"I'll come see you again tomorrow. Colton's upset now. He'll probably run straight to Aria crying."
I sat there, motionless, the dead tone of the phone still buzzing against my ear.
Ten years. I'd been with Hudson for ten years.
And he didn't believe a single word I said.
The glass still seemed to hold the ghost of that drawing. A family of four, sketched by my own son's hand.
I wasn't in it.
When I got back to the cell, a bucket of filthy water hit me square in the face.
I stood rooted to the spot, the stench of urine filling my nostrils, completely at a loss.
"Little slut, so you went and snitched, huh?"
The ringleader strolled over with her nose pinched shut and flung a basin of cold water over me.
"What did I tell you? You just let my words go in one ear and out the other, is that it?"
She grabbed me by the hair and kicked me into the bathroom.
My prison uniform was ripped off, and needles began piercing my skin, one after another.
"Ahhh—!"
A bone-deep pain ripped through me. I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted blood.
The cold needle traced across my skin, and I never knew when the next stab would come.
Through the haze of agony, my mind drifted back to the moment I'd just seen Colton.