KINGDOM OF ASH AND SCREAM

The judge's gavel came down at 10:47 AM.

Samuel Banks stood in the prisoner's dock with his hands cuffed behind his back. His suit was borrowed. His face was bruised. His eyes were empty.

The courtroom was packed. Reporters. Detectives. Politicians. They'd all come to see the fall of the youngest homicide detective in the city's history. The golden boy. The one who was supposed to clean up the streets. The one who was supposed to be incorruptible.

They'd gotten what they came for.

"Samuel Banks," the judge intoned. "You have been found guilty of the murder of Detective Jeremy Stones. Do you have anything to say before sentencing?"

Samuel looked at the judge. Then at the prosecution table. Then at the gallery.

His former partner sat in the front row. Leonardo Riggs. He met Samuel's eyes. Didn't flinch. Didn't blink.

Samuel had caught him once. Taking bribes. The system had protected him. And he has returned the favor by testifying against Samuel. By lying. By putting a bullet in an innocent man and blaming it on his partner.

"I didn't kill him," Samuel said. His voice was calm. "You all know I didn't kill him."

The courtroom stirred. The judge banged his gavel.

"You have been found guilty by a jury of your peers."

"They were bought," Samuel said. "Every single one of them. You know it. I know it. But you don't care."

The judge's face hardened. "Twenty years. State penitentiary. No parole."

The gavel came down again. Samuel heard the words like they were happening to someone else. Twenty years. A lifetime. Everything he'd built. Everything he'd loved.

Gone.

Two weeks before the verdict, Samuel had still believed in the system.

He'd been a good detective. The best. He'd closed more cases in three years than most closed in ten. He'd put away murderers, rapists, and corrupt politicians. He'd made enemies. Powerful ones.

But he'd believed the truth would protect him.

He'd been wrong. Justice wasn't on his side. It had failed him.

It started with a call. 2 AM. A body in an abandoned warehouse. Jeremy, another partner of five years, lying in a pool of blood. Gunshot to the chest. Shot from behind.

Samuel had found the body. That was the first mistake.

He'd called it in. That was the second.

By sunrise, he was the prime suspect. The evidence was too perfect. Too clean. His gun was missing from his locker. His fingerprints were on the murder weapon. A witness—some nobody who'd been paid to lie, placed him at the scene.

He laughed at first. It was absurd. Everyone knew him. Everyone trusted him.

Then his lawyer had told him to plead guilty. "Less time. They'll go easy on you."

Samuel had refused. He believed in the system. He believed in truth.

He'd been a fool.

***

The trial lasted three weeks. The prosecution painted him as a monster. A cop who'd snapped. A man who'd killed his partner over a gambling debt.

Leonardo took the stand on day four. He looked broken. Grieving. He talked about how close they'd been. How Samuel had been like a brother to him. How he couldn't believe what Samuel had done.

The performance was flawless. Samuel had to admire it. He taught Leo everything he knew. How to read a room.

He'd created his own monster.

"Samuel was always jealous," Leo testified, dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief. "I got promoted faster. I got better cases. He couldn't handle it. He started drinking. Started gambling. I tried to help him, but he wouldn't listen."

Samuel watched his partner lie. Watched the jury eat it up. Watched his life crumble one word at a time.

Christina came to court every day. His wife. The woman he'd married five years ago, on a beach in Mexico, with nothing but a cheap ring and a mountain of dreams. She sat in the back row. She never looked at him. She never smiled.

On the last day of testimony, she'd come to the holding cell.

Her face was pale. Her eyes were red. She'd been crying not because he was innocent, but because of what his guilt would do to her family.

"Christina," he said. "I didn't do it. You know I didn't do it."

She stared at him. "My father's lawyer says if I stay with you, the firm will cut me off. My parents will disown me. I'll lose everything."

"I'm your husband."

"I know." Her voice cracked. "But I have to think about the future. I can't be married to a convicted murderer, Samuel. My family won't survive it."

He hadn't argued. He was too tired. Too broken. He'd just nodded and let her walk away.

He hadn't seen her since.

Day fifty-eight of the trial. His ex-partner stopped by the holding cell.

The man who'd killed an innocent detective. The man who'd framed Samuel. The man who was about to be promoted. Leo. That betrayal still hurt him.

He brought a bag of takeout. Chinese. Samuel's favorite.

"Eat," Leo said, sliding it through the bars. "You'll need your strength."

Samuel didn't touch the food. "Why?"

Leo shrugged. "Why what?"

"Why did you do it?"

Leo leaned against the wall. Examined his manicured nails. "You were too good, Sam. Too clean. You were going to expose the corruption. The bribes. The deals. There were powerful people who didn't want that."

"So you killed a cop?"

"I killed a problem. He was going to expose the organization. You were going to help him. I couldn't let that happen."

Samuel's hands gripped the bars. "I trusted you."

"Big mistake."

Marcus turned to leave. Then stopped.

"Oh, and Sam? Your wife? She's already moved in with her new boyfriend. Some rich investor. Her family is thrilled. They're having a party this weekend to celebrate your conviction."

He laughed as he walked away.

Samuel screamed. It was an animal sound. One that gave it away that he was broken. The guards came running. They beat him. They threw him in isolation.

He didn't care. He'd already died inside. What was left of him was just a vessel for rage. For hate. For revenge.

Then the verdict came on Tuesday. The same day his daughter was born. The same day his life had begun.

Now it ended.

Samuel stood in the prisoner's dock and watched his world collapse. The reporters were already writing their headlines. The politicians were already distancing themselves. His former colleagues were already erasing his name from their memories.

"Twenty years," the judge said. "Take him away."

The guards grabbed him. He didn't resist. He just looked at the courtroom one last time.

Leonardo was smiling. He didn't even hide it.

Samuel locked that smile into his memory. The first face on his list.

The first man he would kill when he got out.