North America / Louisiana (Ellington-Nobel Court Studio, New Orleans): April 20th, 2026.
*PANK*
"No." Said a deep gravel voice of a man calmly slamming his right hand against the judge's bench. It being a darkly handsome a cold stern and dangerous elegance to him, a 9'11 ripped muscular body with deep matte black skin tone, hidden hazel like eyes behind underneath shut Itome eyes, styled black and white hair with a square shaped scarred face and a judge robe attire to match it.
The courtoom was silent.
"You honor, you need to listen to me. I have the documents, the messages, and the DNA results to prove that everything he's saying is a lie." Said a blonde haired white woman in a luxerious like attire with a lot of sweat trailing down her face from her forehead.
(Malakai Obafemi Ellington - Nobel's POV)
"God help me already" I thought while raising my right hand up. The court hall Immediately going silent.
"I don't care, you wanna know why." I said calmly and uncaringly as I threw the paper onto the desk in front of me.
The blonde haired white raised her left hand and said with a serious look on her face "Yes nut you're honor. I have the evidence to pr…"
"No. Put your hand down and listen carefully. The problem is not that you came here with papers. The problem is that you came here at the exact moment this estate is being divided and expected the court to treat urgency as proof. If you are claiming inheritance, then this is not about emotion, and it is not about who cries harder on camera. It is about legal standing. It is about whether you can prove, first, that the deceased was in fact your father, second, that this claim was not concealed, fabricated, or conveniently revived after his death, and third, that these documents, messages, and DNA results can survive proper scrutiny. Until that happens, all I see is a late claim against a dead man's estate filed when money is about to move and names are about to be locked into record. So no, I will not be hurried by sweat, outrage, or a folder waved in my face. If your evidence is real, it will hold. If it is not, then this is not justice. It is opportunism dressed up as grievance." I said calmly, leaning forward with the black pen in my right hand pointed at the woman.
The court audience clapped. The cameraman moved quickly.
The blonde haired white woman gritted her teeth and said "But you honor I have proof tha…"
"I do not care." I said calmly with both of my hands by my mouth to project it.
I grabbed a paper from the judge bench and lifted I up and said calmly with wide eyes while pointing the pen at both brother and sister "Look closely at your evidence ms woodland, do you see your name on this will, do you see a date stating when it was signed or the time of your fathers death, it is forged and yet you still sit here and question, waste my and the audience's time with your circus act and ."
The audience laughed and clapped loudly. The cameraman moved quickly.
A middle aged man in a suit raised his hand and said with a serious look on his face and tone of voice "You're honor I have evidence to back my cl…"
"Dumbass people" I thought while clicking my teeth softly under my breath as I tuned out an watched the mouth of the man move.
My name is james donatello and I was your most average 26 year old male hacker doing what all us normal and average broke people do. My daily routine. It consisted of eat, shower, sleep and get up for work again and go home and repeat the very demanding schedule that led me to my death.
I died. Quickly. Painlessly. In my sleep.
But it wasn't the end as I woke in a new body.
A 56 year old financial trash judge's body in 2022 louisiana, nearing 60 years of age who made the wrong financial decision and ended up paying the price for it.
Which brings me to my or should I say our current situation in the year of 2026 of april 20th.
"You're honor. I…d…didn't asked to be born into a weird broken family." Said the man stuttering with a shakey sigh.
"I didn't ask to be in a 59 year old man's body but you do not see me about to cry" I thought with a soft sigh.
I ran my fingers through my hair as I got up from the floor and said calmly "You should've known from the beginning that you're father is not a capable man. He made your family into the way it is now."
The court was absolutely silent. Coughs and occasional chuckles being heard from the audience.
"I am not about to sit here and be berated when I clearly have the facts. You call it access, I call it acknowledgment. You call it greed, I call it inheritance denied by cowardice and covered up by people who thought money could bury blood. I did not walk into this courtroom asking for pity. I came here with evidence. Real evidence. Documents, private messages, and DNA results. So if this court is truly interested in justice and not performance, then examine what I brought and tell me to my face where it fails. But do not sit there and reduce my claim to ambition just because the truth arrived too late for this family's comfort." Said the man with a serious look on his face, his forehead full of sweat.
