Chapter 14
Courtroom one was packed on the first day of trial.
Reporters filled the hallway.
Nathan looked polished again in a dark suit.
Evelyn wore pearls.
Dr. Vale stared at the table.
They looked respectable.
That was the scariest part.
Monsters rarely enter wearing warning signs.
The prosecutor opened with the basement recording.
Nathan’s voice filled the courtroom.
The guests believe me. Everyone always does.
Then my voice.
Another contraction.
Then Nathan.
You’re not leaving this basement tonight.
Jurors shifted.
One woman covered her mouth.
Next came Evelyn.
Who will believe you over my son?
I watched her face.
No shame.
Only anger at being heard.
Mara testified behind a screen.
Her voice shook.
But she named them.
Nathan.
Evelyn.
Vale.
The nurse.
The guards.
The fake court papers.
The babies taken from her arms.
Samuel’s adoptive mother testified too.
She cried when she said, “We thought we were giving a baby a home. We did not know we were receiving a stolen child.”
Mara reached for her hand during recess.
They cried together.
That moment did more than testimony.
It showed the jury what Evelyn had tried to destroy.
Not just bodies.
Families.
When it was my turn, I walked slowly with a cane.
Grace’s photo was in my pocket.
The defense asked why I did not escape earlier.
I looked at him.
“Because I was locked in a basement.”
May you like
He stopped.
Then I added, “And because people like your clients count on that question.”
