Bishop

An ex-thug turned most influential spiritual leader and head of the largest church in the south.
A wife who loves him, but has reason to fear, and the three young men who seek vengeance for the sexual abuse they suffered at his hands--Bishop is here!

EXCERPT

Larry focused his attention on the teenaged girl across from him. She was attractive with bright, alert eyes, despite the hardships she was enduring. Larry knew of those hardships because this girl and her mother had been members of his church for the last three years.
The girl’s name was Tatiana Benson, and her father had been laid off from his job at the car assembly plant two years ago. Things hadn’t been going well for the family since. Tatiana's mother sat to the girl's left, a stern-faced, thin, dark haired attorney, to her right.
“Are you going to say something in regard to the accusations, Mr. Lakes?” Ms. Michaels, the Benson attorney said.
“That’s Bishop Lakes,” Tyrell Suggs said. He sat to Larry’s left, his white driving cap on the table in front of him. Tyrell sidled up closer to the desk, wearing a pinstriped suit. “The mans a Bishop. You need to be calling him that.”
“I’m sorry,” the attorney, Ms. Michaels said. “Do you have anything to say, Bishop Lakes?”
His chair turned sideways so that he could cross his legs and rest an elbow on the table, Larry casually asked, “What are the accusations again?”
Ms. Michaels cleared her voice as though aggravated and said, “That on more than half a dozen occasions, while alone with Tatiana Benson, you made sexual advances toward her. More specifically, that you fondled her breasts, groped her while alone in one of the activity rooms, kissed her several times against her will, and forced her to perform oral sex on you.”
“That is complete bullshit,” Tyrell Suggs said under his breath.
“Sir, if you would please—“ Ms. Michaels said.
“How could you?” Larry said, saddened by what the girl was charging him with.
“How could you?” Katrina, Tatiana’s mother said, emotion forcing her voice to crack. She was near tears. “My child trusted you. I trusted you!” She stood from her chair, leaned over the table, pointing at Larry. “And you…and you do this!”
Tyrell Suggs stood up. “Sit down, lady.”
“No, you sit down!” Mrs. Benson said.
“Sit down, Tyrell,” Larry said, his voice calm and even.
Tyrell Suggs retook his seat.
Mrs. Benson did the same. Ms. Michaels reached over and patted her shoulder, making sure she was all right.
“If I did these things, why haven’t you gone to the police?” Larry asked of Tatiana.
“Bishop, if you’d direct your questions to me,” Ms. Michaels said.
Larry kept his eyes on the girl, noticing that she would not look at him, that she had only glanced at him once in the half hour they’ve been sitting across from each other.
“Fine,” Larry said. “The question is for you then, Attorney Michaels.”
“She hasn’t gone to the police out of respect for you and the church she loves. Tatiana wanted to give you the opportunity to address and settle this issue out of the public eye.”
“Settle?” Larry said. “And exactly how would I do that?”
“Like I said earlier, Bishop, if you had brought your attorney like I had asked, this could—“
“And like I said earlier, Attorney Michaels, I didn’t bring him because I knew I wouldn’t need him. Not for this. Now if you’d just answer my question.”
Ms. Michaels readjusted herself in her chair. “For pain and anguish suffered by Ms. Benson, a monetary settlement would have to be reached in order to keep this situation from going any further.”
“Ms. Michaels, Mrs. and Ms. Benson, I will not be blackmailed and forced to pay money for something I did not do,” Larry said. He walked around the table toward the door, Tyrell Suggs following him.
“Bishop Lakes,” Ms. Michaels said, standing. “If you do not deal with this, we will file charges and take this to trial.”
“Do what you have to do, Ms. Michaels," Larry said standing aside so Tyrell co