The most awaited day in her life has finally arrived. In some cruel way, it was the day that would dictate her future. Would she forever leave in a haunting fear or would she finally throw this agony behind her? Hailey Palvin sat in a bundle of nerves in the first row of the courtroom; today was judgment day for the three criminals who inflicted endless misery upon her. She should have listened to her fiance, Hailey thought of this morning’s discussion as her fingers fiddled together on her lap.

“You don’t have to face them, honey.” Nate’s persuasive eyes met hers through the dresser’s mirror. “I could just go and tell you the trial’s results later.”

“We talked about this, Nate.” Hailey breathed out shakily, her fingers carefully binding any loose ends of her chestnut brown hair in a tight ponytail. She no longer likes leaving it flowing freely behind her back. She avoided looking at her face; she hated it. They made her hate it. They made her hate everything about herself, to be exact. “I want to be there. No matter…” she placed her palms flat on the dresser, biting her lips agonizingly.

“Honey…” she glimpsed Nate’s hands, hesitant to touch her shoulders. He wanted to comfort her, but he worried about her reaction. “Take deep breaths.” He understood her situation and didn’t want to discomfort her; she loved him for how considerate he was. He has always been her sweet loving fiance. “Yes, just like that.” It was hard for him as it was for her. He felt trapped, not being able to comfort his one true love; he wished nothing more but to take away her pain and consume it as his own. Sadly, he couldn’t.

“No matter what the result would be, I—I…” Hailey struggled as her hands shook on the dresser. She didn’t want to cry not again. She had cried enough since that fateful day. She wanted to retake control of her life. She didn’t like feeling hostage to that pain or that day anymore. She was tired of reliving it. “I want to be there.” She said with finality, her voice not as stable as she hoped it to be. “I want to be there.”

Nate sighed before nodding. “Okay, and I will be there to support you no matter what.” Nate knew he couldn’t argue anymore with her. She had already been through enough; all he could do was be there for her and support her through it all.

Hailey’s attention was brought back to the cruel reality of her life. Subconsciously her fingers traced the gun buried in her bag. Weirdly, it offered her the comfort she needed, especially knowing how this cold metal would aid her if the court failed her. She would rather spend the rest of her life in prison peacefully than let these monsters be alive to hurt someone else. All of a sudden, her grip on the gun tightened, and her finger hovered over the trigger while her whole body shook uncontrollably. It only took a tremendous clashing of her eyes with… him to unrattled her like that. These poisonous green eyes lurked in the shadows every night she went to sleep. He should be dead, she thought. Yet, he was standing right there behind bars mocking her with his smug yet deadly eyes. Her fingers itched to shoot him. He was right there; she could make the shot. She was practicing. One shot to his head and he would be gone. He would be gone, and her nightmares would follow in tow.

“Don’t.” Nate’s hand covered hers, pushing the gun further into her bag. “He is not worth it. None of them are, my love.” He squeezed her shaking hand before bending down to plant a kiss on it. “I am here with you. Together we will get through this, sweetheart.”

“Together.” She whispered, her eyes in a blazing stare with Ace, the mafia lord who despised her as much as she did him.

Ace’s eyes made a quick detour to where Nate’s hand was before they traveled back to Hailey. He smirked sickeningly, forcing Hailey’s stomach to twist agonizingly. Nate’s other hand cupped her cheek and forced her to look at him instead. “Don’t look at them.” He noticed the tears she tried to contain, and his heart ached.

“I am okay.” Hailey reassured him, or more like herself, before looking back ahead. She could feel Ace’s stare imprinted on her, and her whole body was lit on fire. Her fingers started fiddling together, her tongue poking out to trace her chapped lips while her leg bobbed up and down. She wanted out of here. She desperately wanted to be anywhere else but here. Not with them, these criminals, not with Ace. As if he was luring her in, she found her eyes crashing to his poisonous green ones once more. He had such beautiful eyes, emerald green and glistening; he didn’t deserve them. Such a rotten person didn’t deserve such beautiful emerald gems. Those gems cut deep into her, leaving her bleeding, similar to that fateful nightmare of night he was responsible for. She couldn’t help but relive it, and oh God, did she just wish to die at this very moment. But she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t let this criminal win, not before and certainly not now.