Chapter 7
Carol panicked the second she heard Ethan had been caught trying to run.
Her lawyer called the DA’s office the next morning, asking for a plea deal.
She’d testify against Ethan, tell the whole truth, in exchange for a reduced sentence and immunity on the most serious charges.
The DA agreed, and two days later, Carol took the stand, her face pale, her hands shaking, and told the jury everything.
She told them how they’d planned it for two years. How they’d slowly poisoned dad, little by little, making it look like his heart was just getting weaker. How they’d forged a fake will leaving everything to them, planning to switch it with the real one after he died. How they’d attacked me and locked me in the sitting room because I’d seen through their lies before they could make their move.
She cried as she talked, saying she’d been scared of Ethan, that he’d made her do it, that she’d never wanted anyone to get hurt.
The jury didn’t look like they believed her.
The trial lasted another week, both sides making their closing arguments, the lawyers painting two very different pictures of what had happened.
Then the jury went to deliberate.
I waited in the courthouse cafeteria for six hours, Jake sitting beside me, his hand resting on the table close enough that I could feel the warmth of his skin, not touching, just there.
When the bailiff came to get us, my legs were shaking so bad I could barely stand.
The jury filed back into the box, their faces serious, no one looking at Ethan or Carol.
The judge asked the foreman if they’d reached a verdict.
“We have, Your Honor,” she said.
She stood up, holding a piece of paper, and read the verdicts one by one.
Ethan Carter: guilty on all counts. First-degree murder, attempted murder, wire fraud, embezzlement, aggravated assault, money laundering, witness tampering.
Carol Carter: guilty of second-degree murder, conspiracy, wire fraud, embezzlement.
The courtroom erupted. Carol started screaming, collapsing into her lawyer’s arms, Ethan yelling that the whole thing was a setup, that I’d paid off the jury.
The bailiffs dragged them out, and I stood there, frozen, until Jake’s hand closed around mine, warm and solid.
May you like
“It’s over,” he said.
I nodded, tears streaming down my face, and for the first time in months, I believed him.
