The ambulance doors slammed shut, cutting off the sight of Ryan’s panic-stricken face. It wasn’t guilt on his face; it was pure terror. Not terror for me, and not even terror for the child I carried. He was terrified of exposure. He was a rising partner at his firm, a man who built his entire reputation on a veneer of flawless corporate respectability, and the thought of a police investigation, a public scandal, or a messy court battle made him sweat through his tailored shirt.

Vanessa’s defense attorney stepped up to the podium.

"Mr. Vance, for the record, can you describe your professional relationship with the defendant, Vanessa Cole?"

"She... she was a junior consultant in our corporate restructuring division," Arthur answered, casting a nervous glance toward the gallery—straight at me. "She worked under my direct supervision for two years."

"And did her relationship with Ryan Sterling impact the inner workings of the firm?"

"Objection!" my attorney shouted, rising from his chair. "Relevance, Your Honor. This is a sentencing hearing for arson and assault, not a corporate HR audit."

Judge Thomas paused, peering over his frames. "Sustained. Counsel, keep it tethered to the criminal charges at hand."

Vanessa’s lawyer didn't flinch. He played his hand anyway. "Your Honor, we intend to prove that the defendant was subjected to severe psychological coercion and manipulation orchestrated not just by Mr. Sterling, but by a coordinated financial trap set by Mrs. Emily Sterling months before the incident on the porch."

The courtroom erupted into a buzzing wave of murmurs.

I gripped the wooden edge of the bench so hard my knuckles turned stark white. A trap? What was Arthur talking about?

Arthur cleared his throat, pulling a manila envelope from his briefcase. "I have bank records and internal emails. Months before the stairs incident... Mrs. Sterling discovered the affair. Instead of filing for divorce, she allegedly blackmailed Ryan into transferring his corporate shares over to her personal holding company, while simultaneously using Miss Cole as an unwitting pawn to trigger a public scandal that would ruin Ryan and force the firm to buy out his partnership at a massive discount."