I'm not going to take you through the things you don't care about.

Going into the Wyoming police, getting carted back to South Carolina, both being considered flight risks and forced to stay in the same jail as Lydia until our trial. Brianne agreeing to be my lawyer again, after a lot of crying and pleading and promises to never try and escape from jail again on my part.

That may seem like a cop-out to some of you. Not providing all the details, taking the easy way out, and keeping that information to myself.

Do you honestly think that I, of all people, care what you think? Not likely.

Luckily, being an accomplice to murder isn't punishable by death, so there was no danger of being shot by a firing squad. The most they were aiming to give me was five years in jail with the chance for parole in two, and Brianne, ever the optimist, was shooting for 6 months total.

Maybe I'll take you back to the day of closing arguments. I didn't get those in my first trial, so this one seemed like it could be fun. Rebecca and I were codefendants, completely separate from my sociopath of a stepmother, and the state had agreed to leave my previous mistrial as a mistrial, so this was it. I was being tried as an accomplice to murder, and nothing more.

Let's go to that day of closing arguments. I do love to spin a good story.

><><><

Thursday, March 25th, 2021.

Kennedy didn't know what outcome her stepmother was facing, and she didn't know that she quite cared. She was sure that the state had a good case against Lydia, despite her vast resources (or Kristopher's vast resources) to hire the best lawyer possible and get her the best sentence money could buy.

It was funny. Kristopher hadn't cared at all when his daughter was on trial the first time or locked up the second; but now that his child bride of a wife was facing consequences for her actions, he had been front row every day of the trial, for both Lydia and Kennedy. Kennedy suspected he was only watching her own trial so that he could report back to Lydia about the progress at the end of each day, as if her lawyer's team wasn't already doing that.

Kennedy had stopped caring about her father's decisions and how he treated her a long time ago. But the silver lining of her second trial and the publicity of it was that the rest of her family had come to support her.

She couldn't remember the last time she had seen Jeremy and Anna, or even her mother. Life had felt so lonely and hectic since Hank, and having her family so close during this trial, when she knew she would be getting zero support from her father, made everything feel just a little bit better.

Their prosecutor was a new ADA, Michelle Potter, who wouldn't have a conflict of interest in trying the murder of a former ADA. She was a middle-aged woman who hadn't attempted to slut-shame anyone in the courtroom, which was more than could be said for her predecessor. The judge was different as well—an older man with wiry glasses and hair so white it looked dyed. Kennedy missed Judge Adamson.

The state went first. Brianne sat in between Kennedy and Rebecca at the defense table, staring straight at ADA Potter's back as she addressed the jury.

"No one in this room is denying that Kennedy Abrams and Rebecca Eaves have had a rough few months. In Miss Abrams' case, a rough few years. But struggling does not excuse assisting in the coverup of a cold-blooded murder. Many of us struggle on a daily basis, but we do not solve our problems by killing their perpetrators. We do not live in a world where we are justified in taking the law into our own hands, no matter how much we may feel that we have earned the right to do so. We do, however, live in a world where we must face the consequences of our actions, and where we will hopefully be made better people for it.

"You have heard both defendants testify that they felt they had no choice in helping Mrs. Farrow-Abrams cover up her murder of Jaxson Karl. They testified that they were scared for their own lives if they turned down Miss Abrams' stepmother. You have also seen photographs of Mrs. Farrow-Abrams and have heard testimony that she did not have any weapons in the hotel room with her. A woman of her size, with no weapons, would hardly pose a threat to two athletic young women who were not in shock over what had just transpired."

ADA Potter paced slowly up and down the jury and Kennedy watched her with fascination. It was like what you saw in movies when the lawyers gave their final statements to the jury. Part of her wished that Lydia had killed Jaxson one day later, and that she could have heard the closing arguments in her first trial. This was the part where Kennedy didn't have to worry anymore—there were no curveballs, no new evidence, nothing to throw her off her game.

She simply had to sit and listen and wait for the jury to make their decision.

"On the night of December 16th, 2020, Rebecca Eaves found Lydia Farrow-Abrams in the latter's hotel room, covered in Jaxson Karl's blood. She called Kennedy Abrams, who arrived at the scene and proceeded to coverup the crime with Miss Eaves' help. The two women carried Mr. Karl's body out to Miss Abrams' car and dumped it into Lake Keowee. They then returned to normal lives, seemingly unaffected by their crime.

