جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 78

[ALESSIA'S POV]The week between Edward's testimony and Sandra's sentencing feels like the longest seven days of my life, each hour stretching into something interminable as we all try to go about our normal routines while this massive question mark hangs over everything. Will Sandra get twenty years or twenty-five? Will the judge be swayed by Edward's testimony about her mental state, or will she decide that desperate love doesn't excuse kidnapping and attempted murder? I find myself obsessively checking my phone for updates from David even though I know he'll call me the second he hears anything, and at night I lie awake running through scenarios in my head, trying to prepare myself for every possible outcome even though I know it's pointless to try to control things that are completely out of my hands.Jeffrey has been incredible this past week, stepping up in all the ways I needed him to without me even having to ask. He's taken over most of the household responsibilities so I can

[ALESSIA'S POV]My voice comes out steadier than I expected when I start reading from the paper in my hands, though I can feel it trembling slightly as I force myself to look up and make eye contact with the judge instead of staring down at my prepared words like a shield against the roomful of people watching me. "Your Honor, my name is Alessia Reed Walker, and I'm here today to tell you about how Sandra Seaman's actions affected me and my family." The words feel both rehearsed and raw at the same time, like I'm reciting lines from a script about someone else's trauma even though every word is pulled directly from my own experience, my own nightmares, my own long slow recovery from something that should never have happened.I tell the judge about the morning I was taken, how I was on my way to work thinking about the segment I needed to edit and whether I'd remembered to pack Alexander's lunch, completely ordinary thoughts that evaporated the moment the van pulled up and men in masks

[ALESSIA'S POV]My voice comes out steadier than I expected when I start reading from the paper in my hands, though I can feel it trembling slightly as I force myself to look up and make eye contact with the judge instead of staring down at my prepared words like a shield against the roomful of people watching me. "Your Honor, my name is Alessia Reed Walker, and I'm here today to tell you about how Sandra Seaman's actions affected me and my family." The words feel both rehearsed and raw at the same time, like I'm reciting lines from a script about someone else's trauma even though every word is pulled directly from my own experience, my own nightmares, my own long slow recovery from something that should never have happened.I tell the judge about the morning I was taken, how I was on my way to work thinking about the segment I needed to edit and whether I'd remembered to pack Alexander's lunch, completely ordinary thoughts that evaporated the moment the van pulled up and men in masks

[ALESSIA'S POV]The house looks exactly the same as it did when we left it a week ago, but somehow it feels different when Jeffrey unlocks the front door and we all step inside on Sunday afternoon with our bags from my mother's place and the tentative hope that maybe we can actually stay this time. The boys immediately scatter to their rooms, excited to be back in their own spaces with their own things, and I can hear them upstairs arguing cheerfully about whose turn it is to pick the movie for tonight's family viewing. Jeffrey sets down our bags in the entryway and looks at me with a question in his eyes, silently asking if I'm okay, if coming home feels safe or if I'm going to spiral into anxiety about Victoria finding us here even though she's locked up without possibility of bail this time."It feels good to be home," I say, and I mean it even though there's still a kernel of fear lodged somewhere in my chest that probably won't go away for a while. "Strange, but good. Like we've