For a second, I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t even think. I just ran out of the house. My heart was pounding so loud it hurt.
When I met Lila, she handed me a small USB. Her eyes darted around, nervous. “This has a recording,” she whispered. “Cerise admits it herself. She said she hit her. Killed her. You need to bring this to court. Go straight to the judge. The judge is new. Not Cerise broher. I can’t be seen with you right now.”
I didn’t ask questions. I just nodded and left.
By the time I got to the courthouse, my clothes were damp with sweat. The assistant told me the Chief Justice wasn’t there yet and asked me to wait inside his office.
I stood by the table, gripping the USB so tight my fingers went white. My whole body felt wired. I couldn’t sit. I couldn’t even blink.
Then I heard the door open behind me.
I turned fast, expecting to see the judge.
But my body went cold.
It was Cerise.
She walked in with two bodyguards behind her, wearing a soft pink dress and that same fake smile she always had. “Sister Emily,” she said sweetly, “what are you doing in my dad’s office?”
My mind froze. Her father was the Chief Justice.
“I went the wrong way,” I muttered. “I was looking for Justine.”
I tried to move toward the door, but she stepped in my way. Her voice turned sharp. “Really? Or were you planning to overturn your conviction with some secret recording?”
My stomach dropped. She knew?
I bolted for the exit, but the bodyguards caught me before I could take two steps. One of them slammed me to the floor. My cheek hit the tile. Pain shot through my arm.
Before I could even cry out, a sharp heel came down on my hand. I screamed. The USB was still in my fist, but I felt my grip slipping as she crushed it under her shoe.
“This is the court!” I gasped. “If you dare to touch me here, you’ll regret it!”
Cerise knelt down, her perfume stinging my nose. She pried the USB from my bleeding hand and twirled it between her fingers. “This little thing?” she said softly. “This is what you came here for?”
“Give it back to me!” My voice cracked.
She smiled and plugged it into the computer on the desk. “Let’s see what’s inside then. Since you’re so confident.”
I froze as the audio started playing.
It wasn’t Cerise’s voice.
It was Justine’s.
His voice was low, heavy with lust. “Ceri… you’re amazing…”
Cerise giggled. “What about Emily?”
“She can’t compare to you.”
The room started spinning. My throat closed. The sound of them breathing, whispering it made me sick. I ran to the trash bin and threw up.
Cerise covered her nose and laughed softly. “Pathetic. Your husband betrayed you, and your best friend used you. What do you even have left?”
I stared at the floor, shaking. Her words didn’t even hurt anymore. I felt hollow. Empty.
Lila had been visiting me in prison for ten years. She said she believed me. Said she’d never leave me. She cried with me, prayed with me.
And yet... she sold me out.
Before I could react, someone punched me in the stomach. I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the cold.
My body was pressed against the damp floor. It smelled of rust and mold. For a moment, I couldn’t move. Then I heard it—dripping. Slow, steady.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
I turned my head. Water was leaking from the ceiling, sliding down the cracked walls, gathering around me. It was rising, inch by inch. The shock of it stole my breath! It was ice-cold, seeping through my clothes, biting my skin until I could barely feel anything.
My teeth began to chatter. I tried to move, but my limbs were heavy, stiff. When I pushed myself up, the chains on my wrists rattled.
From outside the iron door, I heard Cerise’s voice.
“Watch her carefully,” she said. Her tone was lazy, almost amused. “Justine said she can suffer, but she can’t die here.”
Justine?
I laughed a little. It came out broken.
He was part of this too.
Should I feel angry? Should I scream his name? But all I felt was emptiness.
The water reached my waist. My body trembled violently, but inside I was quiet. Hollow.
I leaned my head against the wall, listening to the sound of my own breath turning ragged.
I thought that was how I’d die... frozen in that dark basement, alone.
I didn’t cry in prison. I didn’t cry when Cerise crushed my fingers under her heel. Even when the water rose higher, when my lips turned blue and my lungs began to ache, I didn’t shed a tear.
But when I thought of my daughter, of how Amy’s death would never be avenged, how her killer was still smiling and loved... I broke.
The tears came on their own. Hot, helpless, disappearing into the freezing water.
I used whatever strength I had left to drag myself toward the door. My hands shook. My voice was gone. I wanted to call for help, but my throat burned. No sound came out.
Then, just before everything faded, I heard someone shouting my name.
“Emily!”
The door flew open.