Half of the audience clapped with nods of the head.
I waved my right hand while saying calmly "Excellent. Someone in this courtroom finally understands that inheritance is governed by facts, not feelings. I do not care how offended you are. Now I will examine the evidence all of the defendant. Samantha please get all of the evidence from him."
"Yes." Said samantha calmly while going over to the man and grabbing all of the documents from him and bringing them over to the judge bent and handed them to me. A stern-looking beautiful anime like woman with long light-brown hair, amber eyes, a heart shaped face, and a toned voluptuous 5'7 in height hourglass like figure in a tight blue police-style uniform.
"I will never get used to living in a this world with anime and hentai logic. I even have the Infamous shut eyes but can still weirdly see like their open" I thought while putting a pair of black reading glasses on the tip of my nose as I grabbed the document papers and started looking over them.
*Pwap*
I looked over the document silently. Shuffling the papers and spotted the mismatched date on it for the time of death and asked with a confused look on my face as my eyes opened slightly "What am I looking at mr woodland, the dates do not match that of your sister's, she states he passed away on september 4th, 2017 and yours stated it was april 1st, of 2020."
"Ahem…your honor…" Said the man clearing his throat while adjusting his tie with a slightly nervous look on his face.
"I heard you the first time." I said calmly while still looking down at the papers in my hand.
The courtroom was silent.
The man swallowed loudly and said "Yes your honor, the discrepancy in the dates is exactly why this matter should not be brushed aside so quickly. My client believes that the declared date of death was intentionally altered in order to…"
"I did not brush anything aside." I said calmly cutting him off.
The audience went silent again.
The man paused.
I slowly lifted my head up and looked at him through my glasses and said calmly "What I said is that what I am currently looking at does not match. It does not match and yet both of you keep standing there talking to me like it does."
The cameraman moved quickly.
The blonde haired white woman raised her left hand again and said with a serious and slightly offended look on her face "Your honor with all due respect, it does match. He died in 2017. We buried him in 2017. There are records, witnesses, an obituary and everything else to prove it."
"And yet you're still here sweating." I said calmly while lifting my left hand and opened and closed it in a talking motion.
The audience burst out laughing loudly.
The blonde woman's face turned red almost instantly.
The cameraman quickly zoomed in on her face.
"That is not funny." Said the blonde woman with gritted teeth.
"I don't care." I said calmly. My face unmoved.
The courtroom immediately went silent again.
The man beside her took a breath and said with a serious look in his eyes "Your honor, there are financial records showing activity under the deceased's name up until the year of 2020. That is not emotion and that is not a guess. It is traceable activity."
I paused while holding the paper.
Financial records. Hacker brain. Good.
I leaned back into the chair and said calmly with squinted eyes "Say that again."
The man straightened his back and said with a serious tone "There are financial records showing activity under the deceased's name up until 2020. Accounts were still being used, money was still moving and transactions were still being made."
The courtroom murmured loudly.
The blonde haired white woman quickly said with her right hand raised "That proves nothing. Estates can remain active after death, accounts can still be accessed, representatives can still move money, trustees can still."
"Put your hand down and show it." I said calmly with a wave of my left hand.
She stopped. I waited, my face serious and unmoved.
The courtroom was absolutely silent.
I tilted my head and said calmly while rubbing the judge bent gesturing specifically with my left hand "Show me who had legal access to it. Show me when the access was granted. Show me what documents allowed it. Show me the representative. Show me the trust. Show me something that is not your mouth moving."
The audience clapped loudly. A few people laughed.
The blonde woman's jaw tightened hard with gritted teeth.
The man raised a paper slightly and said with a serious look on his face "And beyond that, your honor, there are private messages sent directly from the deceased after 2017. Messages that can be examined and verified through timestamps, server history and the devices they came from."
I stayed still for a moment. Of course there are. These dumbass people could not keep something simple.
