"So we'd have time," Finn says.
"You'd have time. Not much, but some." Chase looks at Alex. "My honest assessment: Ragon won't talk. He's furious, not suicidal. If he outs you, the heat abandonment comes out in the investigation. They’ll come down harder. Criminal negligence charges, possibly. He knows that."
"But you can't guarantee it," Alex says.
"No. I can't."
The fire pops. Nobody speaks.
"It's a risk," Chase says. "But it's a risk worth taking. Because the alternative is not going to the hearing at all, and Vee stays in legal limbo under Ragon's custody indefinitely."
Alex looks at me.
I look back.
"I want the hearing," I say. "Whatever comes after, I want it. I'm done waiting for someone else to decide my life."
Alex nods. Slow and certain.
"Then we take the risk," he says. "And if Ragon talks, we deal with it."
Chase nods. "I have witnesses." He looks at me. "Two, besides Arden."
"Who?"
"Jasper," he says. "And Eli."
The name hits like a shock of cold water. I hear it and it doesn't quite make sense, rearranges itself slowly in my head.
Eli.
The one I was lying upstairs refusing to think about.
"He's been helping Jasper since Drake left," Chase says.
I look at Drake's face. Solemn and closed off. Something careful there, like he already knew this part and has had time to sit with it. And that's when it hits me—they were close, Drake and Eli, maybe the closest of all of them, and now Drake is here bond-broken and starting over, and Eli is there testifying against the man who led their pack. I feel bad for both of them without quite meaning to.
I swallow it down.
"What happens to Eli after?" I ask.
"I don't know," Chase says. "That's his problem."
Harsh. But honest.
"Jasper is coming here tomorrow," Chase continues. "After the hearing. He wants to talk to you face to face."
I nod. I'll figure out how I feel about that later.
Drake speaks from the window. "I'll come too. Testify. Tell them everything."
Chase studies him, then shakes his head. "I appreciate it. What I have is enough to get guardianship removed. I don’t think you’re well enough to travel right now." He pauses. "Which brings me to you."
He turns to face me fully, leans forward, and takes my hands in his. The gesture surprises me—his hands are warm and steady. I look up into his eyes and feel the same thing I always feel with Chase, that quiet inexplicable safety that doesn't demand anything.
"What do you want, Vee?"
The question is so simple it almost breaks me.
