Mihajl blinks a couple of times before answering Dayne's question.
"Yes, but this is an innocent young woman we're talking about. Why would you want to do this? Has she shown no interest in you?"
"She has, but the girl's been through a lot and she's bound to go through more, so it's best if you'd just put her out of her own misery." Dayne replies. "Caio might finally get some more fucking work done around here trying to find her killer."
"I see. You're the type of man that can't have a certain woman, so no one else can. On the other hand, that's just an assumption of your brother, Mr. Níserraté." Mihajl replies. "He looks more of the type to mope around than get revenge."
Dayne shakes his head and lightly groans.
"Do you know who I am?"
"By your tone, I can tell you must work for the government."
"Exactly, and-
"There is no "and", Mr. Níserraté." Mihajl interrupts. "I'm the head of board members for a small town, meaning I work for the government as well. I've used that same tone with others. I don't know how the hell you found out I was an assassin, but one thing I will not have you do is threaten me with an arrest from some top law official. Yes, I've heard it all."
Dayne taps his foot, putting a hand on his hip.
"I never said I was going to have you arrested, Mihajl."
"But that's what you had coming after "and", didn't you? I've been in this business way too long to not know what to expect next."
"Will you just get the damn job done?" Dayne asks, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm paying you to get rid of this lady."
"I think I'll decline on this, Mr. Níserraté." Mihajl says. "I'd like to see that bastard you call a brother suffer first for trying to take Nia away from me. And one more thing before I go; if something happens to her after I hang up this phone, you drive both a white 2018 Cadillac CTS and a silver 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 that has a 5-inch suspension lift, you live on 2938 Lynne Lane, and you work as a spy, but you're in Claiza City for a temporary mission as an undercover detective. Trust me, you don't want me going after you."
The line on the other end immediately hangs up and Dayne angrily throws his phone down on the desk.
"Fine then. I'll kill your pathetic ass first."
Hearing someone knock on the door, the furious man walks over to open it.
"What the hell do- Nia?!"
Smiling up at Dayne, Nia holds up a box of clothes.
"These are all the clothes you and Caio have ever let me borrow. I tried to give him his share, but he wasn't in his office. Oh, I've baked some brownies, too! That's what's in the blue package on the top."
"Thanks." Dayne says, putting the box on the table. "Uh, I thought you were supposed to be at the elementary school."
"No, I usually switch out with another woman every other day."
Rubbing her arm, she looks down at the floor.
"Um, may I ask you something?"
Dayne shrugs as he closes his office door.
"Sure."
"Have you ever, um, you know, nevermind." Nia says, shyly laughing a bit.
"Don't be afraid to tell me, Nia. I'm here to help."
"Well, okay. I know it's kinda silly and all, but have you ever gotten mad at someone because that person fails to acknowledge you? Like you and that person could've had a couple of conversations, but then that person just suddenly stops talking to you?"
"No." Dayne replies.
*SCHWING!*
The man's eyes slightly widen as Nia pulls a kitchen knife out of her sleeve and begins to walk forward.
"So may I ask; why don't you talk to me anymore? Why don't you answer my calls? You always seem to ignore me, Dayne."
Dayne backs up a bit, eventually stumbling onto his desk.
"It's not that I'm purposely ignoring you; I'm just busy."
Nia climbs onto his lap and holds the knife against Dayne's neck, causing it to bleed a little.
"Do you swear by that?"
"Yeah."
"Do you like me, Dayne?"
"You're an incredible woman, Nia."
She laughs, cupping the man's chin.
"When I stayed with you and Caio, you thought I wouldn't notice the way you looked at me, did you?"
The man stays silent for a bit before slowly shaking his head.
"So whenever you get the chance, you'll answer when I call, correct?"
"I can't—Nia, I can't do this. You're a kind woman, but Caio is already in love with you, I can't just-
"Shut the fuck up, Dayne. You weren't saying "I can't" when I climbed on top of you a couple of seconds ago." she interrupts, placing the knife at the tip of the man's lips.
Using her thumb, the young woman opens Dayne's lower jaw and places the knife on his tongue. She mentally laughs watching him wince at the taste of his own blood.
"Uh, where the hell did the introverted and humble Nia Ellison go?" Dayne asks, watching as Nia begins to unzip the front of her dress.
The young woman smiles as the man places his thumb against her bottom lip.
"I'm still here, Dayne. But why not have some fun while we can?"
--------
"ALL RISE!"
Everyone in the spectator box, the jury, and both the prosecutor and defense sections stand as the judge enters the room.
