I nod once—composed grace—then stand and stretch like a lazy jungle cat. The prison-issued sweatshirt rides up, revealing a sliver of hipbone.
Let Evelyn get that shot. America loves a little edge with their tragedy.
Officer Declan Ridge buzzes the door open. He’s twenty-nine, former army, current correctional officer, and proud owner of a hero complex. He thinks of himself as a protector, but what he really is?
Useful.
“Wrap it up, Halston. You’ve used your hour.”
“I always do,” I say, lips still parted like I might add something. I don’t.
Power lives in the pause.
Men like him are simple: money, sex, power. Repeat. Use accordingly.
I follow Declan down the corridor, fluorescent lights buzzing like flies. The air reeks of bleach and desperation.
“You’ve got fans,” he mutters, still refusing to look at me.
“Of course I do.” I don’t bother to hide the smirk. “America loves a woman in cuffs. Sexy. Tragic. Compelling.”
He snorts. “You’re something, alright.”
And he loves it.
We turn left—cell block D, minimum security’s finest. I pass familiar faces. Nicole, who stabbed her boyfriend with a fondue fork. Monique, who faked a pregnancy to scam her ex.
Amateurs. All of them.
Back in my cell, I sit on the lower bunk and stare at the opposite wall where someone scratchedSTAY VILEinto the concrete with a nail file.
My kind of motto.
I think about Harper—how her voice softens when she says my name, like she’s tucking it under her pillow at night. She believes me. Fully. Stupidly. She hasn’t even brushed the surface of Brianna. Of Isaac. Of the real reasons I left Carmel with a dead woman’s blood under my nails and a neat little rental waiting in Pismo.
Then I think about Evelyn. I can’t tell if she hates me or wants to crawl inside my skin and wear it like a trophy.
Either way, she’s useful.
Netflix wants ten episodes.
I plan to use every one.
People think justice is a courtroom and a gavel.
It’s not.
It’s perception. It’s the story people choose when the truth is too messy to hold. And I’m the best storyteller I know.
I pull out my contraband notebook—gifted by Harper, smuggled in by Evelyn’s assistant under the guise of production notes. I flip to a clean page and start a list.
NEW TALKING POINTS
• Growing up without a mother
• Raised by an addicted, abusive father
• The “trauma bond” with Kelly
