(Helen's POV)
I'm lying on the scratchy motel bed—the only place I can afford now that Gemma cut me off—staring at water stains on the ceiling and trying not to think about how far I've fallen.
From Jason York's wife living in a mansion to this.
A seventy-dollar-a-night room that smells like cigarette smoke and broken dreams, when an email notification pings on my phone at 11:47 PM.
I almost don't check it.
But the sender name makes my stomach drop: Liberty County Superior Court.
I sit up so fast my head spins.
My hands are already shaking before I even open it.
RE: Case #2026-CR-04573 - State v. Helen Terry - NOTICE OF EXPEDITED HEARING
The words blur together at first. I have to read them three times before they sink in.
My criminal hearing.
The one that was scheduled for thre
