Calder didn’t look away from Alden. “I have never been more serious in my life.”

Alden glanced around the room, searching for a single ally, an approving nod, a sympathetic face. He found none. The center of gravity in his world had shifted, and he was no longer the sun everyone orbited.

Then Judge Reed stepped forward from the crowd, walked directly up to me, and extended his hand. “Admiral Rowe,” he said quietly, with immense respect.

“It is an honor to have you here tonight.”

My father froze. That single sentence told him everything — confirmation of the one truth he’d spent his life refusing to consider: that the most powerful people in the room knew my worth in ways he never would.

Chapter 6 — The Long Drive Home

Judge Reed’s handshake was firm. “Judge,” I said. “You’re looking well.”