Chapter 17
Milena’s trial lasted nine days.
I testified on the fourth.
My hands shook when I took the stand.
Then I looked at Luke in the back row.
Angelo sat beside him.
Bianca sat on the other side.
Carlo sat behind them.
For once, I was not alone.
The prosecutor asked about the boarding house.
The envelope.
The threats.
The years after.
I answered everything.
Milena stared at me the whole time.
When her lawyer stood, he smiled like kindness.
“Miss Bell, you struggled financially, correct?”
“Yes.”
“You resented the Torrisi family?”
“I feared Milena.”
“That was not my question.”
I looked at the jury.
Then back at him.
“I did not resent a family I never got to have. I resented the woman who threatened my unborn child.”
His smile thinned.
“You could have contacted Angelo.”
“I was told my family would be destroyed if I did.”
“You had no proof then.”
“No,” I said. “That is how threats work.”
The courtroom went still.
He tried to twist my love into greed.
My survival into manipulation.
My silence into guilt.
But this time, every lie met a document.
Every accusation met a witness.
Every shadow had a name.
On the last day, Milena asked to speak.
The judge allowed it.
She stood in a navy suit, still proud, still beautiful, still poison.
“I did what I did to protect my son,” she said.
Angelo stood from the gallery.
“No.”
The judge warned him.
He sat.
But the word stayed in the air.
Milena looked at Luke.
My body tensed.
“You will understand one day,” she said.
Luke lifted his chin.
“No,” he said. “I won’t.”
The jury convicted her on all major counts.
May you like
I did not cheer.
I just breathed.
