What a Fool Believes by Carmen Green Read Free Book Online

curse,” Judge Dunn ordered.
    â€œExcuse me, but he’s lying, and you’re not stopping him,” cried Tia. “Am I supposed to just take it?”
    â€œYes! I can see that there were no boundaries in this relationship. Since you took matters into your own hands, Ms. Amberson, take responsibility for this. You will be fined fifty dollars for every word hereafter. Mr. Manuel, you have seventy-two hours to vacate the premises, or you’ll be held in contempt.”
    How dare the judge pass judgment on her life? “There were boundaries, Your Honor,” Tia said with earnest, “But they didn’t include sleeping with other women.”
    The audience erupted again.
    The judge held up his hands, nodding. “Ms. Amberson, I’m warning you for the last time.”
    Dante’s chest had deflated now that the audience was turning on him. “Maybe if you weren’t so square, you wouldn’t be manless,” Dante said, cocky now that she’d been reprimanded. “A little diversity never hurt nobody.”
    Tia pushed Leroy aside and leaned across the aisle, while Dante hid behind the ADA.
    â€œYou non-fucking piece of crap. There aren’t two women alive who’d want your scabby little wiener. Go to hell.”
    â€œRemove him from my courtroom!” The judge had turned a burnished shade of red and was now standing. Control was gone on both sides of the bench. And Tia didn’t care. The judge had allowed a mockery to be made of her life.
    â€œHow much is that, Cindy?” the judge bellowed.
    â€œOne thousand dollars.”
    â€œYou have anything else to say, Ms. Amberson?” asked the judge.
    â€œIt’s the best thousand dollars I’ve ever spent,” Tia retorted, defiant and satisfied for the first time since this debacle began.
    Thunderous applause rippled through the room. The judge’s gavel clattered onto the desk.
    â€œDeputy, escort Ms. Amberson to the clerk and then out of the building via an exit other than Mr. Manuel’s. Ms. Amberson, I feel as if we’ll see each other again.”
    â€œNot if I can help it.”
    â€œBelieve me, I hope not too. Dismissed.”
    Judge Dunn banged the gavel, and Tia turned around.
    Officer Byron Rivers stood at the back of the courtroom, an indescribable look on his face. Tia wasn’t sure if it was repulsion or embarrassment. Either way, she didn’t want to see her life further decimated. He could speak up, and the nightmare would continue.
    He was by the book, she’d been told. Never late for anything. A stickler for the law.
    Finally, he moved as if in a dream, tipped his head, and was gone.
    Tia allowed herself to be led out, hoping she’d never see Dante or the judge again.
    If only she could say the same for her arresting officer.

Chapter Eight
    â€œTia, come into my office, now.”
    Tia rose from her cube and felt both acute embarrassment and sympathy from her peers. Chance, her boss, had made the demand over the office paging system. Her voice had blared into everyone’s work area, which was exactly what she’d intended.
    She liked her employees shaking and defenseless before she killed them.
    While Tia didn’t want to keep Chance waiting, she didn’t want to appear afraid, either. She wasn’t Chance’s bitch, so she took the long way to her office, passing one extra cube before entering the vacuous space.
    The distance between the door and Chance’s desk seemed to be the length of the Hollywood red carpet, and Chance enjoyed every quaking step her staff had to take before they arrived, intimidated and often crying.
    Chance was a size 2 bully.
    Tia arrived at the desk, folded her hands, and forced herself not to shake.
    â€œYes, Chance?”
    Pale hands extended from under jet-black sleeves and flipped open Tia’s personnel folder.
    â€œDo you know how many days you’ve been absent this