Last night was a welcome reprieve, but this morning is much more somber. I woke to several missed calls from Mother. I didn’t respond to them. It doesn’t really matter anymore what she thinks of the situation. I’ve made up my mind. Severin has terrorized me for long enough.

Karl has already arranged a flight to Los Angeles for us. We’ll leave this evening and be there well before morning. The question is, what are we going to do when we get there?

“We ...