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I click the button again, showing the document received by Aiden from the Collection department on the same day that contained the information of Alex Cole. “Read the time on this document, too.”

“3:06 p.m.”

“Mr. Gomez, do you believe in coincidences?”

He starts, “I—” But I don’t give him a chance to finish.

“Do you think that Aiden just happened to get a death assignment the same time you were at that desk?”

“I’m not sure—”

“Do you think it’s a coincidence that you were next in line for his position?”

Joey clenches his fist. “I don’t know—"

“Were you the one that informed the opposing counsel that I was Director Jackson’s daughter?”

“I—”

I cut him off once again. My goal is not to have him answer.

No.

It wouldn’t be enough. My true plan is to rile him up. To make that jealousy and hate that he hides so well come to the surface. To press my fingers against all of his buttons and put him in a corner where he has no choice but to move to the exact spot I want him in.

“Did you switch Alex and her sister’s names, knowing they were identical, and Aiden would be none the wiser?”

“Why would I do that?”

I stab a finger towards him. “You tell me, Mr. Gomez. You were upset that Aiden got promoted before you. Furious, even. You deserved it, but you weren’t good enough. You still aren’t good enough. Director Taevian knew that. You knew that. And now everyone in this courtroom knows that the only reason you have the position now is because he,” I point towards Aiden, “is sitting in that chair, and you took over his role. You will probably never be good enough to—”

Opposing counsel slams their hand on the table. “Objection, you honor! She is badgering the witness—”

“He didn’t deserve it!” Joey yells, his veins throbbing in his neck “I deserved it!” He pounds his chest. “Me! And he gets promoted before me. I thought I would just wait it out because soon it would be my turn. Seven years. Seven. Aiden is here for only a year, and he gets promoted! It was my turn. Now, it is finally my turn.” He is breathing hard when he finishes.

Boom.

That’s how you do it. Before court this morning, I went to Taevian’s office to ask him for access to all communications between him and Joey. The minute I walked in, Taevian tried to talk to me about what happened in court. I did not give him a chance to speak, wanting to focus on this case.

Silently, with Taevian standing behind me, I went through his communications starting the year Aiden arrived. In those emails, I found all the information I needed. The problem was that I did not have enough to pin it on Joey.

So, I went with plan B.

All I had up to this point was circumstantial evidence. If I wanted to clear Aiden completely, I needed Joey to admit to his disgraceful deeds. Men are easy though. Hurt their ego a little and they have to try to prove something to you. Getting a witness to confess is the most challenging thing a lawyer can try to do. But it’s thrilling. It puts not only the attorney on edge, but also the audience.

I smirk at Joey.

Ladies, gentleman, and nonbinary besties—the show is over.

Chris falls back into his chair, shock written all over his face. Yeah, buddy. Imagine my surprise when I figured it out. I always felt it in my gut since I arrived that something wasn’t right. Every time we spoke about Aiden’s case, I sensed Joey was slightly lying when he told me that he hoped I would win. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Then, I kept replaying what Yirah said last night. She said, we all tend to forget that reapers were once humans. That we still feel and experience things like humans do.

Joey had visited me at my apartment and started asking about Aiden’s case. The only people who have been to my apartment to know where all my case files were is Aiden, Yirah…and Joey. It always nagged me on why the thief only went to my house and didn’t ransack the office. The office is the most logical place to search first. Not only that but Joey never seemed optimistic about Aiden getting off not guilty.

Also, when I went to collect souls with him, he just happened to give me a murderer. If I had gotten badly hurt, it would have affected my ability to represent Aiden. Despite all of this, there was one question that needed to be answered…who would benefit the most from Aiden being stripped of the title of reaper and thrown in Hell? The answer was right in front of my face the whole time. When Chris told me that it was Joey who informed him of my father, I finally understood the game that was being played because I knew who I was truly playing against.

I just didn’t want to believe that our friend, Joey, could be capable of hurting Aiden to this extent for an unpaid supervisory position. Jealousy is one of the most dangerous emotions. It can lead people to doing the most horrendous things—like killing an innocent soul.

I turn to the judge. “You honor. We request all charges against Aiden be dropped. He did not intentionally, knowingly or negligently break the Reaper’s Code of Conduct. He was framed by this man,” I point to Joey, “and as result, Joey broke four rules. By violating rule four, which states that a reaper may never directly or indirectly harm another Reaper or interfere with their duties without written permission from their designated supervisor, he not only caused the souls to be mixed up and not be collected on time, but he also saved a human life designated to die.”