Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing. ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky.

~•~

AMANDA

TWO MONTHS LATER

Typically, a day begins when the clock strikes midnight, and the seconds start ticking.

For some, it begins at seven a.m. or earlier.

But today my day began when the courthouse doors swung open and the bailiff ushered me and my lawyer into the courtroom.

As we walked in, a hushed murmur rippled through the room, and for a moment, my stomach clenched—not ...