LOGINVALERIE POV I was still standing in the courthouse hallway when my phone vibrated in my hand. For a moment, I didn’t notice it. My thoughts were still tangled in the echoes of the courtroom—the judge’s sharp tone, the woman’s quiet sobs, the way justice had been handed out cleanly and without apology. I was replaying Vera’s face in my head, the way it always appeared when I least expected it, when the vibration came again, more insistent this time. I looked down — an unknown sender. Of course, I knew exactly who it was. That alone should have made me cautious. It usually did. But something about today had already stripped me raw, left my emotions exposed. I unlocked the phone. There will be a party. Alexander’s birthday is in two days’ time. I stared at the screen. Once. Twice. Then I read it again, slower. Alexander’s birthday. In two days. My pulse jumped, sharp and sudden, like my body had reacted before my mind could catch up. The hallway around me faded—the polished
VALERIE I woke up to that cold, sinking reminder — court was today. I lay there for a while, staring blankly at the ceiling, trying to steady my thoughts. It still felt wild to me. Unreal. I’d always believed some things could be handled at home. Not every disagreement needed a courtroom. Not every marriage problem needed a judge in a robe deciding who failed who. But life doesn’t always care what you believe. But I also know this. There are situations no kitchen-table conversation can fix. No apologies can erase neglect. No promises can undo years of irresponsibility. And no amount of patience should be demanded from a woman who has carried everything alone while the man who vowed to stand beside her chased every skirt that crossed his path. Today was the third hearing. The final one and I had vowed to myself that I would get her justice. I stood in front of the mirror that morning, adjusting the collar of my suit, studying my reflection with a calm that came from prep
ALEXANDER The door closed behind her with a sound that was too soft for the weight it carried, and for a moment I just stood there, frozen, staring at the space where Ms.Quinn had been standing seconds ago. The apartment felt unfamiliar now, like the walls had shifted when she left, like the air itself had changed its mind about me. The music was off, the laughter gone, the smoke thinning, yet her presence still lingered, sharp and uncomfortable, like a truth I was not ready to face.You are free because I allowed it.Her words replayed in my head, slow and deliberate, each repetition digging deeper than the last. I dragged a hand down my face and let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I had been holding my breath for days, maybe weeks, ever since the cuffs snapped around my wrists and the world decided I was guilty before I could speak. Freedom should have tasted sweet. Instead, it felt fragile, like glass.I walked toward the couch and dropped onto it heavily, elbows on
VALERIE Alexander, listen. I had never gone back on my word, and I wasn’t about to start now. Not today. Not with him. Not ever. That promise included shattering his world if I ever had to. The thought echoed quietly in my head as I stood facing Alexander in the middle of his living room. The door had already closed behind his men. The apartment was silent now, stripped of music, laughter, smoke, and noise. Just the two of us. Just truth hanging thick in the air. He looked different without his crew around him. Less guarded. Less arrogant. Not defiant. Not angry. Just unsure. And that alone told me I had walked into something dangerous. We had an agreement, a clear one. You needed legal backup, someone to stand between you and the system while you do your things. I agreed to that. Nothing more. Nothing less. I did not agree to babysit you and I did not agree to clean up your recklessness. I did not agree to watch you walk back into the same fire that almost destroyed you. “I
VALERIE It was already the weekend, and the city felt different in that quiet, deceptive way it always did when people believed the worst had passed. The air was cool, almost gentle, as I drove through familiar streets toward Alexander’s apartment. I didn’t come with anger sharp enough to threaten him, and I didn’t come with fear either. What sat heavy in my chest was something more exhausting—disappointment mixed with resolve. If I was going to continue this path, I needed to see him. I needed to understand where his head was now. I parked outside his building and sat in the car for a moment longer than necessary, my hands resting on the steering wheel. For two years, every step I’d taken had been deliberate. Every move is calculated. Yet standing here, about to face the man whose name had shaped my life in ways he didn’t even know, I felt an unfamiliar tightness in my throat. Not a weakness. Just restraint. I got out of the car and walked up to the door. Before I could knock
VALERIE The moment I stepped into my apartment, a strange kind of silence greeted me. Not the empty silence of loneliness—no. This one felt earned. Like the quiet that comes after surviving a storm you weren’t sure you’d walk out of. Finally… This case is over. Not just over—I won, I actually won. I set my bag on the console table and let out a breath I’d been holding for far too long. My shoulders felt lighter, my heartbeat calmer… and yet beneath that relief was this sharp whisper inside my mind: This case delayed you. You should have been working on Alexander already. And it was true. If not for this courtroom circus, I would have been weeks or rather months into executing the plan I’ve been building for two painful, obsessive years. But I forced myself to look at the brighter side. It still worked in my favor. In fact, everything played beautifully into my hands. Now—thanks to this trial, thanks to standing on his side, thanks to fighting his battle—Alexander trust