I ran my fingers through my hair and said calmly "Messages."
"Yes your honor." Said the man Immediately with serious eyes.
"After 2017." I said calmly. My slightly open eyes squinting more.
"Yes." Said the man Immediately.
"And you are confident they are real." I asked calmly. My gravelly voice speaking for itself.
"Yes." Said the man Immediately.
I nodded once. Good.
The blonde haired white woman quickly spoke up again and said "He is making wild claims with no context. Anyone can fabricate messages. Anyone can edit dates. Anyone can make it seem like…"
"And anyone can forge a will." I said calmly while looking down at the paper again.
The courtroom made a loud reacting sound.
The middle aged woman immediately went silent and suddenly she said with a serious look on her face lMy will is not forged."
I slowly looked up at her and said calmly "Then do not panic every time somebody speaks."
The audience laughed again. Half of the audience clapped.
She pointed a finger and said loudly "I am not panicking, I am defending myself because this entire thing is insulting. I came here with actual evidence and you keep reducing everything I say down to performance while letting him throw out accusations with no consequence."
I leaned forward and said calmly "No. I am reducing everything both of you say down to what it currently is. Talking. That is what you are both doing. Talking."
The courtroom was silent.
I lifted up one document in my right hand and another in my left and said calmly "You say 2017."
"He says 2020." I said calmly while lifting the other paper in my right hand higher and then I threw them down onto the judge bench.
*Pwap*
"It does not match." I said calmly with creased eyebrows.
Silence.
I glanced at both of them and said calmly with the black pen in my right hand pointing at the both of them "It does not match and I am not about to sit here and pretend that it does just because both of you showed up dressed nice and emotional."
The audience reacted loudly. A few people coughed and laughed.
The blonde woman looked furious and said "Your honor I am telling the truth."
The man immediately said "And so am I."
I clicked my teeth softly. Annoying.
I leaned back and said calmly "That is the problem. Everybody in this courtroom keeps telling me they are telling the truth. The truth. The truth. The truth. But the papers do not care about your truth. The record does not care about your truth. Either it holds up when checked or it breaks. That is all I care about."
The crowd clapped loudly.The cameraman moved quickly from one face to the other.
The blonde woman said with a frustrated sigh "Then check mine first because his entire case is built on things that surfaced years too late right when the estate is about to be divided. That is not suspicious to you."
"It is." I said calmly.
She paused.The man paused too.
Then I pointed the pen at her and said calmly "And so are you."
The courtroom erupted. Some people loudly gasped. Others clapped and laughed.
The blonde woman's face stiffened.
The man looked stunned for a moment.
I leaned forward more and said calmly "Do not misunderstand me. I do not trust late claims because they are late. But I also do not trust neat stories that arrive already wrapped up and convenient for the people already getting paid. You came in here with a version of events that is clean. Too clean. He came in here with a version that is messy. Too messy. One of you is lying or both of you are stupid. Either way I am the one forced to sit here and sort through it."
The audience burst into laughter and applause. A few people stood up clapping before sitting back down.
The blonde woman looked like she wanted to scream.
The man clenched his jaw.
Good. Let them feel it.
The man then raised his chin and said "Then sort through it properly your honor. Because if those messages are real and those transactions are real then this family knowingly excluded a living heir and benefited from a false legal narrative for years."
The audience murmured loudly.
The blonde woman snapped her head toward him and said "You do not get to say that. You do not get to stand there and accuse my family of building itself on fraud because some man suddenly appears with a story and a blood test."
The man immediately said with an angry look on his face "A blood test you still have not explained away."
She pointed at him and said "I do not have to explain away anything when you are the one making the claim. The burden is on you."
"And yet your documents do not even agree with your own timeline." Said the man shooting back quickly.
The courtroom reacted again. I lifted a hand.
Silence. Good.
I looked at the blonde woman and said calmly lAnswer that."
She swallowed with sweat trailing down her face from her forehead and said "It was a clerical error."
The audience laughed loudly.
I stared at her for a long moment and repeated "A clerical error."
