Kaia’s POV
They say time slows when you’re waiting for a verdict.
They’re wrong.
It doesn’t slow.
It sharpens.
Every second feels like a scalpel against your nerves—cutting, carving, exposing.
And as I sat on the stiff wooden bench in the courtroom, heels planted, hands clenched in my lap, I could feel my entire life narrowing down to this moment.
I didn’t look at Walter.
We hadn’t spoken in weeks. Not since the video leaks. Not since the press started calling us “The Empire’s Collapse.”
He tried to save himself by cutting me out of the narrative. I tried to burn everything down so no one walked away clean.
In the end, it didn’t matter.
Because the truth was bigger than both of us.
⸻
The courtroom was packed—press in the back, victims in the front, lawyers flanking us like exh
