He did not know that the meek woman was a costume, and that underneath it stood someone who had been waiting, without quite admitting it, for a reason to take the costume off.

He gave me the reason.

And I have not put the costume back on, and I never will.

That is the strange gift buried in the cruelty: they forced me to stop hiding who I was, and in doing so, they gave me back to myself.

Chapter 13 — The Legal Framework Is Locked

I tapped the screen of the encrypted satellite phone, and Martin’s voice came through instantly, clear and close despite the distance.

“Nora,” he said.