My father testified publicly.
So did my mother.
So did Nathaniel.
Celeste testified too.
Her testimony helped locate Margot Ellery’s remains on a private island Calloway had owned through three shell companies. She wept when they told her.
I did not comfort her.
But I did not look away.
Adrian woke after nine days.
I went to see him once.
He looked thinner. Older. Stripped of every polished surface he had once mistaken for worth.
“Are the boys okay?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Relief broke across his face.
Then shame followed.
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” he said.
“Good.”
He gave a weak smile. “Fair.”
I stood beside his bed.
“For the fraud, for the forged papers, for helping Celeste get close to my family—you will answer legally.”
“I know.”
“For humiliating me when I had just given birth, there is no court big enough.”
His eyes filled.
“I know that too.”