"Yes." Said blonde haired white woman Immediately.
I nodded slowly while looking at Samantha and saying as I leaned forward while pointing at both of them "I love this job. We have dumb and dumber here today."
Samantha smiled. The audience bursted out laughing.
*Click*
"So your father died in 2017." I said calmly while writing down on a piece of paper.
"Yes." Said the blonde haired white woman Immediately.
"But another filing tied to the same estate says 2020." I said calmly while still writing down on the piece of paper.
The blonde haired whiten woman but her lip and said Immediately "Yes but…"
"Don't speak. You are asking me to believe that nobody noticed." I said calmly with my eyes opening more.
The blonde woman hesitated and said "There were many filings, many people involved and confusion after the death can happen in large estates."
*Tak* *Tak* *Tak*
Itspped the black pen while leaning back and saying calmly "That is the smartest thing you have said since you walked in here."
The audience clapped. The blonde haired white woman blinked slightly in surprise and smiled.
"It is also not enough." I said calmly.
Her face hardened again.
The man took a breath and said "Your honor there is more than that. There are repeated payments tied to private medical care, property maintenance on a secondary residence and two signed communications acknowledging my client indirectly as family."
That pauses. Secondary residence. Medical care. Signed communications. Now we were getting somewhere.
I adjusted the glasses on the tip of my nose and started looking through the documents again.
The courtroom stayed silent except for the sound of the papers moving.
*Pwap* *Pwap* *Pwap*
I stopped on one page and noticed a payment trail.
I looked down at it for a long moment and said calmly "Mr woodland."
"Ahem…yes your honor." Said the man with a serious look on his faces as he adjusted his throat and the microphone.
"Why is this payment tied to a residence that was never disclosed in the estate summary." I said calmly while staring down at the paper in my hand.
The courtroom immediately shifted.
The blonde woman turned her head quickly.
"What..." Said the blonde haired white woman with surprise.
The man's lawyer rises his hand and said "Because it was omitted, your honor."
The blonde woman looked outraged and said "No. No, there is no hidden residence. That is not true."
I lifted up the paper.
"There is an address." I said calmly. My eyes cold.
The cameraman moved quickly.The audience leaned forward.
"There is a maintenance transfer, a medical delivery authorization and a utilities confirmation linked to that address, so unless ghosts are paying the electric bills, somebody was there." I said calmly while holding the paper up.
The courtroom exploded. The audience clapped loudly and gasped over each other.
The blonde woman looked pale. The man stared at her.
Interesting. Very interesting.
I put the paper down and said calmly "So now we have moved past the point of stupidity and entered the point of where somebody in this room is about to have a very bad day."
No one laughed that time. Good. Because now it was serious.
The blonde woman shook her head and said quickly "Your honor I have never seen that address before in my life."
The man laughed bitterly and said with his voice raised in pitch "Convenient."
She snapped toward him and said "Shut up."
He took a step forward and said with anger "No. You shut up. All this time you stood there acting like I was some gold digging liar trying to crawl my way into money that should have never been denied to me in the first place. But now suddenly there is a hidden address and payments and records that nobody told the court about."
The audience started loudly reacting again.
The blonde woman screamed "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT."
"And you do not look like someone who does either." Said the man firing back with a very pissed look on his face.
The crowd clapped loudly. I raised my hand.
The courtroom slowly quieted again.
I glanced at both of them and said calmly as my eyes shut "Enough. Both of you are beginning to annoy me. Your morons, your an entire family full of idiotic clowns and thieves."
Silence.
I looked down at the papers again and said calmly with creased eyebrows "This is no longer just a simple inheritance dispute. It stopped being that the moment conflicting dates, hidden payments and undisclosed property entered the record."
I lifted the paper slightly and said calmly "If this address is legitimate and if these transactions are legitimate then somebody concealed relevant estate information from this court."
"If the messages are also legitimate then somebody lied about the timeline of death." I said calmly while looking at the blonde haired white woman.
I looked at the man and said calmly "And if your side fabricated even one part of this to force leverage before distribution, I will bury your claim so deep it will never crawl back up."
