Richard did not shout or defend himself. Instead, he crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut, and he aged twenty years in an instant. After a long silence, he lifted his head, and his eyes pleaded like a drowning man grasping at straws. "Fern, we were family once. Please, let Jack go. He is just a kid."
I stared at him, and I recalled how Jack had fed his own father to the wolves in that interrogation room while pinning every crime on the old man. My lips twisted into a smile that was sharp as a blade and just as cold. "Do not worry, Mr. Hale. The law does not let sinners slip through its fingers. And that includes you."
The high society scandal that had rocked the city reached its end with an official statement. The Hale smuggling ring was torn out by its roots. Richard, the masterm
