Kisa clutched her waist, grimacing in pain. Rellie pulled Kisa up by her hair and flung her across the room. Kisa hit her head on the table. A bit dazed, she managed to stand up. Rellie came at her swinging, and Kisa didn’t duck quickly enough. Rellie landed a mean right hook. Kisa fell back onto the table. Standing over Kisa, Rellie began beating her in the face with closed fists. Rellie wrapped both of her hands around Kisa’s neck. Squeezing tightly, she banged Kisa’s head over and over.

Seconds away from blacking out, Kisa reached behind her, grabbed a metal dish cover, and slammed it into Rellie’s head twice. Rellie stumbled backward. Kisa leaped to her feet, continuing to slam the metal cover against Rellie’s head until she fell against the wall. Rellie slid down to the floor. Kisa gripped the metal cover in both hands, raised it over her head, and hit Rellie in the face, knocking her out. Kisa continued to pummel her with the cover, although Rellie was clearly unconscious.

Kisa was so transfixed in the beating that she did not hear hotel security banging on the door. Eventually, they let themselves in. The police were with them. The police pulled Kisa away from Rellie and placed her in cuffs.

An ambulance rushed Sincere and Rellie to the hospital. Investigators tried to interrogate Kisa at the police station to sort out what had happened. Of course, she refused to talk to them without an attorney present, so they placed her under arrest for assault. Five hours later, the detectives informed Kisa that Rellie had died. They charged Kisa with second-degree murder.

One Year Later

Kisa sat nestled between four of Charlotte’s top attorneys at the defense table in a hushed courtroom. For two long weeks, she’d been fighting voluntary manslaughter charges. Now the jury was back with a verdict.

The D.A. had amended the charges from second-degree murder to manslaughter for Rellie’s death. Due to the special circumstances, they could’ve let her off on self-defense, but they didn’t because they felt that Kisa could have shown restraint and that she was largely unwilling to cooperate with their investigation.

“Would the defendant please rise,” the judge said.

Kisa stood up, dressed in a charcoal pantsuit and with big soft curls framing her face. She glanced over her shoulder and nodded to her family members who filled the rows behind the defense table.

“Have you reached a verdict?” the judge asked the jury forewoman.

“Yes,” the forewoman replied.

“Go ahead with your verdict.”

Inhaling deeply, Kisa closed her eyes.

“We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty.”

Epilogue

Immediately after the trial, Kisa and Sincere took a much-needed two-week vacation to Turks and Caicos. They were accompanied by Butta, Arnessa, Kennedy, and Chaz. The trip was a well-deserved, relaxing getaway for the three couples after a tumultuous two years.