The Rich Life

26

Internally, I made a list.

1) First thoughts of accused ✔️

2) See the body ✔️

3) Examine the victim's background

4) Check the press

5) Bring a case together

I was going to be sick. Anthony's dead body was still in my mind. The body that was so introspective and hilarious would never make a joke again or pull a pathetic prank. Dead at 30. Murdered by someone. He didn't deserve any of it. Who hated my Tony? He never hurt anyone. The world tilted.

I was going to be sick. I was going to faint.

"Are you alright?"

I gasped as my heart thundered and there, standing in front of me was Karamat Malik. His beautiful eyes were tilting more to a stormy grey.  Pretty eyes. My lashes fluttered, half of my unruly hair had fallen out of its elegant braid, past my shoulders. The world was spinning with blood, money and the thought of Tony, dead and broken by betrayal, the pain of unrequited love. His brow tensed. The sour and burning taste of vomit was at the back of my throat, threatening to make an appearance right on his jumper.

"Are you okay?" Karamat rushed towards me to catch me before the world turned black.

🗲

The thick scent of perfumed rose tickled my nose.

"Come on Amara," someone muttered. I wrinkled my nose and opened my eyes. There were bleary shadows and darkness which spiralled around my vision. Demons. The ghost of Anthony Blanco. My head felt disorientated. The man lifted the soft petalled rose against my face.

I was laying in my bed, with Karamat holding a rose, complimentary of the hotel. My head was pounding as I propped myself up on my elbows, groggily asking what on earth happened.

I had fainted. I was out cold for an hour and Karamat had tried substituting roses for smelling salts. I told him I saw Anthony's dead body and how I thought Dervishi had killed him. I explained the entire interrogation to him.

"I saw the video. You can really fight meanly,"

"Of course. Growing up with Asif, Waqas and Esa who were all fucking boxers I had to defend myself from being their punching bag," He gave me a kiss on my forehead, pushing any thought of Adam from my mind. To be honest, fighting and yelling at him made me feel the most alive since I had left America. I sighed and kissed him back, the warm feeling of home inside my heart.

3) Examing the victim's background

Anthony Blanco had a dark past, as I discovered. I contacted his father from New York and he gave me all of the awful details. Ferdinando Blanco was an ultra-conservative Republican, who had conformed to the American dream. He had raised his kids with leniency but as religious Catholics and Tony grew up surrounded by the rich descendants of noblemen families in the renaissance. Anthony had to come out to him twice before he finally got the message then proceeded to kick him out of the house, telling him that he was going to burn in Hell for his sins. Which is totally Evangelical-Protestant-y of him.

"Anthony had a lot of dark secrets. I haven't spoken to him ever since he told me he is NOT of the natural way. We lived in a tight-knit family unit. So when he was kicked out, that lead to depression, sometimes bouts of atypical anorexia where he would completely shut off. Then sometimes he would take drugs to numb his existence. Though I'm sure he's been clean for 8 years. I can put you in touch with his psychiatrist,"