Zee.

Zee POV.

I woke up to the obnoxious noise of my alarm, it was only five-thirty in the morning, and the sun was still down, but I was awake, I needed to have an early start of the day, so I hit the side of my bed until I turned the alarm off, I got out of bed, I couldn't sleep, I'll sleep when I'm dead, but right now I have a lot of things to do.

I walked out of my warm bed, the very warm bed, and went toward the bathroom, I got my blond hair, which had pink ends into a messy bun just to get it out of my face while I washed up, and did my business in the bathroom, once I was done, I looked at myself in the mirror and decided to deal with my hair, getting it out of its messy bun and doing a proper high ponytail, not a hair out of place, I then went out to my bedroom, I dropped off the oversize Tshirt I slept in and got a sport bra and some running shorts on, I finally added a windbreaker to keep the chilly air off my shoulders.

I got my earbuds in and walked out of the house, I was hit with the freezing cold air, I looked at my phone it was five forty-five exactly on the dot, I had the same system and the same routine every day, and today wasn't any different. I started my run from my house, I did three rounds around the neighbourhood, and I had my music on the whole time, I had a playlist for running, songs precisely meant to keep me going, picked by me.

After my three rounds, I walked back toward the house slowly, cooling down, I was sweaty as hell, even in the cold weather, I managed to sweat, I had to keep my shape and make sure I was always healthy.

I walked inside the house and made a beeline toward the bathroom, I took everything off and got underneath the hot water, cleaning my body, not washing my hair, I only wash my hair once every week, I don't care what others say, I need to look perfect every day and I can't do that with dead hair. After my shower, I wrapped myself in a super fluffy towel, I ordered those from Egypt and they are the best investment ever, I deserve good things, fancy things, I work really hard for all of those things, I styled my hair, put lotion all over my body, and then got dressed for the day, I had a suit on today, I do almost every day, my choice of colour almost always includes a hint of pink, today's pick was a light grey one with a pink blouse and a matching shoes.

I'm short, but I'm scary, and the heels help make me look taller and stronger, I walked down to the kitchen and got my coffee adding a shit tone of sugar into it, the coffee machine is timed every day for seven am, I got my boiling hot drink and started to drink it, enjoying every sip of it, I'm what you call a caffeine monster, I'm dependent on it most days and it helps with my temper, I'm less likely to stab you if I have a coffee mug in hand.

I don't like having breakfasts, I'll eat later when I get to work, after my morning coffee, I run back to my room and put some make-up on, I take great care of my face, and I don't need much, just a bit to make me look stronger and sharper, half of my work depends on my looks, which includes a liner sharp enough to cut your throat open, some blush to make me look healthy, and a tint on my lips to make them look glossy and thick.

I was finally ready to leave the house, I got in my White Jeep with the whole pink finishing on the inside of it, I started driving to work, I parked my car underground, and in my spot, it was marked with my name on it Miss Zariah. I got out of my car got my briefcase with me, and headed toward the elevator, we're on the sixteenth floor, and my boss thought the higher we were the better, it made us look and sound more professional, I wouldn't disagree with him seeing how much high profile clients we get.

Finally, I was at work, I walked in and got myself another cup of coffee, this time it was a working coffee, much different than the one I had this morning.

I checked the files that were left on my desk, I had three cases that I was working on, and one of them was my favourite type of case, the one that included a passion crime, a crime of love.

My client which I'm very proud to represent has caught her husband, the man she married ten years ago cheating on her, in the bed that she made that morning, on the bedding she paid for, and if that wasn't enough they had the audacity to eat the food she cooked for them to enjoy that night, the mistress even petted her beloved dog.

After my client saw all of that, she had every right to go crazy, to hit the said mistress with a bat, breaking her skull in half, although I agreed with everything my client did, no judge would agree with her, she's being charged with aggravated assault and attempted murder.

The keyword was attempted since the bitch didn't die, now, she's suing my client, she says she tried to kill her hiding the fact that she was in her house, in her bedroom, and with her ungrateful husband.

"Autumn, when I give you an appointment I expect you to be here on time," I scold my client as soon as she walked through the door.

