The sound of the gavel echoed throughout the courtroom. No one said a word for what seemed like the longest few seconds Bree could ever remember. Then, the people around her came back to life, and she found air in her lungs again.
“Are you okay?” Trent asked. He was always asking her that, checking on her, making sure she was all right. Bree nodded. She was all right. She was going to continue to be all right, too. It seemed like a nightmare that had lasted almost two years was finally over.
Lots of people offered their quiet congratulations, despite the sound of Monica’s mother crying in the front of the courtroom as they took her daughter away for a long prison term. The judge had given her twenty years for attempted murder. Bree believed that was enough. By the time Monica got out, even if she only served the minimum, she would no longer be able to model. Her life was ruined, all because she hadn’t been willing to let Trent go.
