Swamp Murder

Swamp Murder.51

Zhan's Pov.

Today was the first court hearing. And I was barely holding it together.

The car ride was silent, the kind of silence that pressed against your ribs and made it hard to breathe. My hands were cold, clenched together in my lap, but my head felt hot, like my thoughts were on fire, crashing into each other, screaming over the noise.

What if they sent me back?
What if this never ends?
What if... what if I saw him again?

The thought of Wang standing in that courtroom with his new ring, his new wife, his new life.
God.

I felt like I was being unraveled from the inside.

Then Dre's voice broke through the thick air between us.

"You good?" he asked finally.

I let out a dry, bitter laugh. "What a stupid question."

He didn't argue. Just nodded. "Yeah. But I had to ask."

We kept driving. I didn't even realize I had been gripping the edge of the seat until my fingers started to ache. I stared out the window like the world outside could offer me some version of peace. It didn't

Minutes passed before I said what had been gnawing at me for days.

"After the court hearing... I'm leaving."

Dre jerked slightly. "What?"

"I'm leaving," I repeated, voice firmer this time. "Wang has a new life now. A wife. A... family. He doesn't need me lingering around like some ghost from a mistake he made."

"Zhan," Dre said, his voice calm but weighted, "you weren't a mistake."

I gave him a small, empty smile. "Maybe not to us. But to them? I was a stain. Something they were desperate to scrub out."

Dre's jaw clenched. "Wang loves you."

"I know," I whispered. And I won't stay behind like some forgotten dream haunting his future.

Dre didn't speak for a moment. Just watched me like he wanted to argue but knew he couldn't.

"You sure this is what you want?" he asked finally.

I looked out the window again. "What I want stopped mattering the day I got arrested."

Dre sighed deeply and rubbed his hand over his face. "You're stronger than all of them put together, you know that?"

I smiled sadly. "Then why does it still feel like I lost?"

He had no answer.

And maybe there wasn't one.

The courthouse loomed ahead, grey and distant like the last chapter of a book I didn't want to finish. Dre parked in silence, his knuckles pale around the steering wheel. I didn't move immediately. My hands were trembling again.

We stepped out, the sound of our shoes clicking against the pavement swallowed by the buzz of reporters behind barricades. Cameras flashed, voices shouted names, and I lowered my head. Dre moved closer, shielding me as best as he could.

But still, I felt bare.

Inside, the courtroom was colder than I imagined. Sanitized. Clinical. Like they wanted to strip you of anything human before deciding your fate.

I sat there, heart thudding so loudly I could hear it in my ears. The world around me felt blurry like I was underwater and everything above the surface was moving too fast. I clenched my fists in my lap, willing myself not to crumble.