Page 194 of Broken Pieces
Everything around me slips into a haze that keeps pulling further away.
Voices blur.
Movement blurs.
Nothing touches me.
I don’t register the questions. I miss the muttered comments. It all fades beneath the weight pressing in behind my eyes and the ringing in my ears that won’t let up.
Rainer told me yesterday. He sat me down with the unwavering gaze in his eyes and told me the truth like he couldn’t bear to dress it up.
There is no way out for him.
Not with Bryan Anders pulling the strings.
Not with his money or his connections.
He said Anders has too many people in his pocket, too many judges and officers who owe him favors.
He told me the best we could hope for was a reduced sentence.
That the lawyer he found—the one Rainer paid for with his life savings—might be able to keep Zane from being swallowed whole.
That was the win in all of this. We’re aiming for less time rather than no time at all.
He told me the night after Zane was arrested that I could stay in the apartment for as long as I need to. Said Zane would want that and so did he.
The gavel hits wood, and the crack of it snaps through the courtroom like a gunshot, causing me to jump, breath catching in my throat, fingers clutching the edge of the bench.
A pause.
Then the words: “Guilty on all counts.”
It hits like a blow to the chest.
Cassie gasps beside me. Her hand flies to her mouth, but it’s too late.
Rainer mutters something under his breath, a curse carved from disbelief and fury. His fist slams once against his knee, jaw clenched so tight it might snap.
The asshole, Bryan Anders, smirks, all fake teeth and bullshit lies.
The judge speaks, voice steady, almost emotionless. Legal terms. Formal phrasing that turns what happened into a procedure.
But then I hear it.
“Seven years.”
The words hang in the air. Heavy. Final.
“Seven years,” repeats the judge, like the first time wasn’t enough to crush whatever was left standing inside me.
Seven fucking years.
Seven years for saving me.
I can’t breathe.
The air’s thick and sharp, clawing at my throat.
