Chapter 43 On the Eve of Trial

Alicia’s POV

If I closed my eyes long enough, I could almost pretend the world outside wasn’t unraveling.

But even here, locked behind thick concrete and fluorescent lights, the echoes still reached me.

Guards talking at shift change. Whispers from inmates over cold dinners. The soft, breathless chatter of news anchors playing faintly from the staff room TV when the door creaked open.

My name.

Always my name.

“Alicia White enters trial phase tomorrow…”

“Public opinion split…”

“New developments could sway the jury…”

I heard it all.

It was almost funny, if I let myself tilt far enough into madness.

A couple years ago, no one would have even paused over my name on a class roster. Now, people were camping outside the courthouse with signs, hashtags, matching T-shirts.

Kayla had told me a little during her last visit—how supporters were flooding social media, how others were calling me a danger, a villain, a tragedy waiting to happen.