But the bailiffs were already moving toward her, their faces impassive. They had heard it all before. Every convicted criminal claimed innocence.
"I didn't kill her!" Shuyin screamed as they grabbed her arms. "She was my Popo! I loved her! Please! Someone has to believe me! Please!"
The courtroom watched as she was dragged toward the side door, still screaming, still pleading.
Some people looked satisfied and others looked uncomfortable. Most just looked eager to get out and share the gossip, to tell their friends they'd been there when the famous socialite was convicted.
As the door closed behind her, cutting off her view of the courtroom, Shuyin caught one final glimpse through the crowd.
On someone's phone screen, she saw a news notification flash:
"Lin Family Returns from Vacation, Expresses Shock and Grief Over Conviction, 'We Never Suspected She Was Capable of This.'"
They were back, safe and triumphant while she was being dragged off to spend the rest of her life in prison for a crime they had committed.
The transport van was waiting behind the courthouse. The media had found it, of course. Cameras pressed against the windows. Reporters were shouting questions she could barely hear.
"How does it feel to be convicted?"
"Do you have any remorse?"
"What do you want to say to your family?"
Shuyin sat in the back of the van, handcuffed, silent now. There was nothing left to say. No one left to say it to. She had screamed herself hoarse, and still no one believed her.
The van pulled away from the courthouse, driving through streets lined with people who had heard the news. Some of them cheered as the van passed.
Others held signs.
"JUSTICE SERVED."
"MURDERER LOCKED UP."
"ROT IN PRISON."
Shuyin closed her eyes against it all.
In the span of twenty-four hours, she had lost everything. Her fiancé, her family, her grandmother, her freedom, and even her life.
And the people who had orchestrated it all, her parents, her aunt, her uncle, her cousin, were free, living their lives, probably celebrating.
They had gotten away with murder and had successfully pinned it on her.
The van drove on through the city, carrying her toward the prison that would be her home for the rest of her life.
Toward a cell where she would spend decades thinking about everything she had lost.
Everyone who had betrayed her.
The police van was a metal box on wheels, smelling of sweat and disinfectant.
Shuyin sat handcuffed to a bar, the verdict still ringing in her ears... Guilty... The word echoed in the hollow space where her heart used to be.
Through the small reinforced window, she watched the city she grew up in blur past. The towering skyscrapers where she attended charity galas.
The luxury boutiques where she'd shopped without looking at price tags.
The restaurants where she'd celebrated birthdays and engagements.
The world that had once been hers faded away with each passing mile, replaced by increasingly grim, industrial landscapes.
They drove for what felt like hours. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across unfamiliar territory. Shuyin had expected to be taken to the city's main women's correctional facility, the one she'd seen mentioned in news reports, modern and clean, where white-collar criminals served their sentences.
But they kept driving, further and further from the city center.
A cold dread, sharper than the grief, began to prick at her numbness.
The van finally slowed as they approached a facility that looked like it had been forgotten by time. High concrete walls topped with coils of razor wire stretched as far as she could see.
Guard towers stood at each corner, their searchlights cutting through the gathering darkness.
The gates that opened were not modern and electronic, but heavy iron, rusted at the edges, groaning as they swung inward.
Through the window, Shuyin caught sight of a weathered sign: Blackwater Ridge Penitentiary - Maximum Security.
Her blood suddenly ran cold.
This was wrong. This had to be wrong. Blackwater Ridge was infamous, she'd heard the name whispered at charity events when discussing prison reform.
It was where they sent the worst of the worst.... Violent offenders.... Serial criminals.... Gang leaders.... Women who had committed unspeakable crimes.
Not someone like her. Not for a first offense, even a murder conviction. This didn't make sense.
"Where are you taking me?" Shuyin's voice came out high and panicked as the van drove through the gates. "This isn't right! There's been a mistake!"
The officer in the front seat didn't even turn around to gaze at her. "No mistake. This is what it says right here on your transfer papers, Blackwater Ridge, maximum security. That's where you're going."
"But I.... I'm not supposed to be here! This is for violent criminals! I should be at the city facility!"