Fire on Fire

20. Dear Alexander

"What do you mean, she's being transferred?" Alexander yelled, glaring at the man that was sitting on the other side of the desk. "There hasn't even been a trial yet!"

"Everything was expedited given the nature of the crime." The lawyer replied without even looking at him.

"Don't say crime like she's some sort of terrorist." Alexander clenched his jaw.

"Well, the accuses against her are pretty strong. I couldn't do much other than settle." The other man shrugged. "My client accepted a plea bargain."

"And you're ok with an innocent woman going to prison?!"

"But she is not innocent, is she?" The man rolled his eyes. "The evidence against her is pretty solid. I'm sorry."

Alexander slammed his hand onto the desk, cursing, then left. Solid evidence, he scoffed to himself as he walked out of the lawyer's office. More like, fabricated.

Attempted murder, they'd accused Emma of attempted murder, claiming there was proof that she had not just threatened this person, but actually tried to kill them. No, it wasn't possible. Emma would never. This had Nancy Dorsey written all over it.

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"Yes, I did it." Emma nodded. Sitting before a glass, communicating only with a phone, surrounded by women that had been found guilty of the most various crimes – it felt like déja vu. Except this time, on the other side of that glass, there was a man whose disappointment she could clearly read in his eyes and not just a random lawyer she couldn't care less about.

"You ... what?"

"Remember that guy we talked about the night we ... the first night?" She pursed her lips.

"The one you slapped for grabbing your ass?" Alexander asked, confused.

"That one." She nodded. "Well, that wasn't the last time I saw him." When he didn't react, Emma sighed. "Not what you think." She immediately defended.

"I don't know what I think." He rolled his eyes. "And you know I don't judge, especially given ... well, you know." He waved his free hand in the air, as if to dismiss and remind her at the same time.

"Yeah." She heaved a deep sigh, feeling silly for having doubted Alexander even for a split second. Given his past, he of all people knew not to judge a book by its cover and to not jump to conclusions.

"So, what happened?" Alexander asked, inching closer to the glass. Lowering his voice, he added: "Or is it not safe to talk about it here?"

"I met him by chance. I'd just come from a job interview, he appeared out of nowhere at the bus stop. He mocked me, laughed at me, claiming he would make it impossible for me to find another workplace, because he was a big shot and whatever." Emma recounted, grimacing when she reminded herself that she was hiding half of it. Last thing she needed was for Alexander to go playing avenging hero to protect her honor.

"You threw him under a bus? Slapped him again? What, exactly, do they count as attempted murder?" He raised his voice a little, frustrated. Of all the possible scenarios he'd considered when going after her, none entailed being on the opposite side of a glass that for a long time he'd only seen from the inside.

If anything, he'd expected to be in her shoes, instead, already prefiguring the months he'd spend talking to the love of his life without being able to touch her, the days he'd count until he could finally hug her again. Never would he have imagined the exact thing would happen, but with reversed roles.

"I punched him," Emma shrugged nonchalantly. One thing that surprised Alexander was the way with which she'd just accepted her fate. She wasn't scared nor surprised, as if she expected it.