The color left Gabriel’s face almost instantly as he froze in his seat.
The judge turned her head toward the bailiff standing near the heavy wooden doors. “I would like to ask that this young girl be brought into the courtroom right now.”
Bianca’s subtle laughter had not just stopped, but had been entirely erased as if it had never existed in the first place.
Gabriel’s hands gripped the edge of the wooden table until his knuckles turned completely white.
PART 2: THE LITTLE WITNESS
The back doors opened slowly, creaking against the heavy hinges.
A small girl in a bright yellow cardigan appeared, holding a worn stuffed rabbit pressed tightly against her chest. She blinked several times in the harsh courtroom light while scanning the crowded rows, stopping in her tracks the exact moment her eyes found her father.
Penelope gasped softly, covering her mouth with both hands.
