"Guilty on the first count of first-degree murder."
"Mister Grent Williams. You are hereby sentenced to death by lethal injection. You are to be placed on death row as per the state laws, effective immediately. I pray that God rest your soul."
I watched as the judge slammed his gavel down, the sound of a sentence being passed, the sound of a case being closed, the sound of my victory.
I stood there, the prosecutor, in a clean black suit that was tailored to fit my great body, hands placed on the table as I watched the man get cuffed. He was a family man. Two kids and a beautiful wife, but he had killed a man.
Lopez, a young man with affiliations to some of the most dangerous men in the city. He had met Grent in a club and wanted to hit on his wife, and when Grent refused and took his wife away, Lopez followed. He attacked Grent with a dagger and almost took his life. Grent was forced to pull his legal firearm.
I read the autopsy. It was two bullets to the chest, one through the heart, the one that ended it in seconds. Grent had defended himself, I knew that, I’ve always known that.
He did nothing wrong, but this was the kind of work you did when you were the elite lawyer that handled the cases of the big shots. The only truth is the law, not the truth that is the truth, not the lies, not anything, only the law.
Those who master the art of manipulating that law master the art of controlling the truth all the time. I was forced to learn that when I was young, manipulate the law, make it the truth, the entire world will believe it and it becomes the truth.
On every book now, Grent was a murderer that felt threatened by the fact that his wife got a drink from the young Lopez and, in anger, shot Lopez when he got one chance.
I created that truth, I applied the law more than anyone else, and I forged the lie into the truth. Now Grent is set to face death, his life ended. His entire journey ended simply because I made the truth what I wanted.
That’s why I became a lawyer, why I am who I am. I did not become a lawyer to uphold justice, I became a lawyer to forge justice, to bend to my will, to flow to my control, to create my truth. Because if the only thing you can trust can be manipulated by someone, that person becomes a god. And like a god, I have damned a man to hell.
I watched as the guards dragged Grent away, his wife reaching out for him with tears in her eyes, but unable to touch her loved one one last time. I watched his eyes meet with mine, the pain, the horror that he faced at the moment, the pleading for me to simply do what was right.
Yeah, I should do what was right. The only issue was that I had already changed what was right in this case. The only right was the fact that he was a murderer. It was not the reality, I ensured that. And as the door closed behind him, I knew that my reality had been solidified.
I felt it in my chest, a sense of power that normally came when I did this, the power to be able to change the fate of men. This was power, and I had it.
I packed up my files and my briefcase, I set it up and locked it, the final lock on the case before I turned to leave. My footsteps sounding louder than they should and pulling the attention of everyone as they watched the man I had sent someone to hell all by myself.
I know you might see me as the devil, an evil someone that’s not good, but that’s also not the truth, because I made the truth into what it is, and the whole world recognizes me as a man of integrity, a man of respect, a man who faces the truth head-on and fights for justice.
Do you doubt me? Well, watch this.
I look up and see the defendant’s wife bawling her eyes out in the hands of her sister. Calmly, I walk over and stop a few feet away. They notice me. They freeze, looking at me with wonder in their eyes as to why I am here with them. I know that look, I have seen it all too well.
Without saying a word, I bow at a full ninety degrees.
"I’m sorry."
I speak in a clear, honest voice.
Long before this, I had already convinced the wife that her husband was guilty. Yeah, I have my ways, and I used them. She soon believed her husband was wrong, and she simply wanted his charge to be dropped a little.
The rest is a story for another day.
I held that bow for a few more seconds until she finally spoke.
"Please leave, please."
When I heard those words, I knew she held no grudge. She simply didn’t want to say that. I had won, I had rewritten everything, changed everything, I had made the truth under the law.
I raised my head and walked away, never looking back and closing this Chapter for good. I walked towards my car, a clean Lamborghini Revuelto, and drove off.
I arrived at my home a few minutes later. It was not massive, but it was impressive, the type that told you this person had wealth. The electronic gates opened and I drove in.
The first thing I did when I got home was simply to have a bath and throw on some boxing gear. I headed to my garage, where a sandbag hung, and on it was the image of a man. He looked just like me. He was my father.
Without much thought, I began to throw full-on punches into the rage repeatedly for minutes until my knuckles hurt. Only then did I stop and walk away, still aching in my heart but out of energy.
I took another shower and headed into my gaming room. The part of me many of the public will never know. I had just acquired a virtual gaming headset, and it was now time to test out a niche game that I had found.