Autumn as her name suggests, had auburn hair, eyes that were the colour of honey, small pouty lips, and her favourite colour was orange, screamed Autumn, a beautiful young woman, who believed she found love at the young age of twenty-three, and look at her now, ten years later, sitting in front of me trying to get a murder case dropped.

"Sorry, there was some traffic," she said and I raised my brow at her, we lived in a close neighbourhood, and I'm pretty sure I ran right in front of her house twice today, there wasn't any traffic on the way.

"I'm doing my best to make this disappear, we had to beg the judge to let you go with bail, if you don't show up on time, you'll be accused of running attempts and you'll be thrown back to jail, and believe me that orange does not match you," I scold her.

"I'm a winter orange, not a jail orange," she says disgusted, out of everything I said that was the only point she cared of, but I didn't care, I liked this girl, and that's why I took her case, I love hard cases, I love the ones that are hard to crack. The law is firm, set in stone, but cases like hers depend on a jury, which is made of humans, they can be manipulated and pushed to look at things from a different perspective, I'll make them all see the girl who was cheated on, shattered, and left to fall like an autumn leaf.

"I need you to focus now, you'll say the exact words I'm going to teach you," I say looking at her with firm eyes, I feel like a predator and she's my prey, and she better obey me.

"I got you an Irish coffee, as an I'm sorry," she says holding up a plastic cup.

"Are you drinking Autumn? How about I drive you to jail and be over with it?" I ask her between gritted teeth.

"No, but you're Irish, and it's Irish, you know..." she says as if it's the most normal thing ever.

"Autumn, I'm Scottish," I say in the same angry tone, I don't have the accent, I lived most of my life in the US and I have managed to drop the accent behind me, I don't even know how she found out I wasn't American of origin.

"Oops, sorry," she says dropping the cup on the table, and looking down at her feet as if I have just scolded her which I did.

"They're going to ask you why you hit her," I say.

"Because she's a bitch who's been sleeping with my...." she says and I had to stop her quickly, if she keeps going, I really would have to drop her at the jail on my way home.

"No, because she was an intruder in your home," I coach her.

"Right, an intruder," she repeats after me.

"Did you know who she is? Be honest with me Autumn, did you know who she is?" I ask her in my best firm voice, it's the tone that DA loves to use.

"No, I had no idea who she was, just a woman in my home," she answers me honestly, now that I could work with.

"Autumn, did she oppose any threat to you when you found her in your home?" I ask her.

"I found her in bed, my bed, I had no idea what she was doing there, my dear husband, he was home sick that day, all I could tell was she was strangling him, I could only see her back and hear him trying to catch his breath," she says a lone tear going down her face, she should keep it to the jury, they love tears.

We had pictures of the husband's neck, he's into breath play, but our innocent Autumn thought he was being killed, strangled to death, she had to act and save the love her life, any other woman would have done the same.

"Why didn't you call the police?" I ask her, copying what my opponent might say to her.

"They wouldn't get there on time, what if she killed him before they got there," she says and I agree with her.

"What did you do next?" I ask her.

"I got the bat, we keep it in our bedroom, we've been hearing some strange noises at night, we heard one of the houses was robbed in the neighbourhood, it was the nearest thing to me, so I took it and I swung, trying to save my husband," she says, good thing it was only a bat and not a shotgun, she would have blown her head off her body.

"And what did you do when you found out they were both naked in bed?" I ask her next.

"I didn't see, I didn't notice, I was too scared," she answers me, but that wouldn't work.

"Nope, I need you to say that you weren't looking, you walked into the house and knew something was off, when you got to the bedroom the first thing you heard was your husband struggling to breathe and then your protective emotions took over," I say, we're all humans our emotions control us sometimes, they lead us to do things we can't help with.

"Don't go off the script, don't you dare say anything we didn't discuss before, leave the mention of cheating up to me," I order Autumn before sending her back home.

I started to write my closing statement, it had to include everything Autumn told me, from walking back to the safety of your own home, only to notice everything was off, everything was not in its place, filled with fear and worry for your sick husband, you'd run to your bedroom, the one you've been sharing for ten years now. Only to hear the love of your life struggling to breathe, you don't think twice, you get the nearest object and get the offended off your loved one. And now the young woman whose only fault was defending the love of her life is being accused of attempted murder and to whom, her husband's mistress, the one who has come into her house, her marital bed without her permission.