Chapter 7 - The Trial Preparation
By late summer, Chloe’s criminal trial was finally set to begin.
The District Attorney, a sharp, ruthless woman named Evelyn Hayes, invited me to her office to prepare for my testimony.
“Chloe is going to try to play the victim,” Evelyn warned me, sliding a stack of photos across the desk. They were pictures of me in the hospital, bruised, hooked up to machines. “Her defense attorney is claiming temporary insanity due to drug addiction. They’re going to argue she didn't intend to kill you, just inconvenience you.”
“She hid my heart pills at the bottom of a laundry hamper,” I said, my voice hardening. “That’s not an accident. That’s an execution.”
“I agree,” Evelyn nodded. “Which is why I am calling Arthur to the stand as a hostile witness.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Arthur? Why?”
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“Because the jury needs to see the dynamic. They need to see how entirely Chloe manipulated him, and how he facilitated your near-death experience. It will eliminate any sympathy the jury might have for her.”
I took a deep breath. Facing Chloe in court was going to be difficult, but necessary. I wanted to look that girl in the eyes as they locked her away.
