Caleb took a deep breath.
“After Miss Aria was imprisoned, she was beaten almost every day. They forced her to drink filthy water, kept her from sleeping, slapped her, pricked her with needles… even made her kneel to other inmates.”
My fingers whitened around the phone.
“Needles? In prison?” I ground out.
“She was assigned to embroidery work during her sentence.”
I shut my eyes. The fury boiling in my chest was about to explode.
“Go on.”
“The worst time…” Caleb’s voice faltered. “Someone broke her leg with wooden sticks—six of them, as thick as a man’s arm. The doctor said it was a miracle she survived.”
The air froze.
I listened in silence, my mind filled with her—her twisted leg, her eyes that refused to surrender even in pain.
I exhaled slowly, my voice hoarse and almost emoti
