Love's Deception

Chapter 39 - Trial & Tears

Do you ever hate how you can feel so good one minute and so terrible the next? Why does that even happen? It can sometimes occur from one single thing that ruins everything about your day. It just turns it to shit. You can be walking on cloud nine one minute and in a dumpster the next.

There's no controlling it. It can sometimes be something big or something small that affects you. No matter the size of importance, they can make you feel just as shitty. Now, what do you do to combat this sudden change in feelings?

Do you continue to feel like shit, thinking of only the negatives, and not doing anything to try and fix what happened? Or do you seize the day and make a change that'll fix everything for the future? I don't know about you, but the latter sounds so much better.

****

Today is the day of Natalia's trial. I can't help but feel unusually nervous. What's going to happen at this trial? I've talked with the lawyers and they all know she's going to be found guilty, but I'm still nervous that maybe something will happen and she won't.

This feeling about Jace being there doesn't make my nerves ease up in any way. I don't know why I have such a weird feeling about today. In a briefing we just did today with the lawyers, they all agreed that my relationship with Jace is irrelevant to Natalia's case, so it won't be brought up in depth.

That made me feel a little better, but I still feel like something is going to happen between me and Jace today. Something bad. Yes, I still love him. But after what he said to me yesterday, I don't want to love him. He hurt me and I don't think he regrets it. So I can't waste any more energy on him, and that includes thinking.

I shove those thoughts out of my mind and remember where I am. The prison. The Men's State Penitentiary. I'm walking into the building with Cam and I begin to feel nervous as we walk more.

We approach the security guard who is waiting by the visiting center. We give the name that we're here to see and the guard has us leave our firearms with her and she gives us a buzzer. Another guard escorts us to the cells and tells us that if we need anything at all, just push a buzzer and they'll be right there.

She points to a cell near the end and we both hesitantly walk over to it. As we walk, Cam takes my hand in his and squeezes it, letting me know we'll be alright. I smile at him and then we reach the cell and turn to face it.

"Mr. Matthews," I say with a shaky tone.

I watch as Cooper Matthews picks up his head, stands up, and approaches us from inside his cell.

"Well, well. What are you doing here, Agent Warren? Come to see how I'm living these days?"

I stare at him. He looks the same as he did a year ago before I arrested him. The only thing is his hair is a little longer. I take a file out from under my arm, open it up, and present it to him through the cell.

"You're being subpoenaed," I say.

"For what?"

"For the trial against Natalia Locke, the leader of the Cobras."

Cooper looks at me shocked, "Natalia was the leader?"

"Yes," Cam says, "We caught her and the trial is today."

"So why the hell am I being called to testify?" Cooper asks looking at the file I'm holding.

"You're being called as a last-minute witness, someone who can help us with our case against Natalia. Someone who can vouch for all she's done. This'll be a quick trial, only a day-long rather than multiple days. An easy in and out and she'll be placed in prison."