases, men women... You don't look for broken people. Everyone is broken to some degree, we all got our own shit to deal with. The difference is how we handle them.

"You liked Ariana because even after the death of her mother she stood with her head held high. She spent time volunteering, giving back to the community, studying. The same thing applies to Camila. With a mother like hers, there's no doubt in my mind that she's had one hell of a childhood. She then had to raise her sister. She's worked her ass off in one of the best schools into the country, and upon finding out her father was wrongly accused she didn't break down. She didn't give up. She instead said she wanted to be a lawyer. She is by far one of the strongest people I know, and there's no shame in being attracted to that. Why you've started to listen to the words of your ex-wife now, is beyond me."