Forever-Excerpt

une 4, three years earlier

The air hummed with barely restrained anticipation.

More people arrived, adding their mass to the large crowd already gathered on the

steps. None noticed the dark clouds moving in to block the sun or the breeze that

suddenly turned several degrees cooler. All eyes were riveted on the doors. A

black limousine pulled up to the curb. The doors of the building opened and a

hush fell over the crowd in the moment before pandemonium broke out and the

gathering became a chaotic, jostling mob.

“Ms. Ellis! How do you feel now that the trial is finally over?”

“Ms. Ellis! What will you do now that Dupree is behind bars?”

Bushy white eyebrows lowered over the ice blue eyes of the large man whose

presence dominated the courthouse steps. He quickly calculated the distance to

the car, then faced the horde of reporters and photographers trying to gain the

attention of the woman dressed in a crisp black linen suit. “Ms. Ellis has nothing

further to say!”

Turning, he grasped the arm of the young woman at his side and moving

forward,

used his broad physique and alligator briefcase to force a path through

the crowd.

The shouting mass dogged them. “Ms. Ellis! Is it true that you and Dupree

had

plans to marry today?”

Leah Nicole Ellis pulled the wide brim of her coal-black hat low, shielding her

face

from the flashing bulbs, and ducked inside the car. Sliding in next to her, the

man

with her rapped on the glass partition and the car pulled away from the

yelling

mob. He leaned back in the cushioned, leather seat.

“Leah, you did just fine. It’s finally over and your testimony will ensure

Dupree

receives at least five to ten. Though with the crackdown on drugs and the

new

laws, I’m betting his sentence will be a lot longer.”

Her bottom lip trembled and Leah bit down on it, but said nothing. Instead,

she

trained her mind on the storm clouds outside the window and tried to direct

her

thoughts elsewhere. A flash of lightning lit up the sky and Leah shivered as

she

closed her eyes. Had it been just three months ago that she’d awakened from

heavy sleep and a dream warning her that her impending marriage would be a

mistake? Sitting back in the seat, Leah looked down at the hands trembling in her

lap. Her life lay in shambles and all because of her involvement with Michael Ray

Dupree.

A tear spilled onto her cheek and Leah swiped it away. She hadn’t cried since

her

ordeal began and she was determined not to start now. But she couldn’t divert

her

mind from reviewing the horrible events of the past three months, beginning

with

the one that had started it all. She remembered walking down the hallway

two

weeks after the premonition and the sounds that had caused her to stop. She

remembered her feelings of betrayal when she opened the bedroom door and

walked in on her sister and fiancé rocking together in a passionate sexual

embrace. Lastly, Leah remembered giving heartfelt thanks for the police who

burst

through the door and arrested Michael Ray Dupree three weeks later.

Turning to the window again, Leah stared at the passing scenery and began

placing

each of the emotions that had brought her to this day behind an

impenetrable wall.

By the time the limo stopped in front of her new home, the old

Leah was gone and a

new, more realistic Leah thanked her lawyer and stepped

from the car. Inside her

apartment, she went directly to the bedroom. In her suit,

she lay down on the twin-

size bed. What her lawyer believed was irrelevant. Leah

knew the system.

Michael Ray would cut a deal and be back on the streets in a

matter of months, not

years, a thought she refused to let frighten her. She was

going to rebuild her life

in spite of the media circus it had become. Before Michael

Ray, Leah had been

very active in helping to effect change and progress for her

people. Now that the

craziness was behind her, she would direct her time and

energies into doing just

that again.