~Caden’s POV~
Conrad does not sit.
He has not sat in any of their meetings, and Caden has come to understand this as a professional discipline rather than a social statement — the posture of a man who treats information delivery as a transaction with a defined endpoint, who does not allow the furniture to suggest otherwise. He stands at the far side of the desk with the folder held at his side and waits until the door is fully closed before he begins.
"I'll go in order," he says.
Caden nods once.
The first section concerns Vivienne's departure from Cresthaven three years ago.
Conrad presents it without preface. She left of her own volition. There was no coercion, no captivity, no external party involved in her disappearance. The account she provided on her return — held against her
