Chapter 140 140. The Price Of Freedom
Camila's POV
Every time I shifted on the bench, the metal handcuff chain clinked against the bar. It constantly reminded me that I wasn't dreaming. The holding cell smelled like shit, and the fluorescent lights never turned off completely.
I didn't sleep.
How could I, when every time I closed my eyes, I saw Lucien's face as he walked away from me? The tears in his eyes. The way his shoulders had tensed when I smiled at him. The sound of the door closing behind him like a final goodbye.
He hadn't come back. Not last night, not this morning. No calls, no messages through Rosalind, and my chest ached with a different kind of pain than the fear of prison.
This was the pain of losing him. Of choosing something he couldn't understand and watching it break us apart.
"Sterling." An officer appeared at the cell door. "You've got visitors."
I stood on shaky legs, my body stiff from the uncomfortable bench. They led me to a small room where Damon stood with Silas, Seraphina, and Rosalind. The moment they saw me, their faces crumpled.
Damon reached me first, pulling me into a crushing hug. "Cam."
Seraphina was crying before she even touched me. Silas looked like he'd aged ten years overnight. Rosalind's professional mask was firmly in place, but I could see the concern in her eyes.
"It's not true, right?" Silas asked from where he stood. "The video is edited? Someone's setting you up?"
I looked at each of them. The people who'd spent the last months trying to build a relationship with me despite my resistance. My family deserved the truth.
"It's true," I confessed. "I stabbed Victor Hayes, but it was self defense."
Seraphina's sob filled the small room.
"Clara sold me to him," I continued, despite the tremble of my body. "She took money from him to deliver me. When I got there, he tried to rape me. I learned I was going to be trafficked, that I belonged to him now. So I fought back. I grabbed a knife from his pocket while he tried tearing off my clothes, stabbed him, and ran."
Silas's face crumbled. His knees actually buckled, and Damon had to steady him.
"Clara did that to you? She sold you?"
"Yes."
"That woman! That evil, twisted woman. How could she do that to her own daughter?"
"I was the only thing she had left to sell."
Seraphina crossed to me, pulling me into her arms. I breathed in her lavender-like smell and felt a form of relief from the sterile prison smell I'd been breathing all night. "You poor girl. You poor, brave girl."
"Victor Hayes deserved worse than a stab wound. And Clara..." Damon couldn't even finish the sentence. "I'm glad she's dead. I'm glad she can't hurt you anymore."
"Camila." Rosalind stepped forward, her lawyer face in place. "I need you to understand the legal situation clearly."
I pulled away from Seraphina and nodded.
"This is absolutely a self defense case. Victor Hayes is a known criminal, and you have no prior criminal record except the vehicular manslaughter, which was cleared. Any reasonable jury should see this for what it is."
"But?" I could hear the qualifier coming.
"But you ran and hid evidence. That complicates things significantly. The prosecution will argue that if it was truly self defense, you would have gone to the police immediately."
"How long?"
She hesitated. "Two to three years maximum. Possibly less with good behavior. There's also a chance the prosecution will offer a plea deal. If they do, I strongly recommend taking it."
Three years. Three years of missing everything. Three years of Lucien moving on without me. Three years of my life gone. The fear I'd been holding at bay since my arrest crashed over me all at once. My knees went weak.
"I've got you." Damon caught me before I could fall. "We've got you, Cam."
"I'm going to use every legal connection I have," Silas assured. "Every favor I'm owed, every contact in the justice system. We're going to fight this."
"I'll visit every day they let me," Damon added. "You won't be alone in this."
Seraphina just held my hand, still crying.
"Where's Lucien?" The question came out before I could stop it. The room went silent. Everyone exchanged glances.
"He will come," Maya's voice came from the doorway. I hadn't even heard her come in. Rafael was behind her, both of them looking exhausted.
"Maya!" I left my family and ran to give her a hug. The softness and warmth of her skin made my eyes well with tears that threatened to spill.
"He will be here, okay?" Maya whispered into my hair. "He just needs a little time."
The bail hearing was that afternoon. The judge took one look at my history of fleeing and denied bail immediately. Flight risk, he called it. I was remanded to county jail until trial which was scheduled in three weeks.
Silas stood in the courtroom, his face devastated. Damon looked ready to fight someone. Seraphina was still crying. Maya and Rafael sat together, holding hands, watching me with worried eyes.
And Lucien had still not shown up.
As they led me back to processing, I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting to see him burst through the doors. To see those golden eyes and hear that deep voice telling me everything would be okay.
But he never came.
"You're being transferred to county," the officer told me, as if I didn't already know. "Gather your things."
I had nothing to gather, just the clothes on my back and the engagement ring they'd returned to me after processing. I slipped it into my pocket, unable to wear it but unwilling to leave it behind.
"Sterling, you have a visitor."
My heart leaped. "Lucien?"
"Uh, female visitor. Interview room two."