“Yes,” she said. “I finally understood what I should have done years ago.”

Andrew bent closer.

“Serena means nothing.”

Olivia met his eyes.

“That is the first honest thing you have said tonight.”

She raised the window, backed out of the driveway, and drove away with their son while Andrew shouted after them.

By midnight, Olivia and Ethan were staying inside a secure Langford-owned apartment downtown.

By morning, Andrew’s command would no longer protect him.

It would become the place where every lie arrived to collect its debt.

PART 3

Rain greeted the next morning.

Olivia woke before sunrise on the sofa inside the downtown apartment, still dressed in the clothes from the previous day. Ethan slept in the bedroom, his security blanket tucked beneath his chin and his sneakers lined neatly beside the bed, as though order itself might shield him from adult failures.

At 6:12 a.m., Marcus arrived carrying coffee, a garment bag, and a thick manila folder that looked substantial enough to belong in a courtroom.