CHAPTER 260

Julia’s POV

The metal bars felt colder today, or maybe it was just my imagination. The days had blurred into an endless cycle of waiting and hoping, but today was different. My lawyer had stopped visiting me. The realization struck me like a sledgehammer, and my heart ached with the weight of it.

I gripped the rough edges of my cot, trying hard not to fall apart completely. Why had he abandoned me? What had changed? My mind churned with possibilities, none of them comforting.

It was during one of these spirals that the police officer walked by, his keys jangling at his belt. I called out to him, my voice trembling. “Officer, do you know why my lawyer hasn’t come to see me?”

He stopped, his expression indifferent. “Your parents probably stopped paying him. The government might just assign you a new lawyer.”

His words cut through me like a knife. My parents had abandoned me too? The people who were supposed to stand by me, to fight for me, had given up. I felt a surge of anger and betra