♥ Chloe ♥
The courthouse was cold. Not physically, though the air conditioning was doing its best to chill me through the blazer Mandy insisted I wear, but emotionally. There was something about the high ceilings and the sterile lighting, the scuffed benches and polished floors, that made everything feel impersonal. Like justice was supposed to be robotic. Distant. But what I was about to do was anything but. Jethro held my hand tightly as we walked through security. He hadn’t said much that morning, but I could feel everything in the way he looked at me. His concern. His pride. His fury. It all simmered beneath the surface like a held breath waiting to explode. Mandy walked on my other side, silent as well. She had become like a sister to me, and today she was my anchor. The courtroom do
