Quentin’s POV
Most people think destruction comes with fire or fists. They’re wrong.
The real art is in pressure. Gentle, steady, constant — like water finding cracks in stone until the whole wall collapses. That’s how you break someone. That’s how you break Thora.
And that’s exactly what I was doing.
The first brick I pulled was Dr. Patel. The man had seen Avis since she was a baby, had charts and notes that painted Thora as nothing but careful, attentive, responsible. If he testified for her, it would look ironclad. Judges loved pediatricians — “neutral professionals,” as lawyers called them.
But neutrality was a myth. Everyone had pressure points.
I waited outside his office that morning, my car idling across the street. Patel emerged looking haggard, his phone glued to his ear, h
