Chapter 10 - WHEN THE WORLD LEARNED THE TRUTHThe scandal lasted months.
News vans camped outside.
Victor testified.
So did I.
Ava testified from behind protective glass.
Marcus gave federal investigators everything.
Haven collapsed across six countries.
Celeste received multiple life sentences.
Victor's father was officially exposed as Haven's director.
The Blackwood name became poison.
Victor stepped down from three companies.
Sold two.
Closed one.
People called it weakness.
They did not understand.
He was cutting strings.
For the first time, Victor Blackwood wanted a life nobody else had designed.
Ethan learned to walk.
His first steps were terrible.
Three steps.
A fall.
Then laughter.
He walked from Victor to me.
Victor looked at me.
Neither of us spoke.
We did not need to.
Later, I found a letter from my father in the archive.
Annalise,
If you become afraid, do not be ashamed.
Courage is not the absence of fear.
It is deciding fear does not get the final vote.
Three squeezes.
Dad.
I cried for an hour.
Victor sat beside me.
He did not try to fix it.
That was why I loved him.
May you like
I had not said it yet.
But I knew.
