It looks so powerful from below, so unshakable, right up until the moment its footing goes, and then you see that there was never anything solid holding it up, only the certainty that no one would ever dare to push back.

Chapter 22 — I Heard Every Word

“That woman is manipulating you!” Christopher burst out, jabbing a finger toward me.

“She came here with a random child, wormed her way into your house, and now she wants you to believe the boy is somehow yours.

Can you not see what she is doing to you?”

“What I see clearly,” Raymond answered, and his voice did not rise, “is that this small child, laid on my chest one night, made my fingers move for the first time in weeks, while everyone else in this house stood over my bed debating my funeral.

Including you, Christopher.” Harrison stepped forward then and opened his leather folder.