Before I left, I went to the nursery.
Leo and Noah slept side by side under guard.
I kissed them both.
Then I whispered to the empty third crib, “Hold on, Samuel.”
Adrian waited in the hall.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
He held out a small black card. “Celeste gave me this weeks ago. Said it was for emergencies. I think it opens one of Calloway’s private buildings.”
Mara took it, scanned it, and looked sharply at him.
“This is a biometric access token.”
Adrian swallowed. “I want to help.”
I looked at him.
There had been a time when I would have believed that help meant redemption.
Now I knew better.
“Then tell the truth under oath,” I said. “About the fraud. About Celeste. About everything.”
His face paled.
Then he nodded.
“Okay.”
That single word did not heal anything.
But it mattered.
The old courthouse sat abandoned between the financial district and the river. Marble columns. Boarded windows. A bronze statue of Justice with one arm missing.
