Chapter One

Chapter 1


A Million Damn Dollars

As Yarni Taylor entered the old courtroom and searched for a seat toward the front, she couldn’t help but overhear clients arguing with their attorneys as well as the chitchat of folks waiting for their loved ones’ cases to be heard. “I wish they’d hurry up and get this started, because I got to go to work,” one person said. Another asked, “So you think that Boo-boo gon’ come to court and testify on Freddie Boy?”

She tried to control the sway of her ample behind as she walked down the aisle, but all eyes were on her. Yarni wasn’t sure if it was the confidence she exuded or her exotic looks—almond-shaped hazel eyes, high cheekbones, and caramel skin so smooth you wanted to lick it—which were complemented by her cream-colored Tahari suit that, like a little red Corvette going a hundred miles per hour on the highway, hugged every curve. Diamond studs glistened in her ears, and a huge six-carat rock weighed down her left hand. She wasn’t a stranger to the courts. A successful attorney, she had won many cases in the very room in which she was now taking a seat. This time, though, Yarni wasn’t there to defend a case.

If it wasn’t for all the bad luck, there would be no luck at all, Yarni thought as she sat there trying to be strong, holding back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. The system had railroaded her man, Des, once again. The last time was almost fifteen years ago, but no matter the outcome, just like before, she was going to hold her man down through it all: rain, sleet, hail, or sunshine . . . bad, good, happy, or sad .