The courthouse steps are crawling with reporters.
Isla stands across the street, Liam beside her, watching the chaos. Cameras. Microphones. Voices shouting questions she can't quite hear.
Isla! Over here!
Is it true you were seventeen?
Did your father know?
Her stomach churns.
"You don't have to do this alone." Liam's voice is steady. "I'll be right there. Every second."
"I know."
"Whatever he says. Whatever his lawyers throw at you. I'll be there."
She turns. Looks at him. This man who should hate her. Who had every reason to walk away. Who's standing here instead, holding her hand, ready to watch her face her worst nightmare.
"Why?" she whispers. "Why do you stay?"
He cups her face. Gentle. "Because you're the bravest person I've ever met. Because you answered those phones at seventeen and you're still standing. Because when I walked away at the gala, you didn't run. You came to find me." His thumb traces her cheek. "Because I love you, Isla Conti. And I'm done pretending I don't."
Her heart stops.
"You love me?"
"I love you." He smiles. Small. Real. "Terrifying, right?"
She laughs. Actually laughs. On a courthouse steps, surrounded by chaos, about to testify against the man who destroyed her.
"Yeah. Terrifying."
He kisses her forehead. "Ready?"
She looks at the courthouse. At the cameras. At the life waiting for her inside.
"No."
"Good. Brave people aren't unafraid. They're terrified and they do it anyway."
She takes a breath. Nods.
They cross the street together.
---
The courtroom is smaller than she expected.
Wood paneling. Fluorescent lights. Rows of benches filled with strangers. And at the front, behind a table, Kaelen Mercer.
He looks different. Smaller. Suit still expensive, but his eyes—his eyes are different.
Afraid.
He's afraid of her.
The thought hits Isla like a wave.
He spent eight years forgetting her. Treated her like furniture. Used her and moved on. And now she holds the power.
She walks past him. Doesn't look.
Takes the stand.
Swears to tell the truth.
And then the questions begin.
---
Direct Examination
Maria Santos stands. Calm. Methodical. "Isla, can you tell us about your relationship with Kaelen Mercer?"
"I was seventeen. He was twenty-one. He worked with my father."
"What was your role?"
"I answered phones. Took messages. Said whatever they told me to say."
"Did Mr. Mercer ever give you anything?"
Isla's throat tightens. "Candy. He gave me candy. Called me 'little one.' Said I was helping."
"Did he ever touch you?"
A murmur through the courtroom.
Isla meets Maria's eyes. "His hand on my shoulder. Too close. Too often. I didn't like it, but I didn't know how to say no."
"Did you ever try to leave?"
"Yes." Her voice cracks. "I called my father. Begged him not to send me back. Told him Kaelen looked at me in a way that made me uncomfortable."
Gasps. The judge bangs a gavel.
Maria waits for quiet. "What did your father say?"
Isla closes her eyes. Remembers.
You'll go back. You'll do what they say. We need this money.
"He said I was helping. That's what mattered." Tears spill. "He sent me back anyway."
The courtroom is silent.
Maria nods. "No further questions."
---
Cross-Examination
Kaelen's lawyer stands. Expensive suit. Cold eyes. A predator in human skin.
"Miss Conti. You testified that you answered phones. Took messages. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"And you were seventeen. Old enough to know right from wrong?"
Objection from Maria. Overruled.
Isla grips the stand. "I was old enough to know I was scared."
"Scared of what?"
"Of him." She looks at Kaelen. Directly. For the first time. "Of the way he looked at me. Of what might happen if I said no."
"But you didn't say no, did you? You kept coming back. Day after day. Week after week."
"Because my father made me."
"Your father." The lawyer smiles. "The man whose money helped destroy the Blackwood family. The man who worked with Mr. Mercer willingly. That father?"
Isla's blood boils. "My father was weak. He was scared. He made terrible choices. But he didn't—"
"He didn't what? He didn't force you? He didn't—"
"He didn't protect me!" Her voice echoes through the courtroom. "He was supposed to protect me and he didn't. But that doesn't make what Kaelen did okay. Kaelen was the adult. Kaelen was the one who gave me candy and called me 'little one' and touched my shoulder and made me feel like I wasn't safe." She's crying now. Doesn't care. "I was a child. I was a child and he used me and he forgot me and now he wants you to believe I'm the villain?"
Silence.
The lawyer stares. Adjusts his tie. "No further questions."
---
Recess
Isla sits in the hallway. Shaking. Liam beside her. Nonna on her other side, holding her hand.
"You did good, cara."
"I screamed at a lawyer."
"You told the truth." Nonna squeezes. "That's different."
Liam pulls her close. "He's done. You saw his face. He knows."
She wants to believe him.
Then footsteps.
Kaelen. Walking past in handcuffs, flanked by marshals. He stops. Looks at her.
For a moment, something flickers in his eyes. Not anger. Not fear.
Recognition.
Real recognition. Of who she was. Of what he did.
"You grew up," he says quietly. "I didn't think you would."
The marshals pull him away.
Isla watches him go.
And for the first time in eight years, she doesn't feel afraid.
She feels free.
---
That Night
They sit at the red-checkered table. Conti's. Closed for the night. Just them and Nonna and the sauce simmering in the kitchen.
Nonna sets down plates. Pasta. Meatballs. The meal she's made a thousand times.
"Eat," she commands. "Both of you."
They eat.
Halfway through, Liam's phone buzzes. He glances. Freezes.
"What?" Isla asks.
He turns the screen toward her.
A text from an unknown number. But they know.
Congratulations. You won today.
But trials take time. Appeals take longer. And I have money. Lawyers. Patience.
Enjoy your victory dinner.
I'll be back.
Below it, a photograph.
Isla and Liam at the red-checkered table. Taken through the window. Tonight.
He's watching them.
Still watching.
Always watching.
Liam stands. Moves to the window. Pulls the blinds closed.
Nonna watches. Doesn't ask.
Isla's appetite is gone.
"He's not done," she whispers.
"No." Liam returns. Takes her hand. "But neither are we."
They sit in the quiet kitchen. Sauce simmering. City humming. Threat hanging in the air like smoke.
Kaelen is coming back.
But tonight, they have this.
And for now, that's enough.