Mag-log in[POV: Lewis] (Location: Edinburgh)He didn't sleep.Yessica had finally gone quiet beside him around two in the morning, her breathing evening out while he lay still and stared at the ceiling. The call from Eleanor kept cycling through his head, same words, same sequence, no new information no matter how many times he replayed it.Catherine was filing to overturn Ethan's paternity. From prison. Four months into her sentence, stripped of her money and her freedom and every tool she'd used against them for years, and she was still reaching out.At six he got up, made coffee, and waited.Eleanor's office opened at nine. They were in the lobby at eight fifty-five.Eleanor's desk had one file on it. Thin. She'd worked through the weekend."Sit down," she said. "Both of you."Lewis sat. Yessica settled beside him and didn't reach for his hand. They'd both learned to wait for the facts before they reacted. Too many crises for theatrics."I contacted the laboratory that processed Ethan's or
[POV: Yessica] (Location: Edinburgh)Mrs. Brennan arrived at nine sharp, tablet in hand, the same professional warmth in her eyes that Yessica had spent months learning to read without success."Good morning. I'll be observing your normal Saturday routine. Please just go about your day as you normally would."As if they could forget she was there. As if her notes didn't determine whether a judge kept watching them for another six months or finally let them live their lives in private."Breakfast is just starting," Yessica said. "Come in."The thunder of small feet on the stairs announced the children before they appeared. Claire, already dressed in her purple unicorn shirt. Ethan in dinosaur pajamas, holding his stuffed T-Rex against his chest. Rose last, hair wild from sleep, both arms out, demanding "Mama!" before she'd fully cleared the doorway.Lewis was already at the stove. Scrambled eggs, toast, fruit cut into pieces small enough for Rose's hands. The kitchen smelled like but
[POV: Yessica] (Location: Edinburgh)Judge Morrison's courtroom was exactly as Yessica remembered it. Same wood paneling, same state seal, same clock on the wall that ticked too loud in the silences.But this time, they were on the right side of the facts.Lewis sat beside her at the table, Harrison in the gallery behind them. Regina was already seated across the aisle with James Whitmore, her lawyer. She wasn't looking at anyone.Judge Morrison entered at nine sharp. Everyone stood, then sat.The judge opened the file, reviewed it briefly, and looked directly at Lewis. Her expression was different from any hearing before. Quieter. More careful."Mr. Sterling," she said. "I've reviewed the FCA's statement clearing you of fraud allegations, the police investigation into Ms. Hargrave and Ms. Catherine Sterling, and the forensic report establishing that you were the victim of a deliberate conspiracy." She paused. "I owe you an apology."The courtroom stayed completely still."My previo
[POV: Lewis] (Location: Edinburgh)The Monday morning hearing took eleven minutes.Eleanor presented Catherine's prison motion to the bench at 9:02 AM. Judge Morrison read it once, set it down, and looked at Lewis's lawyer with an expression that said she already knew her ruling before anyone spoke."This motion has no legal standing," Eleanor said simply. "A criminal conviction does not extinguish parental rights. Ms. Sterling is attempting to leverage her own fraud conviction as a weapon in family court — the very conviction obtained through her deliberate attempt to manufacture the fraudulent circumstances she's now citing as grounds for termination."Judge Morrison didn't need to deliberate."Motion denied." The gavel came down at 9:13 AM. "Ms. Sterling's criminal conviction, filed from her current place of incarceration, is not sufficient grounds to modify this court's custody arrangement. Mr. Sterling's parental rights remain fully intact. This motion is dismissed with prejudi
[POV: Yessica] (Location: Edinburgh)She found the photo by accident.Lewis's phone was face-up on the kitchen counter when she came downstairs at seven. He'd been scrolling through his camera roll the night before and left the app open. She didn't mean to look. She just did.It was a photo of the two of them from their first Edinburgh flat — the one with the drafty windows and the landlord who never fixed the heating. Her hair was shorter. Lewis was laughing at something off-camera. She was looking at him.She looked completely unguarded. No walls, no waiting for something to go wrong. Just a woman who'd let herself believe, finally, that she was safe with someone.She couldn't remember looking like that recently."You're staring at my phone." Lewis's voice came from the stairs. He was dressed but still barefoot, holding his shoes."You left it open." She held it up. "Who took this?"He looked at the photo, then at her face. "Pippa. Last November. You don't remember?""I remember t
[POV: Yessica] (Location: Edinburgh — Sterling Industries)Sienna's question hung in the air like a dare."Tell me. What exactly do you think you know?"She was smiling. Leaning back in her chair like she'd already won. Like this was theater staged for her entertainment and Lewis was the one who'd walked into the trap.Yessica kept her hands still in her lap. The recording pen was on the table between them. Lewis's phone was in his jacket pocket, audio running. Every second of this was being captured.Lewis didn't rush. He pulled a chair out, sat down across from Sienna, and let the silence stretch until her smile started to look like effort."I know about the backdoor malware installed on my old laptop before it was donated to charity," he said. "I know it gave you remote access to my company systems for eight months. I know about the Singapore shell company registered to your holdings that was used to route the transfers."Sienna's expression didn't crack. But something shifted be