"While Miss Eaves was granted bail, Miss Abrams was considered a flight risk and was denied bail. Miss Abrams once again took the law into her own hands and escaped from jail, with the assistance of Miss Eaves. They were pursued by police officers and caused two of the police cars to crash into each other. This seriously injured two officers and one is still recovering, almost four months later. Both women showed enormous disrespect for the lives of others and for the letter of the law.

"The state is recommending the following sentences, both of which have been softened due to both defendants turning themselves in once they were discovered to not have committed the murder itself. We ask the jury to find Rebecca Eaves guilty of accomplice to murder and harboring a fugitive, with a proposed sentence of three years in jail with the chance for probation in one. We ask the jury to find Kennedy Abrams guilty of accomplice to murder, destruction of government property, assaulting a police officer, and subverting the law by breaking out of a county jail. The state has been very generous in recommending that Miss Abrams' sentence be five years in jail with the chance of probation in four, and no less than five years of probation after serving her jail sentence."

ADA Potter glanced over at Kennedy momentarily; she thought that the attorney may have felt bad for her, if only for a second.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have a civic duty to take the facts of this case as they have been presented and make a decision that you deem fair for both defendants. I plead with you to think of the victims in this situation and make your decision with their memory in mind.

"The state rests."

><><><

"I want you to think of the victims as well."

Brianne Hotchky walked up to the jury, hands clasped in front of her and expression unreadable.

"I believe that ADA Potter and I have differing opinions on who the victims of this situation are. And because of that, I want to tell you a story. Close your eyes if you don't mind."

All twelve members of the jury closed their eyes as directed. Kennedy did not, her attention focused on the expressions of each of the jury members. She didn't know where Brianne was going with this, but she had a feeling something was about to go in her favor.

"Imagine that you're a college student. You've moved away from your parents for the first time, you're discovering who you are outside of the comfort you've grown up with. You're young and naïve, yes, but you're also ready for the world.

"Imagine there's a man who you don't know exists. And he plucks another man who don't know exists, and plants him in a bar to meet you. The second man is charismatic and older and uses his position of supposed power and authority to convince you that he is nothing but perfect. The first man disappears into the woodwork, content with how he has successfully manipulated your life.

"But the second man is not what he seems at all. He abuses you—physically, verbally, emotionally, sexually. When you tell him that you're no longer interested in him, and that he should go back to his wife of a decade, he becomes unhinged. He calls and texts you constantly; he makes threats against you and your friends. You have to move, but he finds your new address. He tries to grab you outside of your gym one morning. He bangs on your apartment door so loudly that the neighbors call the police. He threatens you and your loved ones, over and over again, because you didn't want to be 'the other woman' anymore.

"You're desperate to get him away from you, and have no trusted person to turn to. You want to scare him into leaving you alone, but you misjudge. Now, the second man is gone, but the first isn't pleased. He manipulates his way into being your prosecutor in the case against you. Then you get a phone call and end up standing inside a hotel room where the first man is now gone as well. Trapped and coerced, you help hide the first man. But the woman who killed the first man frames you for it, and you end up in jail again, with no way to prove your innocence and no one on the outside to believe you.

"Again, you're desperate. You don't know how to fix this, and you're still a college student. You're a college student with limited family resources and no friends left to help, except one. Your friend who you trusted when you were coerced into cleaning up someone else's crime. Your friend who stood by you when you were being prosecuted by the man responsible for all of the negativity in your life. Your friend who would do absolutely anything to help you.

"Do you think you'd consider the first man a victim? What about the second? To me, they sound like abusers who were not going to stop until their victims were gone for good. To me, you sound like the victim here. You and your friend sound like the victims here. And while the first and second men will never answer for their crimes, it isn't fair to make you answer for them instead. Don't you think?"

Brianne took a step backward and looked at Kennedy, her eyes showing the kindness that had been sorely lacking in her life for quite some time.

"The defense rests."

A/N: Apologies for the delayed update, but this has been a hard book to figure out how to proceed with. But I think I have a good idea of what's going to happen, so it should continue with more regular updates now :)