Ethan POV

The judge’s gavel echoed in the chamber, final, undeniable. My name had been cleared. Lucas had been shamed publicly, his lies and manipulations exposed. Relief should have flooded me, but all I felt was the residual tension coiling in my chest, the echo of the threats Lucas had spat even while being humiliated. He had promised—threatened—that this wasn’t over. That he would come for me and Emma.

Emma stood beside me, her hand brushing lightly against mine, though I could ...