The Undefeated Lawyer: Vince

“The ride is thirty bucks.”

Vince dipped his hand into his pocket to retrieve his Gucci wallet. The only pricy thing he had left of his belongings before his arrest. He retrieved his hand and a confused expression laced his haughty face.

“It was just here, I was certain I had it on me.” He soliloquized.

“Is there any problem?”

“I couldn’t find my wallet, I must have lost it on my way.”

The cab driver turned around and faced Vince. Anger shone in his face as he banged his hand on the steering wheel. He looked at Vince with disgust written all over his countenance.

“Get out of my car, loser!”

Vince obeyed and alighted, the driver slammed the door and zoomed off in rage. This was the second time he was called a loser that very morning. First it was the rude woman from the bank and now this cab driver. He reluctantly walked away accepting his ill luck.

It all didn’t seem to matter at all, not even the few bucks in his missing wallet but clearing up the misunderstanding he had with his direct supervisor, Bernard Harris before he was escorted out of the court trial.

He walked down slowly to the front porch of the fancy house and pressed the doorbell. He flung his small bag over his shoulder, the only possession he brought out of prison. A year had passed by since he was convicted but none of his colleagues at Peak law firm visited him at all.

The door suddenly drifted apart exposing the fancy flower pot by the building. He walked past it ignoring its beauty. His only attention rested on the man in blue shorts wetting the rest of the garden.

“You made quite a quick return, Vince Finn.”

“Mr Bernard, I am….”

The word died in Vince’s throat as a figure walked out of the house. A tall woman with an oblong face and long silky hair just as he remembered it. His wife, Amber. She was in red panties and an oversized white masculine shirt.

“Ben, I heard voices and…” she stopped halfway and stared at Vince, amazed . Her initial shocked expression was replaced with disgust. She exchanged knowing looks with Bernard who wore an expressionless gaze.

“Amber!” Vince exclaimed as harsh reality washed on him. She eyed him maliciously confirming his suspicions but yet, Vince couldn’t bring himself to accept that Amber was cheating on him with their direct supervisor Bernard Harris.

The very man that pleaded on her behalf that he takes the fall for her!

A year earlier, Vince had a satisfactory life, a booming career, he just got recruited at Peak law firm alongside his wife Amber Reed. They had both started off very well until Amber got entangled in a bribery case.

She was meant to serve a jail term if found guilty. Everyone begged Vince to take the fall for her as she was carrying his child. A year later, he returned suddenly, she didn’t have his child and was cheating on her with their boss.

“Am I overthinking things?” Vince said in disbelief.

“Oh darling, you are not. Everything is exactly as you see.” Amber said nonchalantly. She walked up to Bernard and planted a soft kiss on his lip.

Vince watched in amazement, flashes of the past surfaced in his mind. The very day he responded to Amber’s love letter in highschool, their first date, how he proposed to her, the day they both graduated from law school and the last day he saw her in the courtroom after he was convicted.

“How dare you Amber!”

Amber scoffed loudly calling his rage a bluff “Don’t tell me you feel wronged Vince, after all it was your choice to end up in prison.”

“What!” Vince staggered backward as the shock of her words hit her.

“I couldn’t imagine having a child for a lowlife whose career is doomed for life, I did the little one a favor by taking it out when I had the chance.”

“You aborted our child!”

Vince rubbed his eyes to be certain he wasn’t hallucinating. He looked up at Bernard who stood there with a silly expression on his daunting face.

“Gullibility should be a crime, you know.”

“Bernard, you know we can actually add that to the rule of law.”

They both laughed mockingly while Vince watched, speechless. Within a year of his absence, he had become an object of ridicule but the only person that should make a better judgment was Maria, Amber’s mother.

Vince turned away instantly, he desperately hid the tear that threatened to drop from his face. With every step he took towards the exit, he could only remember one thing, Amber’s pleading face from a year ago.

He was stranded out there as he had lost his wallet that contained his savings for the past year. He took menial jobs in prison to prepare for his release, now that he was fortunate to be released before the expected time, he planned to rewrite his story but he didn’t see Amber’s betrayal coming despite her abandoning him in prison.

Amber was right, he was really gullible, Vince thought miserably.

He was lucky, his mother-in-law’s house was of a trekkable distance from Bernard Harris’s. He felt weakness in his knees but he carried on, a surge of hope arose in him, he was good to Maria in the past, so she must have been angry at her daughter for cheating on him.

He came to a stop in front of the house, the familiar short brown gate stood tall just as he remembered it. He took another look at his wrinkled shirt and slightly peeled shoes but he shrugged his shoulders.

This was all he had now.

Vince made for the huge tree by the doorway. As usual, the gate key was hidden behind it. He retrieved it and opened the gate but the next second, he was drenched in water, a foul smelling one.

“How dare you trespass on my private property!” Maria shouted loudly.

Vince felt a chilling sensation down his spine, he shuddered as he felt goosebumps through the pores on his skin. He stood there with his jaw open, fearing he had walked into a different place from where he had frequented in the past, his mother-in-law’s house.

“I….it is Vince.”

Maria laughed hysterically “so I was told, an ex-convict that feels himself worthy of my daughter.”

“Worthy! I went to jail for your daughter!” He shouted angrily, getting over the shock that plagued him earlier.

“Your crime landed you in jail boy, get out of my house.” Maria said, pointing towards the exit door. Vince’s phone chimed and he brought it out of his pocket, his gaze still intent on Maria whose behavior still amazed him. He clicked open the email notification he had and there it was, his most dreaded outcome.

A divorce letter from Amber, his wife.

And there was another.

A response for an email he sent to Peak law firm the previous week, the company where he worked in the past.

The same company that abandoned him totally in jail!