The courtroom went dead silent.
No clapping.
No laughter.
Only breathing.
Good.
I leaned back into the chair and said calmly "Samantha."
"Yes." Said samantha stepping forward.
"Collect every single document from both sides and have copies prepared Immediately for me. I want forensic review on all of it, messages, confirmation on the bloodwork chain, financial tracing on these transactions and the title verification on that property address." I said calmly with soft sigh as I shuffled through the paper on the judge bench.
Samantha nodded and said with a serious look on her face "Yes."
I pointed the pen between both parties and said calmly "And neither one of you will speak another word to me about justice, grief, truth, fairness or family until I have something in front of me that can survive being checked. Do you understand."
"Yes your honor." They both said at the same time.
I looked at them for a moment and said calmly "Good. Because the next person who wastes my time with tears, shouting or another dumbass speech is leaving this courtroom embarrassed."
The audience erupted into loud clapping. The cameraman moved quickly.
I softly sighed while thinking as I looked back down at the address on the piece of paper "I don't want to be here but I guess my previous life as a introvert is over"
New orleans.
Hidden property.
Medical transfers.
False death year.
And a family already dividing money.
Yeah.
This was about to become a pain in my ass.
Samantha brought the documents over to me and handed them to me.
I adjusted the glasses at the tip of my nose an grabbed the documents reading and shuffling through them.
*Tak* *Tak* *Tak*
I tapped the black pen against the judge bench slowly while staring down at the address on the paper in my hand.
The courtroom was silent.
No one moved. No one spoke. Good.
I lifted the paper slightly and said calmly "Samantha."
"Yes." Said samantha Immediately while stepping closer to the judge bench with a straight back and serious look on her face.
"Read the address out loud." I said calmly while handing the document to her.
Samantha took the paper from my hand and looked over it for a moment before saying clearly "1784 saint charles avenue. Unit C."
The courtroom murmured again.
The blonde haired white woman Immediately shook her head and said "That means nothing."
I did not look at her.
"Keep reading." I said calmly with a wave of my left hand as I started shuffling through other paperwork.
Samantha adjusted the paper in her hand and said calmly "Maintenance transfer. Utility confirmation. Medical delivery authorization. All tied to the same address. The named receiver on the delivery authorization is…"
Samantha paused very slightly while looking at the bottom line of the paper.
The man across from the blonde woman leaned forward.
The blonde woman looked tense.
I lifted my head slightly while saying calmly "Finish the sentence."
Samantha looked up and said "The named receiver is edward woodland."
Silence. The courtroom exploded.The audience gasped loudly. The cameraman moved quickly.
The blonde haired white woman looked as if all blood had left her face.
Interesting. Very interesting.
I leaned back into the chair slowly and said calmly "That is unfortunate."
The man stared at the blonde woman and said with wide eyes "So he was alive."
"I did not say that." I said calmly without looking at him.
The courtroom went silent again.
I pointed the pen at him and said calmly with my eyes opening slightly "Do not get excited and start speaking for me. That is how stupid people miss details."
He Immediately closed his mouth.
Good.
I looked at samantha and said calmly "What is the date on the medical authorization."
Samantha looked back down and answered "October 14th, 2019."
The audience made another loud reacting sound.
The blonde haired white woman raised her voice and said with shock "That is impossible. That cannot be right."
I slowly turned my head toward her and said calmly "And yet it is sitting in my courtroom ruining your day."
The audience burst out laughing loudly.
The blonde woman's face tightened hard.
I held my hand up slightly.
Silence.
I looked at the woman and asked calmly "Did your father require private medical care before his death."
She hesitated.
Too long. I noticed it Immediately.
There it was. That little gap.That little pause where dumb people forget their face is also talking.
I leaned forward and said calmly with my tone rised in pitch slightly "SPEAK."
The blonde woman flinched, swallowed and said with a shakey voice"He had health issues before he died, yes, but that does not mean he was alive in 2019. That could have been an old authorization. That could have been reused. That could have been placed there by someone else."
