Directed Verdict (Failed Justice Book 1) by Rick Santini Read Free Book Online

knew was he was free. Free to go home to his mama. Free to go to sleep at night knowing Big Bubba wasn’t sleeping above or below him. Free to live each day as it unfolded.
    He also knew tomorrow could be his last. That he was painfully aware of. He had raped the wrong person.
    Anthony almost strained his neck from turning around every five minutes to see if the two huge men in black suits, black shirts, and black ties were still there. The two goons never moved. They never talked, they never took breaks. They sat and listened. And reported. It did not take a Rhodes Scholar to figure out who they were reporting to. Anthony knew who Victoria’s father was. He knew he would be safer in prison. Any prison.
    Maybe I can just get lost. Disappear. Go into a witness protection program for people who are not witnesses, just plain scared.
    Anthony desperately wanted to graduate junior college. He desperately wanted to get admitted to Rutgers for his B.A. He desperately wanted to fulfill his promise to his late father and go to law school and be admitted to the bar. But most important, he wanted to live, to survive.
    To see another sunrise and sunset.
    He remembered once reading that when the Russian mafia wants you, there is no place to run, nowhere to hide. Anthony was quickly getting the idea. He decided to call Mr. Sugarman. He wasn’t sure why but he needed to talk to someone.
    Anthony knew Sugarman no longer represented him. He had done his job and done it good. And he had been paid in full. He knew all about lawyers, Free advice is worth what you pay for it . Anthony knew Mr. Sugarman would never take his call.
    I have nothing to do this afternoon. I’ll just drive to his office and walk in unannounced. Then he’ll have to talk to me—and maybe give me some answers. I deserve it.
     
    ***
     
    Bob decided to leave the front door unlocked—by mistake/on purpose. He didn’t want it picked, or worse yet, broken down. No telling what the thief would do.
    He didn’t have to wait long. Less than two hours later there was a knock on the door. No one answered. Sugarman and Brenda were in a vacant office in the same building, one story up. They were staring at a TV monitor. Bob immediately recognized the young man knocking on his door.
    It couldn’t be. Why would his own client, the one he had just gotten off, be here? It made no sense.
    Bob Sugarman was never a lightweight. He had played high school football, wide receiver, and tried out for his college team. He was big and fast but his hands weren’t soft enough. And he had a healthy respect for the body given to him. The only one he would ever have.
    He dropped the easy ones. Maybe it had something to do with the fact the split second after he caught the ball, some linebacker, maybe two, would slam two hundred twenty pounds each into the small of his back with the intent of displacing as many ribs as possible and forcing Bob to drop the ball.
    He never made the team—for which he was eternally grateful.
    Bob knew he now outweighed Anthony by close to seventy-five pounds and the kid would crap his pants if surprised. Without warning Brenda or even thinking it through, Sugarman raced down the single flight of stairs, two at a time, and threw the full weight of his left shoulder into the upper legs of poor, unsuspecting Anthony.
    “Whatta you doing here, punk?
    Anthony was now lying on the ground too stunned to realize how much he was hurt. The pain would come later. Now he was in shock.
    “I needed to talk to you. I had a feeling you would blow me off on the phone so I drove down. I knocked on the door and when no one answered, I just walked in. It was unlocked. Is that a crime? Now can you please get off me? I think you may have broken my leg.”
    Bob’s first thought was a law suit against him for negligence. The next one was assault and battery with intent. A third degree felony.
    “Sorry. I thought you were a thief.”
    “Do I look like a thief? It’s broad