Alessandro's bail hearing happened on a Friday afternoon.
The courtroom felt colder than it should have. Not just in temperature, but in the way people looked at him. Like he was already guilty. Like the decision had already been made somewhere outside the law.
Sienna refused to let that sink into her bones.
She sat beside him, back straight, fingers laced tightly with his under the table. On her other side was Jennifer Chen, composed and precise, a stack of documents organized with the kind of care that wins cases. Marcus sat behind them, quiet but present, his support steady in a way that didn't need words.
They had done everything they could.
Everything.
The judge reviewed the paperwork slowly, flipping through pages that represented sacrifices Sienna could still feel in her chest—the sale of her jewelry, Marcus's mortgage, the loans from friends who believed in them enough to risk their own stability.
