"Until the appeals window closes. Months, at minimum."
"You can't be serious—"
"Let me be clear about something." Rodriguez steps toward Eden. "This isn't just about you. Anthony Venetti has killed at least four people that we can prove. We suspect a dozen more. He has connections to trafficking, extortion, and three other ongoing investigations. If he walks because a jury decides our star witness has questionable judgment—" Her eyes cut to me. "—he goes right back to what he was doing. More bodies. More victims. More families destroyed."
Nobody moves.
"So yes. I am asking you to pretend the last eight days didn't happen. I'm asking you to walk into that courtroom and be the credible, unimpeachable witness we need. I'm asking you to trust the system instead of your attack dog." She looks at me. "Because this is bigger than your feelings. It's bigger than his. Venetti behind bars saves lives. That has to matter more."
Red's face flashes through my mind. The smell of smoke. The sound I made when I saw what was left of him.
My nature betrayed me then, too. Loving him made him a target. And now—
You're dangerous to her. You've always been dangerous to her.
And now it's not just Eden. If I fuck this up, Venetti walks. More people die. Because of me.
"This is insane." Eden's voice shakes. "You're telling me I have to pretend the last eight days didn't happen? Pretend he doesn't exist?"
Rodriguez stops. Her eyes move from Eden to me. Back to Eden.
"Christ." The word lands flat, hard. "You've got to be kidding me. You two are a thing, aren't you?"
Color floods Eden's cheeks. She doesn't deny it.
Rodriguez rounds on Carver. "You let this happen? You sent her to hide with an orc biker gang and didn't think to check in? Didn't think maybe someone should be monitoring the situation?"
Carver's jaw tightens. "My priority was keeping her alive. Not policing her personal life."
"Well, your lack of oversight just made my job ten times harder." Rodriguez pinches the bridge of her nose. Takes a breath. When she looks at Eden again, her voice is colder than before. "This changes everything. He can't be anywhere near this trial. Not in the gallery. Not in Atlanta. Not even in the same state if we can help it."
"That's not—" Eden starts.
"I'm telling you that your association with him is a problem. Everything you've survived—the safe house, the running, the hiding—can be undone if the defense argues your testimony was influenced by outside parties. And now?" She gestures between us. "Now they don't have to discredit your testimony. They just have to tell the jury you were fucking an orc. Prejudice does the rest."
Eden turns to me. Eyes bright. Desperate.
"Diesel. Say something."
I already tried. And Rodriguez threw it back in my face.
"Eden." My voice doesn't sound like mine. "She's not wrong."
"What?"
"Being connected to me puts a target on you. It always has."
"I don't care about targets—"
"You should care." Rodriguez cuts in. "You're about to do the hardest thing you've ever done. You need to walk into that courtroom without anything holding you back."
"He's not holding me back—"
"He's a risk." Rodriguez doesn't flinch. "Being with him makes you as good as dead."
Eden turns away from Rodriguez. Turns to me. The room falls away—Maya, Ash, Carver, the DA with her sharp suit and sharper words. It's just us now. Just her eyes on mine.
"So you're just going to—" Her voice breaks. "Let them win? Let them decide whether we—"
