Page 25 of Final Verdict
“Because everyone’s leaving for class—” She coughs. “And work this early. By the time I catch an empty elevator, I could’ve walked.”
“Noted.”
I wait on the line as she breathes—just breathes—and silently fantasize if she’d sound the same way whenever she’s under me.Or whenever I’m sucking her tits into my mouth and making her ride me harder.
When she reaches her floor, she asks me to wait again so she can catch her breath.
“You’ll definitely need to build your stamina if we ever have sex, Scarlett.”
“We already agreed that wasneverhappening.” She pants.
“I said I’d ‘never’ talk on the phone to you about non-legal work, too.”
“Fair enough...” She’s definitely smiling. “What were you saying about that café you hate in New Jersey?”
I’m not sure how the hell we don’t end the call until ten, but when it’s over, I find myself saying four words that I can’t believe dropped from my mouth.
“I’ll call you tonight.”
I hang up before we can break a telethon record, and then I search for “Scarlett, marketing director, campaign sales” for what has to be the umpteenth time.
Marketing isn’t as SEO-optimized as law, and I figure she may work for a small private company, so I let it go.
I’ll just ask her about it tonight.
IMPEACH (V.)
TO DISCREDIT THE TESTIMONY OF A WITNESS BY PROVING THAT HE/SHE HAS NOT TOLD THE TRUTH OR HAS BEEN INCONSISTENT, BY INTRODUCING CONTRARY EVIDENCE
SCARLETT
A Few Weeks Later
“By the time Scarlett joins the family business in a few years, this family will be halfway there to running the entire cigar industry on the East Coast!”
My father lifts a glass of wine, while my mother and four older brothers cheer via our monthly ‘family matters’ Zoom call.
I feign a smile to look like I fit in.
“Make sure you take good notes when you get to Senior Accounting next semester,” Rob, the oldest of my brothers, says. “You’re our only hope since we all passed that one up.”
“I have no doubt she’ll pass it with flying colors.” My dad’s eyes meet mine. “I just got a letter from her Economics professor praising just how much she’s excelling in the course.”
I swallow; I’d sent that to buy time on him asking about my latest “project scores,” not for him to share with everyone.
“Well, in that case, Dad—” My youngest brother Antonio raises a glass. “We’ll have the cigar and the alcohol business locked away.”
They all cheer again, and my smile wavers.
I still don’t know how my father convinced all of them that the only purpose in going to college was to eventually come home to the family business.
I’d once made the mistake of telling him that I dreamed of a career onstage, and he dismissed me with a “You can dream all you want while working for the family business.”
“Family over everything, Scarlett,” he’d say, “even your job, even your dreams...”
I don’t chime in much for the rest of the meeting, and I only catch hints of the small updates they share—since I’m pretty sure half of whatever my father does is illegal.
“Good catching up with you all,” my dad says after about an hour. “I’ll call you individually this week as always.”
