for you, the world

[3]

The air was crisp, George was sat on his balcony a comforter wrapping his frame  a flask of warm tea in his hands. Snow had began to trickle through the night coating the city in thick white. By the time he woke the snow had ceased, yet the pavement and roofs still had the presence  of winter looming upon them. From frosted windows, icy pavements and roofs and the tops of cars drizzled with glistening white.

He didn't have any cases this week (as far as he was made aware by his agent.)  He was contemplating taking a year off work. It had been a month since Flynn had left him, November coming into play and his birthday since passing, now at the ripe age of 25. He was young for a lawyer, he knew it, Flynn was much older at the age of 34, almost a decade came between them. At first, George was underestimated due to his age, but then clients began seeing his potential and he climbed to the top. Being single was.. peculiar for him at first, so used to waking in between arms, a kiss to his temple and warm showers shared skin to skin. It was painful, yet he began adjusting after the first two weeks. Surprisingly, he wasn't as upset as he thought he'd be, he was coping well, the loneliness was somewhat peaceful. However he had to take down the clock on the living room wall, the ticking began to become somewhat taunting. Bringing the tea to his lips, he took a sip, the warmth travelling down his throat and settling inside. He glanced back up to the sky, clouds filling the sky a deep winter blue peaking out from behind the clouds.

George's phone began to go off, he placed his tea down on the coaster and picked his phone up, Jess was calling, his assistant. With a sigh, he answered.

"Hello mr Davidson, I'm just calling to inform you that you've been hired for a high profile case." She spoke, northern accent looming with her words which seemed somewhat emotionless.

George sat up in his chair leaning forward and clearing his throat, "high profile, how high profile?"

"The Rhys Portland case."

"the drunk bus driver? The one who got into the accident on a free way killing twelve passengers and all the members of two five seater cars, a total of twenty two dead under DUI, reckless driving and involuntary manslaughter?" He spoke, the case had been ongoing for several years, Rhys had managed to slither his way out each time, even by inducing a heart attack by taking too many blood thinners in the previous trial giving him more time.

"that's the one sir," she spoke, the sound of a keyboard being tapped filling the spaces of silence. "The victims family have put money together to get a good lawyer, they've said they want you as the prosecutor of the case. Rhys has fished out the best lawyer he can find, attempting to plead not guilty under mental instability."

"Which lawyer would I be up against, who's his defence attorney?" He sat up in his chair, taking in a deep inhale of the crisp winter air.
"Alexis Hernandez, within the top 5 criminal defence lawyers in several states, second best criminal defence lawyer in Mexico. He won the Maisie Walters case back in 2018."

"Great," he took in a deep breath, clearly he was up against a lawyer of similar talent. "I'll do it, contact the families right away, arrange a meeting."

"Oh, George there's one thing I need to mention about the case."

"which is?"

"it's being held in florida Supreme Court, Tallahassee."

"Tallahassee?" He sucked in a breath, attempting to sound as calm and collected as possible despite his heart rate increasing and his knee beginning to subconsciously bounce.

"yes sir, it's an international case as unfortunately one of the family's killed were actually British tourists from Essex, they were on holiday in a hire car when they were killed, their family are currently in Tallahassee discussing the case with the other victims families."

"what are they pleading for?"

"multiple life sentences without parole or chance of bail."

"okay, Tallahassee it is then."

"okay sir, I'll make the calls now and I'll arrange your flight for tomorrow."

"thank you Jess, speak soon." The call ended and the switched his phone off pushing it aside, drawing out a sigh. Why did it have to be Tallahassee of all places, the place he called home for years, the place where his mum still was. Somewhere that felt so foreign yet had so many awful memories. Then again, it was work, it wasn't exactly like he could say no to such a big case. Especially one as upsetting as this one, George stood taking his now empty mug heading into the apartment from his balcony. He placed the empty mug in the sink and headed to his desk to take out his laptop and begin researching as much as he could about the case.

Rhys Portland was the son of the Portland's, one of the richest families across southern America, he'd cut ties with them at seventeen due to his addictions to alcohol and narcotics but his family got back into contact within the most recent years after seeing how he'd improved his life, getting a job and settling down, so they began financially supporting him, so of course when he was getting sued to hell and on the brink of being imprisoned, they stepped up offering to get him the best lawyer they could find.

This case was going to be hard, even harder knowing he was somewhere he vowed he'd never step foot in again.