I nodded once. Reasonable sounding. Still annoying.
I pointed the pen at samantha and said calmly "The signature."
Samantha looked down and said calmly "It matches the signature line on the estate correspondence packet."
The courtroom reacted again.
"Matching is not proof." Said the blonde haired white woman quickly with sweat trailing down her face from her forehead.
I turned my head toward her and said calmly "Neither is your mouth, do not speak unless I call upon you."
The audience clapped loudly. The cameraman zoomed in on her face again.
She looked like she wanted to throw something.
I softly clicked my teeth under my breath.
Pathetic.
I extended my hand toward samantha and said calmly "Give me the other page."
Samantha handed me another document from the pile.
I looked down at it silently while adjusting my reading glasses.
"I hate this body. It took me a lot of work to get it in shape and maintain my health five years ago when I was on the verge of death from diabetes, the former owners ex wife remarried a billionaire and took the children with her to let him rot" I thought as I shuffled through the documents.
*Pwap*
I turned the page.
*Pwap*
Another page.
Then I stopped and squinted at a forwarding contact tied to the utility confirmation.
I adjusted the glasses on the tip of my nose and read it again.
Then again.
Then I smiled slightly.
Oh.
Oh now this was funny.
I slowly lifted my head and said calmly with a chuckle "Ms woodland."
The blonde haired white woman straightened up and said with a serious look on her face "Yes your honor."
I lifted the paper in my right hand and asked calmly with a smile "Why is your email listed as the forwarding contact on a utility confirmation for an address you just claimed you had never seen before in your entire life."
The courtroom went dead silent. Absolutely dead silent.
No laughter. No clapping. Nothing.
The blonde woman's lips parted. No sound came out.
The man beside her slowly turned his head and looked at her like he had just been slapped in face.
The audience leaned forward in their seats. The cameraman moved quickly.
Finally the blonde woman said with a dry voice "I…I do not know."
I stared at her for a long moment and repeated calmly "I see, you do not know."
"Yes." Said the blonde woman with a weak nod of her head.
I nodded slowly while sitting the paper down.
*Pwap*
I chuckled and said while looking around at the audience "That is one of the dumbest things I have heard all year."
The audience burst into violent laughter and clapping. Samantha looked like she was trying not to smile too much.
The blonde woman's face turned red again.
The man beside her let out a bitter laugh and said with surprise "So you knew."
The blonde haired white woman snapped toward him and screamed "I DID NOT."
I raised my hand. Silence came back.
I looked at samantha and said calmly "Bring me the bloodwork chain."
"Yes." Said samantha Immediately, moving quickly through the papers and handed me a packet with a clipped lab verification sheet attached to the back.
I looked through it silently.
The lab name.
The submission date.
The chain of custody.
The witness signatures.
The confirmation stamp.
I ran my thumb against the bottom corner of the packet and thought quietly "Good. Finally. Something in this room with a brain."
I leaned back into the chair and said calmly "The bloodwork chain is intact."
The courtroom reacted loudly.
The blonde woman Immediately said "That does not prove inheritance rights automatically."
I looked at her and said calmly "I know. I am the judge. You do not need to teach me my job."
The audience laughed and clapped again.
She went silent. Good.
I looked at the man and said calmly "Stand up straight."
He straightened Immediately.
I tapped the bloodwork packet with the pen and said calmly with a nod "Your paternity claim has standing. The chain is clean enough for me to recognize that much."
The man took a shaky breath. Half of the audience clapped.
The blonde woman looked horrified.
I lifted a second paper and said calmly "The estate submission from the other side however is no longer reliable. Not because I feel like being dramatic. Not because anybody cried. But because the timeline of death does not match, the property disclosures do not match, the utility trail does not match and the forwarding contact on the hidden address leads back to the moron who just sat here and lied to my face."
The courtroom erupted.The audience clapped loudly.
A woman in the back loudly said "OH MY GOD."
The cameraman moved quickly from one face to the next.
The blonde woman raised her hand and said desperately "Your honor please, I can explain."
