The CPS agent had the voice of someone who thought paperwork could leash wolves. Eva sat across from her in the sterile conference room, pretending to smile, pretending not to hear Sophia’s faint fussing down the hall. The agent tapped her pen, rehearsed her lines: Seoul, custody, background checks.

“You left the country without notifying authorities,” the woman said, clipped and careful. “You placed a child in a situation of danger. And your prior… affiliations—” her eyes flicked ...