Chapter 6 - The Paper Trail
Inside the courtroom, Evan was led through the side entrance wearing a orange county jail jumpsuit, wrists and ankles chained together. His slicked-back hair was messy, his eyes bloodshot, and his posture entirely broken.
His court-appointed public defender leaned over to whisper to him, but Evan wasn’t listening. His eyes were fixed on Claire, who sat in the front row of the gallery, wearing a tailored navy-blue suit, looking calm, regal, and entirely out of his reach.
Judge Rebecca Vance—no relation, but a notoriously tough judge on domestic abuse cases—took her seat on the bench and banged her gavel.
“The state has presented compelling evidence of severe domestic battery, felony forgery, and ongoing financial exploitation,” Judge Vance read from her tablet, her tone sharp enough to cut glass. “Given the defendant’s history of intimidation and the extensive flight risk posed by unrecovered stolen funds, bail is denied.”
“Your Honor!” Evan’s public defender protested. “My client is a lifelong resident of this city with no prior criminal record!”
“Your client is facing fourteen federal and state felony counts, Counsel,” Judge Vance snapped. “He will remain in custody until trial.”
As the bailiffs stepped forward to take Evan back to the holding cells, Judith stood up in the gallery, screaming hysterically.
“Claire! Tell them to stop! You love him! You promised to stay with him forever!”
Claire stood up slowly from her seat. She walked up to the bar rail separating the gallery from the defense table. She looked down at Evan, who was trembling in his chains, tears streaming down his bruised face.
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“I promised to love the man I thought you were, Evan,” Claire said, her voice echoing through the silent courtroom. “Not the coward who locked me in the rain.”
She turned her back on him and walked out of the courtroom beside me, her head held high, without looking back once.
