LOGINAlicia's POV The judge looked at her papers. The room held. I had been in this chair since nine o'clock. Through the cross-examination. Through Cole's redirect. Through seven months of my life laid out on a table for twelve strangers to weigh. Through footage of a corridor I had walked out of bef
"The witness may step down." I crossed the room. Back past the partition. Sat. The technician moved to the front. The screen descended from the ceiling at the far end. Something in the room changed before a single frame appeared. That collective shift of people who understand that something is abo
Edward's POV Cole called my name. I had not moved in two hours. Not when the word pregnancy landed in that room and the quality of the air changed. I felt it through the partition the way you feel a shift in pressure before weather arrives. Not when everything she had built from a sold car and a
"Yes." Cole met my eyes. "Ms. Valentine. After leaving the Valentine estate. Where did you go." Lucy's lead: "Objection. Relevance." Cole: "Your Honor the defense characterized the witness as isolated and without support during this period. The prosecution has a right to establish what that perio
Alicia's POV Cole didn't pause. Didn't shuffle papers. Didn't let the room fall back into whatever Lucy's lead had left behind. He was already standing. "Ms. Valentine." His voice carried nothing performative in it. No architecture. Just direct. "You walked out of the board meeting that afterno
"Yes." "You were present for the duration of the evening." "For most of it." "Both Lucy Harrington and Vivienne Valentine were present at that event." "Yes." "You collapsed." "Yes." "You were removed from the event by paramedics." "Yes." "And subsequently hospitalized." "Yes." She set the







