I sat in the stiff wooden chair totally numb. The tailored Armani suit I'd been so proud of when I dropped two grand on it now felt like a straitjacket. I spared a glance at the Lawyer, Levitz who was representing us. He was going over his notes with a worried expression on his face. I'd fought the good fight, but in the end it would be in God's hands.
I tried to keep from looking over my shoulder, but I couldn't help it. Monet sat two rows behind me with her protruding belly, with Ma, Tony and Tonya at her side looking every bit of the concerned family. Apart from my family, Monet was the only other person who had been there every day for the seven weeks the trial had gone on. She tried to stay for her man, but I could tell that the ordeal was breaking her down. I'd told her that my family would make sure the baby was a'ight, but I didn't want Tony, Tonys or Ma to take care of my child. I wanted to be free so I could raise my child.
Stacy sat in the last row, quietly sobbing. She had raised the most hell when the bulls hit, even managing to get herself tossed into jail for obstruction of justice. She had always been a down bitch, and I respected her for it.
Assembled in the courtroom were many faces. Some were friends, but most were people from the neighborhood that just came to be nosey. No matter their motive the sheer number would look good on my part in the eyes of the jury, at least that was what Levitz told us. The way the trial seemed to be going, I seriously doubted it at that point.
Lined up to my left were my colleagues and brothers in arms, Scatter and Jewels. Jewels' face was solemn. He was dressed in a brown Italian suit. Scatter smirked at a drawing he had done on his legal pad. I wasn't sure if he didn't understand the charges we were facing or just didn't care. Knowing Scatter, it was probably the latter. He had resigned himself to the fact that he was born into the game and would die in it. To my right was Scar, my boss and leader of the Douglass Disciples. He was dressed in a blue-black Hugo Boss suit with a black tie. I couldn't read his face.
I wanted to break down every time I thought how my run as a gangsta had been. To see niggaz that I'd come to love like family take the stand and try to snatch your life to save their own was a feeling that I wouldn't wish on anyone. No man above the gang was the vow that we had all taken, but in the end only a few kept to it. To the rest, they were just words. We had laughed, cried, and smoked weed together, but when the time came to stand like men they laid down like bitches. These niggaz had been like my brothers, but now they were my enemies.
