[Sera]
Silas tells me on the drive back from city hall. Calm as ever, eyes on the road, like he's mentioning the weather.
"Gray sedan. Two blocks back. Been there since we left."
I don't turn around. My hands are in my lap, one resting on Lulu's car seat where she's babbling at her own fingers. The winter sun is still holding, pale gold on wet pavement, and for a few seconds I let myself pretend I didn't hear him.
But I did. And I know exactly whose money is paying for that sedan.
"Good," I say. "Let them watch."
Because that was the point. The whole city hall trip, the signatures, the walk out into the sunlight with Lulu between us. It was a performance staged for an audience we couldn't see but knew was there. Let Killian's people photograph the happy family. Let them file it away.
