CHAPTER 41 —

The hour was a hard bright thing that cut across the courthouse like an exacting blade. Nicole felt it in her teeth when she spoke — a small, metallic urge to say only what mattered and let the rest burn. The baby thumped three times against her palm, steady as a drum that refused to be cheated. She breathed and let the rhythm keep her honest.

Harrow moved like a man with a ledger in his hands and a hunger in his throat. “We have fifteen minutes,” he said quietly to the ...