It was always Chloe, an eighteen-year-old girl who, surrounded by adults with more power and more options and more years than she had, was somehow the only one brave enough to stand and refuse.

I have turned that over in my mind more times than I can count, the sheer improbability of it, that the youngest and most vulnerable person in the entire situation turned out to be the one with the most spine.

It should have been one of the adults.

It should have been the man himself, choosing decency.

It should have been Sarah, keeping her promise.

It should have been me, if I had known, tearing the world apart to protect her.