Guarded Love

Chapter 28

Jermaine 

"Mr. Watson?" Why? Why would she help him? He's the enemy. "Mr. Watson?" Whatever he has over her must be something big, crucial even. What could it be? "Mr. Watson?"

"Huh? I mean yes?" It was one of the interns I had working for me.

"The judge refused to sign the search warrant. Said there's no evidence of any crime."

"Damn it," I cursed. This would've been easier had Essence just agreed to help. A witness wouldn't have been much but it would at least give us the boost we needed for a search warrant. We got a hunch on where the Haynes do their operation. They're smart in keeping anything with their name off of it. Apparently they may have ties to some legitimate businesses and are using their warehouses for their illegal activities. But we need more than a hunch to prove it. 

Essence would've been a big help in finding out more information. I remember her talking about a guy who works for her family who could dig up just about anything with enough time and money. That asset would've helped tremendously in taking this family down. It's people like Haynes who ruin lives and families. Like mine. 

I grew up poor most of my life. It was rare that we got anything new. At one point I had to wear the same shoes for two years before getting another, less worn pair. My mother worked constantly and was rarely home. My big brother had to watch me and vice versa. I guess he got tired of seeing our mother work so hard and started selling drugs. Although I was worried, I didn't stop him. For the first time I was getting new everything. He even bought me a game system to preoccupy my time with. It didn't take long before he got caught up. He tried taking more than his share of the profits and they killed him. We didn't even get to bury my brother. He just never came back. I know that family did it. I just know it. 

I studied hard to get into law school with the sole purpose of bringing the Haynes Empire down. To stop evil people like them from getting away with literally everything. To stop families from being torn apart. But then I met her. Essence. She was always quiet and studious. It was hard to get close to her. She wouldn't even hold a full conversation with me until six months after we met. She told me her dream of becoming a prosecutor in order for families to get justice. She didn't go into detail about why but I could tell the reason was personal. Like mines. But it was far more heroic than my reason for becoming a prosecutor. I convinced myself we had the same goals and thought we'd be good allies in the future. 

I never planned to fall in love with her. Her smile, her generosity, her courage, everything about her. I admired her brain mostly and was also a bit envious. She was a star pupil and I often found myself struggling to keep up. It wasn't long before envy started taking over the admiration part. I got jealous. Part of our intern process we'd get to shadow real cases. She always left lasting impressions no matter how small or insignificant the crime was. There was this huge law firm company we worked for and they continuously brought up the fact they were looking for new lawyers to hire. I was determined and worked my ass off for the chance. While I was doing some filing I noticed the list of candidates and I wasn't one of them. I was pissed and afraid of losing my one chance at taking down the Haynes. 

I took desperate measures to ensure myself, by sabotaging the one person who stood in my way. We were assigned to handle a case all on our own and I ended up messing everything up. Evidence was contaminated and I lied to the perp about there being concrete evidence of them being at the crime scene, essentially trying to trick them into confessing. The guy was poor and couldn't afford a real lawyer so he was scared. He signed the confession and was sentenced away. But Essence kept digging and found out I lied and locked an innocent man away. She wanted to right the wrong but I was so worried about my future I tried sabotaging hers by taking her essay and make it seem like she stole it from me.