Zoe
The trial stretched across three grueling weeks, testimony and evidence piling steadily against Cole until even his own defense attorney seemed to be simply going through the motions rather than genuinely believing acquittal remained possible. I attended every single day, Ryder, Jax, and Mason beside me without fail, our found family filling an entire row of the gallery alongside Marisol, Winnie, Alvarez, and, more days than not, Reyna and a rotating handful of Steel Vultures who'd become as invested in this outcome as any of us.
The jury deliberated for two full days after closing arguments finally concluded, the waiting somehow more difficult than any single day of actual testimony had been. I paced the compound restlessly during those two days, unable to settle into any of my usua
