Chapter 19: Oh, Laurent

Edward

Flashback Scene – Quincy's Sentencing Day

The courtroom was cold—chilling in the way grand halls always are when they hold the weight of a man’s future in their silence. The marble walls, the creak of benches, the impersonal shuffle of papers… all of it grated against my skin like sandpaper.

But nothing—nothing—felt more suffocating than watching my son walk in wearing that navy suit and a face far too brave for someone so young.

Quincy didn’t look at me. Not once. His chin was high, just as it would be when he's laying out his smart ideas in the boardroom. His shoulders squared, like he’d already accepted whatever fate the court had to hand him. I should’ve admired his strength and courageousness. But all I saw was my own spawn tearing down in his insides. was the consequence of my cowardice.

It was Quincy normalcy to always appear calm. For the press. For the media. But I, who had nursed him since his mother passed, I could see far beyond the steel face. I'm staring right p