Chapter 1 - Three Years
The judge’s gavel struck the wooden block.
“Three years.”
At the same instant, the court officer closed the second handcuff around my wrist.
The metal snapped shut.
My hands jerked together, and for one terrible second, I could not breathe.
Three years.
The words echoed through the courtroom as if the walls themselves had pronounced me guilty.
I turned toward the gallery.
My mother sat in her tan coat with a tissue near her mouth. My father remained beside her, arms folded tightly across his chest.
Neither stood.
Neither looked shocked.
“Mom,” I whispered. “I didn’t touch her.”
She lowered the tissue.
Her eyes were dry.
“One life pays for another.”
I stared at her.
Behind my parents, my sister-in-law Nora gripped the edge of the bench so hard her knuckles turned white.
She would not look at me.
My brother Dylan did.
He stood beside her in a dark jacket, wearing the smallest smile I had ever seen.
The officer guided me toward the side custody door.
As I passed the gallery barrier, Dylan leaned forward.
“Now we’re even.”
I stopped.
The officer paused beside me.
My tears stopped as quickly as if someone had turned off a faucet.
I looked at Dylan.
Then at Nora.
Then at my parents.
No one asked what he meant.
My mother looked away.
My father lowered his eyes.
Nora began trembling.
They knew.
Whatever had happened to Nora’s pregnancy, this trial had never been about justice.
It had been payment.
The officer opened the custody door.
Bright hallway light cut across the courtroom floor.
I straightened my shoulders.
Dylan’s smile faded when he realized I was no longer begging.
I stepped through the doorway without looking away from him.
The door closed between us.
May you like
And in the darkness of that holding corridor, I made myself one promise.
I would survive long enough to learn what my family believed I owed them.
