Chapter 4

Dad's face was dark as he stepped in front of the staff members, his voice icy when he spoke. "My wife lost her mind after our daughter died. Are you still going to defend Sonia?"

Only Sebastian saw me cough up a mouthful of dark blood from a hard kick that Mom gave me. He caught Mom's hand; his expression conflicted. "Mom, maybe we should stop for today. Sonia really doesn't look so good…"

"Get out of my way!" Mom yanked her hand free, her face cold and furious. "Sonia may be your sister, but what about Jean? You watched Jean grow up. You know better than anyone what kind of person she was!

"She didn't so much as hurt a fly, so why did she have to die for no apparent reason? It's been two whole years, yet Sonia still refuses to say where Jean's body is. How am I supposed to live with that?"

Sebastian fell silent and let go of her arm.

Just then, the judge on the bench received something. He frowned, then tapped his gavel. "Order in the court. In light of the situation, we'll call in medical staff to treat the defendant on-site first. No matter what, the trial has to be conducted while the defendant is conscious. Plaintiff, please return to your seat. In a moment, we'll be using the latest technology to conduct the trial."

With Dad and Sebastian pulling her back, Mom was reluctantly forced to sit down.

Under the shield of the law, I finally got a sip of water. Someone started cleaning and dressing my wounds.

When the paramedic saw my injuries, she sucked in a sharp breath, her brows knitting together hard. "Why does the defendant have so many signs of abuse on her body? These injuries… This is basically torture. What exactly did you people do to her?"

No one answered her.

After all my wounds were tended to, the staff wheeled in a machine and started explaining it to everyone. "This device can read a person's memories. Because it raises serious privacy concerns and there are some radiation side effects, we need consent from both the plaintiff and the defendant. Let me be clear up front that the radiation—"

"I agree!" Before the judge could finish, Mom raised her hand, her voice ringing through the courtroom. "Use it on her now! It's just a bit of radiation, and you're going to put her in a protective suit, right? It's not like she's going to die."

Sebastian opened his mouth like he wanted to object, but in the end, he just looked over at me. "Do you agree to this?"

I was half-collapsed on the floor, my whole body hurting so much I couldn't move. That bit of radiation might very well kill me, but I still nodded. "I agree."

I could feel my life slipping away bit by bit. At the very least, I wanted to clear my name while I was still conscious.

The staff members gave me sympathetic looks, then carefully helped me into the protective suit and guided me into the glass-enclosed chamber at the center of the machine.

The machine whirred to life, and the judge's voice sounded in my ears. "Defendant Sonia Shore, I'm going to ask you again. On the day the victim, Jean Shore, died, you disappeared for a period. Where exactly did you go during that time? Was her death connected to you in any way?"

I shut my eyes, enduring the searing pain of the radiation as my mind was dragged back to that dark, terrible day.

Everyone in the courtroom stared at the images appearing on the screen from inside the machine. The face that had always been a blur in my memory finally came into focus for all to see.

"Sonia Shore, you're going to hell for stealing what's mine!"

When that sentence rang out, my parents and Sebastian stared at the vicious face on the screen, their own faces instantly turning deathly pale.