Maybe he won’t connect her to the boy.

Maybe he’ll believe she’s just a girl who got into trouble and got sent away in disgrace, nothing to do with any evidence, nothing to do with any threat.” His voice cracked apart.

“I didn’t know how to protect you, Evelyn.

I didn’t have the money or the power or the courage to fight a man like Vale head-on.

So I did the only thing I could think of.

I made myself the villain.