Chapter 4 - The Mother's Confusion
Sarah burst through the gate, sliding to a halt right next to her daughter. She looked frantically between Vance’s scarred face—now marked with a childish red heart—and Abby’s face, where a matching red heart was smudged on her left cheek.
Confusion, shock, and fierce maternal protectiveness warred across Sarah’s features.
"Abby, why did you do that?!" Sarah demanded, her voice shaking as she gently grabbed her daughter's shoulders, pulling the little girl back against her blue shirt.
Abby didn't look scared of her mother, but she looked deeply, fiercely protective of the tattooed man standing in front of them. She crossed her small arms over her light blue dress, her expression entirely serious and resolute.
"Because that's where he got hurt protecting me," Abby declared, her childish voice ringing with absolute, undeniable truth.
The courtroom erupted into a chaotic wave of murmurs. The judge slammed his heavy wooden gavel down three times, the loud cracks echoing like gunshots until the room fell dead silent once more.
May you like
The prosecutor stood up, frantically trying to salvage his case. "Objection! Hearsay! The child has been manipulated by the defense!"
👉 The judge ignored the prosecutor, leaning forward to address the little girl directly with a piercing, serious gaze.
