But silence gives them nothing to grip.

My refusal to spar with her was not a strategy I had planned; it came from a genuine place, a sudden and total absence of any wish to persuade her of anything.

There was nothing I wanted from Vanessa anymore, not agreement, not remorse, not even understanding.

And a person who wants nothing from you is a person you cannot manipulate, because manipulation runs on desire, and I had none left where she was concerned.

Chapter 7 — She Knows About the Cameras