### **Chapter 6: Beyond Reasonable Doubt**
Harvard Law taught students to believe in logic. Elle Hoods knew better.
Logic, she had learned, was a weapon wielded by those in power—a carefully constructed illusion used to make injustice seem rational. The moment someone said *objectively speaking*, what they really meant was *from a position that benefits me*.
The mock trial was in full swing now. The defense laid out their arguments methodically, citing precedents that justified the conviction. Elle listened, arms crossed, waiting.
Then, the professor turned to her. "Prosecution, your rebuttal?"
Elle stood slowly, letting the silence stretch.
"You keep arguing that the conviction was reasonable," she said, voice steady. "That the evidence was solid. That precedent supports it. But you haven't asked the only question that matters—"
She took a step forward.
"—Was the truth convenient, or was it *real*?"
Preston Montgomery III rolled his eyes. "Are you suggesting that the legal process is inherently flawed?"
Elle turned to him, smirking. "I'm suggesting that law without scrutiny is just tradition pretending to be justice."
A murmur ran through the students.
The professor watched her carefully. "And what, Miss Hoods, do you propose we do with that revelation?"
Elle shrugged. "We stop pretending fairness is built into the process just because it looks organized. We start asking why the system protects power instead of people."
Preston exhaled sharply, flipping through his notes as if the answer he needed would appear.
Elle didn't need notes.
She had lived the answer.
And for the first time, Harvard Law wasn't debating her existence. It was *listening*.