Law of Attraction by Allison Leotta Read Free Book Online

Tall as his lanky lawyer, D’marco filled out his orange jumpsuit like a linebacker. His arms emerged from the short sleeves in a ropy clump of muscles, and his hands were big as dinner plates at the Outback Steakhouse. He wore his hair in cornrows running from his forehead to the back of his skull, where they fell in skinny braids that brushed the top of his shoulders. D’marco greeted his lawyer, then scanned the faces in the audience. He smiled. He knew what it meant that Laprea wasn’t there. Then he turned to the judge, bowed his head respectfully, and said in a soft, polite voice, “Good morning, Your Honor.” The guy was a pro.
    The judge asked Anna the question of the day. “Ms. Curtis, is the government ready to proceed with trial in this case?”
    Without Laprea, Anna couldn’t call “ready” for trial. Her chest constricted at the idea that D’marco was going to walk away. She opened her mouth to say “no” when she felt someone tapping on her shoulder. Officer Green had returned. He whispered in Anna’s ear and pointed to the last row, where Laprea was taking a seat. Anna heaved a sigh of relief.
    “Thank you,” Anna whispered.
    “Go get ’em,” Green replied.
    “The government is ready for trial,” Anna announced. She looked to see D’marco’s reaction. He stared straight ahead, stone-faced.
    As Green turned around to take a seat, Judge Spiegel looked up at the officer and smiled for the first time that day. “Ms. Curtis, I see you’ve called in the A team,” she said without looking at Anna. “Good morning, Officer Green,” she purred. If she didn’t know better, Anna would’ve sworn the judge was batting her eyes at him. The officer returned the greeting and the two bantered for a moment.
    Anna looked at Nick. A smirk played on his lips. He wasn’t surprised by the camaraderie between judge and police; he was both amused and pissed off by it.
    The judge finally turned back to her docket, noting that D’marco’s case would be the first trial of the day, beginning in about an hour. Grace covered the rest of the calendar call so Anna could speak to Laprea.
    •  •  •
    “I can’t do it, Ms. Curtis. Please don’t make me,” Laprea pleaded withAnna. They were standing in the small meeting room off the entrance of the courtroom. Rose sat in one of the scuffed plastic chairs, her arms crossed on her chest, while Green hovered in a corner.
    “Three months ago, you were begging me to get D’marco locked up,” Anna said. “Do you really want him to walk out of here today? He’ll just keep hurting you. And if he knows there are no consequences, the beatings will just get worse.”
    Laprea looked at the ground. Part of her understood that this was true. But today she was filled with hope.
    “It’s going to be different. He’s in anger management. He’s doing job training.”
    “Didn’t he do that before?”
    “I don’t expect you to understand. But he’s my babies’ father. What good is it for my kids to have their father in jail? He just want to be there to see D’montrae and Dameka grow up. They need him.”
    “It’d be better for them to grow up without a father than to see him beating on their mother all the time,” Anna replied emphatically.
    “All due respect, Ms. Curtis, but you don’t know my life.”
    Anna paused. She realized what Laprea saw when she looked at Anna: a white woman buttoned up in a suit, someone from a completely different world. Anna wanted to tell her it was all a veneer. The suit, the law degree, they don’t matter. Inside, we are more alike than you know. But she couldn’t find the words, and the moment passed.
    “It’s not all his fault,” Laprea said softly. “I’m partly to blame.”
    “It is his fault!” Anna exclaimed in frustration. “No matter what you think you did, you don’t deserve this!”
    Rose spoke up. “I ain’t never seen no bruises on D’marco.”
    Laprea turned to her. “Mama, you know how hard it