Forced Hand

Joan’s POV

Later That Night

I didn’t drive home. I couldn’t. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking, and I didn’t want to risk it. So I sat in the back of a cab, staring out the window, watching the city blur past. My phone buzzed a few times, but I didn’t check it. Not now. Not when my thoughts were so loud.

The courtroom felt like a slaughterhouse today. Nothing we said mattered. Nothing Valerie said, n