I Sent Him to Prison, Now I'm Falling for His Brother novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Nine Years Later

Nine years later I worked behind a counter in the county courthouse, stamping other people's paper.

I was twenty-seven.

I had a one-bedroom apartment over a hardware store and a shoebox in my closet.

Inside the shoebox was every document from my own trial.

I had never shown it to anyone.

On a Tuesday in October, a woman in a gray jacket put a white envelope on my counter.

"Certified mail for you, Nadine," she said. "Victim services. They sent it here by mistake."

I knew what it was before I opened it.

My hands knew.

*Notice of parole eligibility. Inmate: Luka Stafford. Hearing date: November 19.*

Three weeks.

I read it twice with the stamp still in my other hand.

The line in front of me kept moving.

A man needed a copy of a deed, and I gave it to him.

A girl needed a marriage license form, and I gave it to her.

Nobody could tell that I was standing very still on the inside.

At lunch I walked across the street to the diner, because my legs didn't know where else to go.

I sat at the counter with a coffee I didn't drink.

The TV above the pie case was playing the local news.

"Tonight, the Stafford family gathers at the Grand Lakeside Hotel for the annual gala of the Stafford Second Chances Foundation," the anchor said. "This year's event honors men and women rebuilding their lives after prison."

I looked up.

There was a poster on the screen behind the anchor, and the face on it was Luka's.

He was thinner and older, and he was smiling in a plain gray shirt.

*Redemption is a choice,* the poster said. *Meet Luka.*

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