The Diamond Syndicate

Dante yelled. “Ma! No, Ma!”

Every armed person in the courtroom pointed their gun at Diamond. One of the bailiffs pushed the judge to the floor for his safety.

“Dante, get your mother!” Kendall said. “They will shoot her dead, man!”

Dante walked toward her. “Ma! Please, Ma, put down the gun.”

“Hold your fire!” a police officer told everyone as he saw Dante trying to talk his mother down.

“Ma, please.”

“Dante, get back! I ain’t going to jail! Come on, you can escape with me,” she said, panting.

“No, Ma, I ain’t gonna go with you.”

“What? I’m your mother, boy. You do what I tell you!”

“Not anymore, Ma. I’m a grown man. I gotta think on my own, and I don’t want to do this with you anymore.”

“Do what? Obey me like you supposed to? I raised you by myself, boy. I gave up my life for you! You will do what I tell you to do, and that’s that!”

“Ma, I want to thank you for all that you have done for me when I couldn’t do for myself, but at some point in life, you have to allow me to move on so that I can have kids of my own to care for. Ma, if you want me to say it, then I will. I owe you, Ma. I owe you my life, but life is something no human being can pay back. I love you with every ounce of me, but I can no longer be held accountable for you doing what you was supposed to have done as a mother, and that’s care for her child.” Dante stood there with tears streaming down his face.

Diamond also began to cry because her baby, her son, had told her something she’d never considered. She was selfish and never thought about anybody but herself. She cursed herself for not protecting her mother from her father and for being the cause of running the one person off she knew would have given her love, her mother. She hated her father at that very moment for teaching her to take what she wanted. Dreams that she’d had throughout her life of a normal life came flooding back into her mind as her life flashed before her. But she knew her life was over.

“Come on, Ma, give me the gun,” Dante said, moving a little closer to her.

“I never got a chance to do what I wanted to do.” She cried. “I didn’t get my prince. I was supposed to marry a prince.” She continued

to talk incoherently. “I never meant to hurt people. My father told me to do it. He is the one that should be going to jail. It is all his fault!” Tears began to fall from her eyes. “I want my mommy! Where is my mother?”

A police officer slowly crept up behind her. Dante saw him and continued to talk to his mother as tears fell from his eyes like a faucet. He felt sorry for his mother because she lived in a fantasy world. She had been chasing a fantasy all her life. He realized his mother never had love and didn’t know how to return it. He tried to give her love, but she didn’t know how to receive it.

The officer suddenly bolted for Diamond and tackled her to the ground, and the gun flew from her hands, slid across the floor, and stopped at Dante’s feet.

“Freeze! Don’t move!” the officers yelled, their guns now trained on Dante. They were expecting him to pick up the gun.

Dante looked down at the gun. He held up his hands and slowly backed away from it. He shook his head. When is a black man ever gonna get a chance?

Diamond kicked and screamed as four officers worked to restrain her. They took her out of the courtroom and out of her fantasy world forever.

THIRTY-SEVEN

The Sentencing

One Month Later

Dante and Kendall stood as Judge Fritz read Dante’s sentence.

“Dante Reed, on the count of insurance fraud, you are sentenced to the maximum of three hundred and sixty-five days. With time served subtracted from your sentence, you have served your time. However, you will remain in custody here in county jail until your next hearing. You will return in one to two months for the hearing on the charges of you eluding the police, aggravated assault on an officer, and unlawful possession of a firearm.”

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Kendall said.

Judge Fritz then looked at Kyle and began to read Diamond’s sentence.

Diamond received twenty years to life for all of her charges. She wasn’t in court to hear her sentence because Judge Fritz had ordered her to stay locked up, fearing her reaction. Kyle would be the one to break the news to her.

When Judge Fritz ended the sentencing, Dante leaned toward Kendall and whispered, “Thank you, man.”