"You may all be seated. We'll begin the final proceedings with our prosecution first. I'd like to call officer Teriston to the stand."
The older police officer quickly takes his seat in the stand, before being swearing to tell the truth.
"Good morning, Mr. Teriston." Harold says, smiling at his client. "From previous witnesses yesterday, 5 out of 9 say that you're a jokester. Would you consider yourself one?"
"Yes sir, I would."
"By any means, did you mean to offend Mr. Cizetto?"
"No sir, I didn't." the officer replies. "It was just a little play on words to ease the situation, you know? A lot of people don't like law enforcement these days, so I try as hard as I can to cheer the community up, but I'm only human."
"And is it true you get down sometimes like the majority of us?" Harold asks, looking at the jury.
"Yes, I do. I'm actually taking pills for that since being an officer isn't really the most fun thing to be in the world.
"And what would those pills be?"
Officer Teriston fixes his watch.
"Amphetamine. My doctor prescribed them after diagnosing me with chronic depression."
"According to a licensed doctor report, Amphetamine is known to cause psychosis." Harold says. "Do you believe that's what caused your physical reaction to Mr. Cizetto's harsh statement?"
"Yes, I do. There're also some police officers on the force that will tell you I've acted a bit out of line ever since I was put on the medicine." the officer replies. "I don't mean to, but that's just a side effect I can't help."
Harold nods and shakes his client's hand.
"Thank you for your time, sir."
"Defense, you're on." the judge says, shuffling through some papers.
Walking up to the front, Alexei stands beside officer Teriston.
"The words that you used to provoke Mr. Cizetto was "strong samurai", correct?"
The policeman nods.
"Yes."
"In all your years as being an officer, supposedly knowing what's right and what's wrong, what prompted you to say this?"
"Well, I don't get to work with many foreigners like him and like I said before, he's in a different country, he might've been scared about being arrested by an American police officer, and I was just trying to ease the situation."
"So what makes you think easing the situation by mocking someone's background will do any good?" Alexei asks, slightly rolling his eyes.
"I was just trying to be funny. Trying to calm him down."
"And your response to Mr. Cizetto saying he'd hoped you'd die on a call was to kick him in the stomach, correct?"
"Yes, sir. That's what I did." the officer replies.
"Mr. Teriston, did my client show any symptoms of physical pain before your taunting of him started?"
"He complained about a broken ribcage."
"Which prompted your offensive statement to come afterwards, correct?"
"It isn't really offen-
"Which prompted your offensive statement to come afterwards, CORRECT?" Alexei asks, crossing his arms.
"Yes, sir. Correct."
"So as a police officer, why didn't you perform first-aid? Witnesses, with a few being some of your fellow officers, saw another perpetrator stepping on my client and he didn't make an attempt to run away, so don't tell me you thought he might've been joking around with you."
"Mr. La'rine, those were exactly my thoughts. Besides, he still could've been in perfect condition because for one, I don't know how hard he was being stepped on!"
"Regardless, it's still your job as a police officer to get the man some help. This is the job you signed up for." Alexei says, facing the officer. "You are required to serve the people who are literally paying you to do your job. Obviously, you can't do that, so maybe it's time for you to start looking for a new career. The citizens of this city should honestly launch an investigation into how their tax money is being used-
"Mr. La'rine, your time is up." the judge interrupts.
Turning to the judge, the young law student gives him an angry look.
"Your Honor, this trial has no time limit, so I'd like to take as much time as possible to explain some moral laws into the prosecution's head and SOMEONE else's, since you two clearly don't know any."
Alexei sighs and averts his attention back to officer Teriston.
"As I was saying, the people of this city should reevaluate the police department and should have an option to select what their money gets used for within the department."
"So in other words, you're saying that we as police officers should receive pay cutbacks?"
Alexei's brows furrow and he points a finger to the man in front of him.
"Stop trying to paint me as a crazy foreigner who looks like he's against the States, Mr. Teriston. I've watched enough of this country's news to know that's what some of you people living here are only good for. I clearly stated the people of this city needs an option to select what their money should be focused on more of in the department. Maybe if the law enforcement of this city would start taking their jobs to heart and acting seriously upon it, we wouldn't be sitting in this courtroom."
Alexei shakes his head and looks down at his shoes.
"However, there will always be one bad apple which will ruin the bunch. At the end of the day, it'll be up to either your commanding officer to put you all in line or the person genuinely must have a heart of wanting to help."
Going back to his seat, the law student sits down and the judge taps the gavel, calling for Kazimir to enter the stand.