Passing under the awning, I entered the kitchen, Norway, but stopped abruptly. Sebastian sat at the kitchen island with a steaming cup before him. When he heard me, he turned, and our gazes met.

“Couldn’t sleep either?” he asked, standing up.

I just nodded, watching as he opened a cabinet and took out another mug. Without my having to say anything, he poured me coffee from the pot.

“I thought I was the only one awake,” I murmured, sitting down next to him.

“Clearly not.”

Even now, my mind replayed everything Hawthorne had told us. All the evidence from yesterday seemed clear and irrefutable, staring me in the face, with no way to disprove it. But why was my heart silently telling me she was innocent? Hawthorne had told us they would begin the trial immediately, and given the current situation, Aurora was facing thirty to fifty years in prison.

It bothered me. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. It was there, in the back of my mind, but I just couldn’t grasp it.

“Is it about Aurora?” Sebastian asked, pulling me back to reality. I took a sip of my coffee, trying to clear my head with caffeine.

“Yeah. I can’t get everything we learned out of my mind.”

He nodded. “Fuck. It’s unbelievable. I never thought she’d go that far, but thinking about it now, maybe I didn’t know her as well as I thought I did.”

His voice turned cold, his eyes dangerous. I knew Sebastian, and right now, he was figuring out ways to make her pay for what she’d done to me. It was like he’d already forgotten his history with Aurora. Having Sebastian hold a grudge against you was like death itself. He was still that dangerous, powerful Alpha who would crush you and make sure nothing was left. I knew this because I’d been his enemy once, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Many times I’d considered packing up and running away because of what he’d done to me.

If Aurora was truly guilty, I felt sorry for her, because compared to what was coming, everything she experienced the first time she went to jail would seem like a fairy tale. It would be like a bedtime story compared to the reality that was coming.

“I don’t think she did it,” I finally said, staring at the steaming black liquid before looking up at Sebastian. His gaze registered surprise.

“What? Hawthorne showed us all the damn evidence, Thea.”

“I know, but my gut tells me she’s innocent. I can’t explain it; I should be the first in line demanding justice, but I just don’t believe the evidence. I think I know her as much as I know you. Aurora might be many things, but a killer isn’t one of them.”

He continued searching my gaze, as if he thought I was crazy. Maybe I was, but that didn’t change the fact that I believed Aurora was innocent.

“How can you be sure?” he frowned. “This woman has been scheming, lying, and threatening since she came back. How can you be sure she didn’t decide eliminating you was necessary in her quest to get back with me, because you were a threat?”

His questions made perfect sense. And all I had was my intuition. That wasn’t enough… What if he was right? What if the reason I thought she was innocent was because of our poor family bond from before? I mean, we’d been estranged for many years, but before that, we were family, even if we didn’t get along well.

With a sigh, I took a sip of my coffee. I didn’t know how to explain it to him; Sebastian was the type who believed in facts. Without evidence, I couldn’t convince anyone.