Day Seven - Verdict Day
I woke to silence.
No alarm. No movement. Just the heavy weight of knowing that today, everything would change.
Dante was already awake, staring at the ceiling.
"Did you sleep?" I asked.
"A little. You?"
"Same."
We lay there in the pre-dawn darkness, holding each other, neither wanting to move because moving meant facing what was coming.
"Whatever happens today," Dante said quietly, "I need you to remember something."
"What?"
"You're the bravest person I've ever met. Braver than any operative, any soldier, anyone. Because you chose this. Chose to fight when you could have run. Chose to stand up when you could have hidden. That's real courage."
"I don't feel brave. I feel terrified."
"Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's acting despite it." He turned to face me. "And you've done that every single day since we met."
"If they convict me—"
"They won't."
"But if they do—"
