Semua Bab Crime Daddy's Plaything : Bab 1 - Bab 5

The cameras outside the courtroom were hungry as vultures."Miss Bruce! Is it true that your star witness confessed under oath?""Will this humiliation ruin your father's campaign?"Microphones were pressed into my face like knives. I pushed through, keeping my head up, my heels clicking sharply on the step, and I was boiling within."Counselor!" someone yelled, and I was immediately holding a bouquet. As predicted, the flowers were roses; this marked the sixteenth bouquet of the month.I paused just long enough to stare at it, the exquisite blood-crimson petals wrapped in golden foil. No notice, no name, always the same.I threw them directly into the trash bin near the curb. Gasps erupted when cameras falsified images. Then a murmur: "cold-hearted.""I suppose the rumors are true," another said.I don't care what others say about me. It was better to have ice than to be weak. But when I stared forward, my blood ran hot.My father is on the mayor's press line. I could sense every bi

HaileyThe courtroom emptied like a dying tide. One by one, voices dropped to whispers, then to silence. Chairs scraped, and shoes clicked against the marble. And then there was only me.I sat at the prosecution’s table, hands fisted against the polished wood, staring at the scattered papers that meant nothing now. Once, this table had been my throne, my battlefield, my shield. But today, it was a coffin.“Attorney Bruce?”A security guard hovered near the doors, his voice unsure. “The courtroom’s closing soon. You’ll need to…”“I’ll leave when I’m ready,” I snapped, though my voice cracked.He hesitated and then disappeared, leaving me alone. I stayed because walking out meant facing them. The reporters, the cameras, and the endless questions I had no answers to. Beyond them lies my father.The thought made bile rise in my throat. One mistake, one man… Everything I had built collapsed.ZekeI whispered his name like a curse, my nails biting crescents into my palms. He had stripped me