"Just a second, put your hand down and do not speak." I said calmly with a cold look in my eyes.
The courtroom went quiet again.
I rested both forearms on the judge bench and said calmly "I am not finished and I do not care about your explanation until I say I do."
The blonde woman dropped her hand slowly.
I looked between both of them and said calmly "This court is not rewarding stupidity today."
Silence.
I lifted the bloodwork packet slightly and said calmly "Here is my verdict."
The courtroom became so quiet I could hear someone in the audience coughing softly into their sleeve.
Good.
I want silence when I speak.
"I am now ruling that the current estate submission presented by ms woodland's side is materially unreliable and compromised." I said calmly while looking directly at both parties.
The blonde woman's face fell. A look of pure horror taking form.
I continued calmly "I am also ruling that the concealed residence, the post-2017 financial activity and the verified bloodwork establish enough legal standing for this inheritance claim to move forward."
The man closed his eyes with a shaky breath.
The audience began clapping again but I lifted my left hand.
Silence returned.
"The challenged will is suspended from effect. The estate distribution is frozen effective Immediately. No funds move. No property transfers. No names get locked in. Nothing leaves that estate until formal probate review finishes tearing through every lie tied to it." I said calmly while adjusting my reading glasses at the tip of my nose.
The courtroom exploded. People stood up clapping and loudly gasping. The cameraman moved quickly.
The blonde woman looked stunned.
The man looked like he could not believe he was still breathing.
I pointed the pen at the blonde woman and said calmly "And because your email is tied to a property you claimed not to know, I am referring the concealment issue for further fraud review."
The audience made an even louder reacting sound. The woman looked like she was going to collapse.
I looked at the man and said calmly "Do not smile too much. I have not declared you holy. I said your claim has standing. If any part of your side turns out fabricated, I will crush it."
The man nodded quickly and said "Yes your honor."
I nodded once.
I looked at both of them and said calmly "To make this simple enough for even this family to understand, here are the facts. The dead man was either not as dead as people claimed, not dead when people claimed, or useful enough after death that people kept moving money and hiding property in his shadow. I do not care which version hurts your feelings. I care that the record is rotten."
The courtroom clapped loudly again.I didn't interrupt and just shuffled paper.
*Pwap*
"This matter is adjourned pending probate fraud review, full estate disclosure and authentication of all post-2017 activity. Samantha." I said calmly while opening my left eye slightly at samantha.
"Yes." Said samantha stepping forward.
"Prepare the transfer orders and have security walk every submitted original straight to holding. No one touches anything." I said calmly with a wave of my right hand
Samantha nodded Immediately while saying "Yes."
The blonde woman suddenly shouted "This is insane."
I slowly turned my head toward her. The entire courtroom froze.
I stared at her through my glasses and said calmly "No. What is insane is lying badly. And not knowing your an idiot."
The audience burst out laughing one last time.
The blonde woman shut her mouth. Good.
I picked up the gavel and said calmly "Court is dismissed. I want them both out of my courtroom."
*PANK*
The audience erupted into clapping.The cameraman moved quickly.
People started talking over each other.
The man looked like he wanted to say something to me but samantha had already moved between the parties with a stern look on her face.
Efficient.
I stood up from the judge bench with a soft sigh and adjusted my robe.
My back was a little stiff.
My knees were irritated.
My life was terrible.
"Reincarnation is a scam. I want my refund." I thought with a sigh while stepping down from the bench.
The door behind the courtroom opened and two security guards stepped into place as samantha gathered the main evidence packets into her arms.
I started walking out without looking back.
The hallway outside was quieter. Still loud from the courtroom behind me. But quieter.
The floor was polished dark wood. The studio lights above were warm. I could hear the muffled sound of the audience still reacting through the walls and the distant movement of staff rushing around like headless chickens.
I ran my fingers through my black and white styled hair and let out a slow breath. The shut eyes thing still weirding me out.
I could see. I knew I could see. But feeling my eyes like this every day still made me feel like I was trapped inside an anime fever dream with bills.
