The Verdict for Bryce Sterling Is In
Avery studied all afternoon, and by evening, she got a call from Diana Marks.
The message was for Alden Pierce, Wyatt Riggs, and Shane Croft: they were moving.
Diana had rented them their own apartment on the twelfth floor, complete with a housekeeper to handle their day-to-day needs, leaving the entire twenty-third floor to Avery.
She also told Avery to cut back on takeout; from now on, the housekeeper would be cooking all her meals.
It was the kind of move that showed the difference between a pro and an amateur.
Wyatt and Shane had been crashing there for two days, and Leo Foster hadn't given their living situation a second thought.
Diana had it sorted in a single phone call.
For Avery, it was a relief. As much as she liked the guys, living with them was always going to be a little awkward.
The next few weeks were a blur of work and study.
Avery threw herself into everything, filming two guest spots as a doctor and even landing the lawyer role she'd been dying to play.
All she had to do was wait for the main cast to get back from their location shoot, and she'd be on set.
She was like a sponge, soaking up everything she could about the craft of acting.
Her progress was so fast, her acting coach, Alden, joked that she was making him obsolete.
But under the joke, there was a real sense of admiration.
He'd figured he had a year or two at Stellar Media, but at the rate Avery was learning, he might be out of a job in six months.
Take posture, for instance. Most trainees needed two or three months of constant practice before the right way of holding themselves became second nature.
But Avery kept his instructions in her head every single moment.
From the first day, she only ever slipped back into her old habits when she forgot herself sitting down.
In a week, she'd mastered techniques that took others three months to get right.
But even with her packed schedule, Avery hadn't forgotten about her own unfinished business.
One morning, after her run with Wyatt and the others, she broke her routine.
Instead of heading straight for her scripts, she took a long shower, changed into some comfy loungewear, and settled onto the sofa.
She opened her laptop to the court's public livestream portal and searched for the case number.
Soon, the feed flickered to life. Bryce Sterling, who'd been in custody for a month, appeared on screen, sitting cuffed in the defendant's chair. He looked haggard and pale, a ghost of the arrogant man she remembered. All the domineering rage he'd shown when he attacked her was gone.
Avery stared at his face, her own expression turning to ice. This was the man who had beaten Dr. Avery Hayes to death in a hospital hallway. She pressed her lips into a thin, hard line, her eyes glued to the screen.
Wyatt and Shane knew what had happened to her.
They hadn't been paying attention to her laptop at first, but when the words "Defendant Bryce Sterling" and "Plaintiff Avery Hayes" echoed from the speakers, they both went still.
Without a word, they stopped what they were doing and sat down on either side of her, their presence a silent, solid weight.
Time seemed to crawl as the lawyers went back and forth. The three of them watched, their hearts pounding in a slow, heavy rhythm, their breathing shallow.
"Well, this is a rare sight. It's after ten and you're not working yet."
The door clicked open, and Alden Pierce's cheerful voice shattered the tension. He'd just let himself in, expecting a normal morning.
All three of them jumped, whipping their heads around to face him.
Wyatt's expression was cold. He pressed a finger to his lips in a sharp, commanding *shush*.
Shane's reaction was more visceral. As he turned, his entire body went rigid, and his eyes narrowed with a look so sharp it could have cut glass.
It was there and gone in a flash, too quick for anyone to catch, but Wyatt, who seemed to expect it, gently patted Shane's hand while still glaring at Alden.
Shane relaxed almost instantly. Besides Wyatt, not even Avery, sitting right beside him, noticed the flicker of violence.
She just gave Alden a detached glance before turning her attention back to the screen.
On the livestream, the courtroom was silent for several seconds. Just as Alden moved to stand behind the sofa, the judge's voice returned, filling the living room.
"Defendant Bryce Sterling is convicted of aggravated assault. Furthermore, he assaulted a doctor performing their duties within a hospital, which constitutes a severe circumstance. He is sentenced to three years in prison."
The deep, steady voice came clearly through the laptop speakers, delivering the verdict Avery had been waiting for.
Her eyes were calm, but the corners of her mouth slowly curled into a cold, grim smile.
Three years. He'd gotten the maximum sentence.
But it wasn't enough. Not even close.
How could three years in prison possibly be justice for a human life?
The assault in the hospital corridor... even though she hadn't experienced it herself, the memory was seared into her mind, the helplessness, the terror, the creeping cold just before her life slipped away.
This was just the first step. Her real target was the Sterling family.
As long as they had power, Bryce would never face any real punishment.
After the judge finished, the livestream cut out. Their lawyer, Mr. Goodwin, had known Avery couldn't attend in person and had applied for the remote feed for her. Her absolute insistence on sending Bryce to prison had made him suspect this trial meant more to her than just a simple assault case.
"So, that's the guy who attacked you? Damn, they sentenced him pretty quick," Alden remarked, having only caught the final verdict.
He'd heard about Avery's situation before moving out to California.
The incident had blown up online, made worse by the attacker's family, who kept making things worse for themselves on X, formerly Twitter.
Once it came out that the victim was Avery Hayes, the rising star, Bryce Sterling had become infamous.
"Sentenced," Avery said, her voice low as she tried to quiet the storm inside her. "Three years."
"You get three years for hitting someone these days?" Alden muttered, genuinely surprised. He glanced at Avery. From what he could see, she didn't have any lasting injuries. "Are the laws really that strict now?"
At his words, Avery's composure cracked. Her eyes, suddenly clear and piercing, snapped to his. "Do you think the sentence is too long, Mr. Pierce?"
"Uh..." Alden felt a chill run down his spine. He choked on his next words. "No, not at all." He'd really put his foot in it. What an idiotic thing to say. It was like pouring salt in a wound. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking."
Avery saw she'd overreacted. She took a breath, forcing herself to calm down.
"Normally, if there's no serious injury or if the victim agrees to a settlement, the sentence wouldn't be this heavy," she explained, her voice flat and clinical.
"He got three years because he assaulted me while I was on duty. The law is very clear: assaulting a medical professional in a hospital is a severe circumstance. So even with minor injuries, he got the maximum."
After she finished, she had no energy left to talk. She set her laptop down on the coffee table. "Mr. Pierce, can I take the day off? We can continue tomorrow."
The trial had ended the way she'd wanted, but there was no satisfaction in it. To everyone else, three years probably sounded harsh for an assault.
But for her, it was nowhere near enough.