After binge searching Nicki the lawyer all night, Milan didn't wake up until 11AM in the afternoon. 

When she awoke, her laptop was literally moments away from falling off of the bed and plummeting to its carpeted doom. 

With a quickness, Milan grabbed it from by her feet and placed it safely on her nightstand. 

Once she dodged that bullet, she sat up an stretched against the bed's headboard. She lightly patted her head because her scalp was itching, it was about time for her to redo her wig braids and do a full out wash day. 

Slipping out of bed, Milan went into the bathroom and began to brush her teeth, wash her face, and take a shower. When she was done, what followed was a full slathering of her body in shea butter and perfume. 

She could not lie, since Ramses was off the street and she had distanced herself from her brother, her life could not have been more peaceful. It did cause a twinge of sadness to pull at her heart strings when she thought about this.

However, the happiness she felt just knowing she could walk out her hotel to her car and not look behind her every five seconds. She loved Ramses, but she did not love the danger that lurked around every corner that came with being with him. 

Dressing herself for the day, Milan put on dark denim ripped jeans, a dark blue Sp5der hoodie, and blue Tasman UGGs. She sat down on her bed once she finished dressing. Reaching over and looking over her nightstand, she reached for the business card Nicoletta had given her the night before. 

She toyed with the corners of the card, bending them slightly. As she did so, Milan felt her heart beat faster. 

She did not want Ramses to rot away in jail. He didn't deserve that nor did she want to picture him behind bars. Although she did not want to be with him, she did not want to leave him in his time of need. 

So call the lawyer and help him then, bitch.

Her inner monologue snapped at her.

Milan wrinkled her nose at her own attitude towards herself.

Her hands just would not stop twiddling with the card when they should've been dialing the number.

The reason she was so hesitant had to do with the fact that if she did in fact aid in helping him get back out on the streets, she felt she never would be able to escape him again. And that was because of her own weakness.

It wasn't because taking the witness stand to save him would bring more attention to her than when she saved him from dying. 

It wasn't because she'd be sucked into legal matters and had to make sure she didn't further incriminate him or even implicate herself in illegal activity.

It was because if she succeeded, she would be running from him and everybody who came with him forevermore.

Throwing her head back and taking a deep breath, Milan then reached for her cellphone and slowly but surely began to dial Nicoletta's number. Two rings later, someone answered.

"Yolkovich and Associates, Andre speaking." A male voice answered the phone, and Milan was taken aback from the male voice. For some reason she assumed Nicki herself would be answering. Recovering and quickly clearing her throat, Milan introduced herself. 

"Hello, my name's Milan. Nicoletta reached out to me to help with a client of her's—"

"Oh! You're Milan Cozart. Please hold on the line, we've been expecting you." Andre told her. The excitement in his voice made her feel like Nicoletta had put the whole office on high alert for her call.

Instead of flattery, it made her feel even more queasy. 

In the next couple of seconds, Milan was greeted by Nicoletta's voice.

"Hello! Milan? It's Nicki! I'm so glad you chose to call in."

"Yeah about that..." Milan trailed, immediately regretting her decision to call in. Nicoletta didn't even let her get the chance to fully settle in to her cold feet.

"Please come down to my office to meet and discuss everything in person. We'll send you a car. Are you free in the next hour or so?" Nicoletta immediately proposed. Once again, Milan felt like she was being bombarded with choices.

However, she'd went through with making the call and now she felt she had to see it through. 

"Yes. That's fine. So you'll be here around 2 or 3?" She proposed, barely able to contain the fact that she felt she was about to have a panic attack. "Yes! I will have the driver call you when he is fifteen minutes away, please email your address and phone number to the email on the business card you have! Very excited to meet with you!" 

"You too..." Milan told her before promptly ending the call. 

As soon as she hung up, she felt like she could breathe again. 

What the fuck is your problem?

Milan snapped at herself again. Throwing her phone into one of her pillows on the bed. 

The last time she saved Ramses from inevitable doom, she became the face of gang violence for two months.

And just living out her life, stacking her little tips, and not worrying her head about if she was gonna be shot was working out really well for her. But her own cowardice was annoying her. 

Taking her phone from where she threw it, she did email Nicoletta her hotel's address and her phone number. 

Now that it was settled that she was going to be going into a law office, Milan didn't want to wear her initial outfit. This is when it dawned on her that she didn't have any business formal clothes, hell she didn't even have business casual clothing.

She could not take the stand in Rick Owens boots and a BALENCIAGA sweater.  She refused to do so. 

But she would deal with that at a later date. 

Stripping out of her initial outfit, Milan exchanged her Sp5der hoodie and jeans for a long black button down and slacks. The only thing she did have that would be considered semi formal, even though it truly gave restaurant waitress.

And she was a restaurant waitress. 

She didn't own any sensible heels either, so she slipped on pair of ballet flats that had somehow survived from her high school years.

Milan felt like she was transported back years in reverse. She felt like a freshman in high school all over again. 

She curled her hair softly and put it in a very 90s style updo. A middle part in her hair allowing some curly tendrils to frame both sides of her face. And when she was finally finishing up, her phone rang. It was close to two-thirty. 

"Hello, is this Miss Cozart speaking?" An older man's voice asked her. Milan told him yes. It indeed was the driver Nicoletta said she'd been hearing from and he was fifteen minutes away.

Those minutes passed quickly, and soon enough Milan was walking out from her hotel to get into a waiting all black Bentley truck. 

The chauffeur got out of his seat and went around the truck to open the back door for her. When he did, she noticed a woman was already inside and she definitely was not Nicki. 

"Please allow me to introduce you to Valerie Giovanni. She is also on the way to Nicoletta's office as well. They are very good friends." The driver did his best to update Milan on the situation as he helped her inside of the vehicle.

Valerie was a light skinned black woman. Her skin tone reminded Milan of the color of a pistachio shell. She had warm brown hair with honey blonde highlights streaked throughout, it just added more depth to her skin.

She was dressed in a burnt orange sleeveless dress that clung to her like a second skin. Milan could tell although she was also wearing a tan trench coat.

Whoever this Valerie was, Milan knew the woman was rich enough to buy her whole life three times over.

"Hello Milan, what a pleasure to meet you. Nicoletta rarely lets me meet her clients. I'm sure she appreciates your cooperation very much." Valerie did her best to make small talk with Milan. 

Busy taking in her surroundings, Milan felt it was surreal to be riding in a truck of this caliber and sitting next to a woman whose wedding ring would go for half a hundred grand. 

She finally noticed Valerie had held out her hand for a shake and hurriedly obliged the lady.

Valerie smiled at her eagerness. A distant, clouded look came over her face for a second, but was gone as quickly as it came. 

"You remind me so much of myself 3 years ago." Valerie told Milan, a wistfulness now in her eyes. Milan tilted her head in intrigue. "How so?" She urged Valerie to continue. 

"The day I met my husband, I was dressed the exact same way you are right now. It was a day that changed my life." The woman finished her thought.

Milan took in what she said and for some reason a sad smile came over her face. She glanced out of the window behind Valerie's head. 

"I don't think I'll be meeting my husband in Nicoletta's office..." She breathily laughed. Valerie smiled. 

My little love has me on the case to keep him from catching one...