Chapter 4 - Behind BarsThe holding cell at the county precinct smelled of disinfectant, old coffee, and despair.
Cora sat on the narrow metal bench, her knees pulled up to her chest. The charges sheet lay on the steel table in front of her: Grand Larceny, Criminal Conspiracy, and Animal Cruelty.
The cruelty charge was the one that made her chest ache the most. They claimed she had been starving Nero, beating him in secret, and using him as a weapon for illegal dog-fighting syndicates operating out of the estate. It was a lie so monstrous, so completely inverted from reality, that Cora felt like she was living in a nightmare.
The heavy metal door clanked open. A detective with greasy hair and a cheap suit stepped inside, tossing a file onto the table.
"Sign the confession, Walsh," the detective said, leaning against the doorframe. "Vance’s legal team has already processed the paperwork. You take the fall for the corporate theft and the animal neglect, you do five years in a minimum-security facility. You fight it, and you'll be locked away in the state penitentiary before the week is out."
"I didn't take anything," Cora said, her voice steady despite the trembling in her hands. "And I didn't hurt Nero."
"Nero?" The detective snorted. "That monster of a dog is being put down as we speak. Animal control already has him scheduled for destruction under Section 4 of the Dangerous Animals Act. The judge signed off an hour ago."
The world seemed to tilt on its axis.
Put down.
They were going to kill him. Not just lock him away, but execute him to cover up whatever Vance and his inside men had stolen from Dante’s safe.
"You're lying," Cora whispered, her eyes flashing with a sudden, feral fury.
"I don't lie to inmates, sweetheart. Now sign the paper."
Cora looked at the pen, then at the signature line. For a second, her vision blurred with hot, angry tears. She thought about her mother, about the rented room, about all the times she had given up so others could survive.
Then she thought of Nero’s scarred ear pressed against her chest.
She picked up the pen. The detective smiled, reaching out his hand to take the paper back.
May you like
Instead of signing her name, Cora gripped the metal barrel of the pen and slammed it down into the wooden table with all her might, snapping it in half.
"Go to hell," she whispered.
