And it worked for so long precisely because it was quiet, and legal-looking, and aimed at people the powerful were confident no one would ever bother to defend.

They had not counted on Lucas.

They had not counted on a boy who watched it happen to his own family and grew up into the one man patient enough, and stubborn enough, and angry enough in the right quiet way, to spend eight years pulling the whole thing into the light.

When I promised him justice for all of them, I did not yet know how many them there were.

When I found out, the promise only hardened.

Chapter 11 — The Mother’s Secret