His Vice

30

And finally, the day came. It snuck up on her like a nightmare sneaks up on a child. The others insisted she watch, and she did, letting Maxxy take a nap as she put her feet up, a tight stance as she sat on the couch staring at the TV screen with an intense stare. I'm sure the rest of New York was waiting for this too, it had been all over the news constantly. The cameras were all over the courtroom, and with a pan, at the back, she could see the others, Bunny, Cam, Spike along with others with the knife embroidered into their black suits and the sunglasses hiding their faces. She wanted to be there, so badly, to sit in the chairs on Maxwell's side of the courtroom. Despite how much of an idiot, udder narcissist, and a complete asshole he could be, she still loved him for his kindness, his generosity, and his love. She wanted her husband back. The camera's focussed on the sight of him, his hair had grown, his hands cuffed in front of him and his feet too, it made her heart hurt, watching as he got paraded across the room for the press like some sort of toy. The judge had to slam his gabble multiple times in order to get the people to focus as he sat down with his lawyers.

"This is the case of Lucas against the state-" the old man stared down at the paper in his hand, adjusting his reading glasses on his nose, he looked up Maxwell "Maxwell, you are accused of first-degree murder of Collin Blight Junior, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty, your honor" Maxwell's voice had always been calloused and rough, but he just sounded so tired, so worn. Harmony could see the circles under his eyes with the slight fuzz of the TV screen, and she wondered how bad it truly was in person. Had he slept at all? She couldn't help but have her hands tighten around her knees. Because she suspected that she was the reason he hadn't been sleeping. Maxwell didn't care about being in prison, he didn't care that he was accused of murder, he talked about those things like he talked about the weather. What kept him up at night was being forced away from her, to fight with her over the phone and have her hang up on him after his foolishness, that was what kept him up and Harmony knew it

"The state's case will be heard first" the judge proclaimed "Mr. Konnors, if you would rise at start" she watched at the Judge's direction that the lawyer for the police force stands up in his fancy suit, walking around the table he was seated. Everything he said, she suspected it was what everyone said about Maxwell. The man talked about Hell's Heaven, a cult that had been 'squandering' the streets of New York like rats for the last three generations. Insisting that Maxwell grew up in luxury, not a care in the world because his parents were rich, the entire organization was. But, the man brought up the question Harmony herself had once wondered, standing at that window wearing nothing but a shirt and watching as Maxwell left the building, followed by guards into a black limousine parked against the curb. What does he do to be able to afford this?

"This organization, listed as a non-profit in all state records has people that live like luxury! And I'm sure, and I bet the jury is sure that not all of it is donation money. So, where, oh where does all this money come from that they spend so extravagantly?!"

"Conjecture" the black-dressed lawyer sitting next to Maxwell stood from his chair "You're Honour, Mr. Konnors is stating his own opinion"

"Sustained" the judge responded stiffly. Harmony could tell the HH lawyer was more than just slightly angry about that, sitting back down in his chair. Harmony let out a sigh, running her hand through her hair. Mr. Konnors turned the jury, going on and on about Maxwell, what kind of man was Maxwell? What kind of operation did he run, reading out statements from Individuals from the Bloody Love about what kind of person Maxwell was. It was watching this that Harmony realized that justice truly wasn't just. She didn't know much about politics, but it was clear that the lack of physical evidence on Maxwell for the crime had caused the state to rethink their strategy and instead of the physical evidence, focussing heavily on trying to destroy Maxwell's character in the eyes of the jury in order to gain the guilty conviction they had so desperately wanted. The state was at their last straw, Maxwell's personality, and Harmony knew that, and suspected that the others sitting at the back listening to this guy continue to speak without interruption knew it too.