Footsteps sounded behind me.
"Your honor." Said samantha from behind me calmly.
"Please do not call me that outside the courtroom. It makes me feel older than I already am." I said calmly with a sigh while continuing to walk.
Samantha was silent for a second and then said with a chuckle as she loosened her tie with a sigh of relief "Yes sir."
That was worse.
I glanced at her slightly and said calmly "That is somehow more annoying."
Samantha smiled faintly while walking beside me with the documents in her arms.
We reached the office door at the end of the private hall and she opened it for me.
I stepped inside first.
The office was large. Dark wood desk. Black leather couch. Bookshelves lined against the wall. A gold trimmed lamp in the corner. A large window looking over part of new orleans with evening light pressing against the glass.
I Immediately walked to the desk and dropped the black pen onto it.
*Tak*
Then I pulled the reading glasses off and set them down beside it.
*Tak*
I let out a long exhausted sigh and dropped down into the chair behind the desk.
My entire body felt heavy.
I leaned my head back and muttered quietly "I hate people."
Samantha shut the door behind her. Her lips curled up slightly.
*Click*
The room went still.
She walked over to the desk and placed the files down in front of me carefully.
*Pwap*
"That went well." Said samantha calmly with a sigh of relief.
I slowly opened my eyes a little more and stared at the ceiling before saying "It went legally acceptable. There is a difference."
Samantha gave a soft amused breath through her nose and said "You enjoyed humiliating her."
I lowered my head and looked at her.
Her amber eyes were steady. Her face was calm. Annoyingly pretty.
I said flatly "I enjoyed being right."
Samantha tilted her head slightly and said with a chuckle "That too."
I clicked my teeth softly and ran a hand down my face. My scar always felt more noticeable when I was irritated.
Which was often.
I looked at the pile of documents in front of me and said quietly "There is still something wrong with it."
Samantha crossed her arms over her chest and asked with the baton in her hand and asked with interest "The property."
"The property. The timeline. The medical transfers. The fact that too many things were still moving under a dead man's name." I said calmly while tapping one finger against the desk.
*Tak* *Tak* *Tak*
I looked at the top sheet again.
1784 saint charles avenue. Unit C.
I hated that address already.
Samantha reached into the file and pulled out a single page I had not looked at yet.
She placed it down in front of me.
"There is one more thing." Said samantha calmly with a smile.
I looked down at the paper. It was a studio intake note from earlier that morning.
My eyebrows creased. At the bottom of the paper was a handwritten line.
I read it once. Then again. Then I slowly lifted my head and looked at samantha.
"It came in before filming. I did not think it mattered until the address came up." Said samantha with a sigh.
I stared at her for a moment and asked quietly "You are telling me somebody from that house contacted the studio."
"Yes." Said samantha Immediately with another sigh.
The room was silent. I looked back down at the note.
There was a name scribbled under the message request.
Not edward woodland. Not rachel woodland. Not elias woodland. Someone else. Someone who should not have mattered.
Which of course usually meant they mattered the most.
I leaned back into the chair slowly and muttered to myself with a tired soft sigh "This is going to become an even bigger pain in my ass."
"Do you want me to have a car prepared." Asked samantha calmly while looking back at me a smile, her back turned toward me as her hands moved.
*Pop*
I looked at the name on the paper one more time.
Then out the office window toward the evening light over new orleans and said calmly "Yes. I have to get the ratings of my show up. I need to change the way I handle things from now on."
The office was absolutely silent.
Samantha took of f a pair of heels and turned back around and came around the desk and sat on top of my lap while putting a pair of see through black panties onto my face and said whisperingly while licking her lips slowly "We will handle of that later, for now. I will relief your stress. Master."
The office was absolutely silent. The sweat filled pungent perfume scent of samantha filled the air.
I Inhaled the pungent sweat of a woman and thought as my hands wondered and groped a firm, soft and smooth toned, bubbly bare ass "Great. I had forgotten that Iformer had my very own side hoe for 5 years, now my Introvert life really is over"
Just great.
…
THE END…