As long as they controlled his care, they controlled her — she could not testify, could not run, could not risk anything, because any move might end his coverage and his life.

He was the leash, and no liberation was possible while they held it.

So the very first move, before we did anything that might provoke them, was to get the leash out of their hands entirely.

We did it quietly, on an ordinary weekday, an ambulance transfer arranged and paid for through Fitzroy’s office so that nothing traced back to Yvaine until it was already done.

I paid the six months in advance myself, in full, so that there was no lever left for anyone to pull.

And the moment his transfer was confirmed — the moment that old man was breathing in a bed the Pembrooks did not pay for and could not reach — Yvaine was free in the only way that mattered.