Hailey's POV
I woke to gray light filtering through the curtains and the immediate, crushing weight of what today was.
The hearing.
My phone read 6:47 AM. I'd managed maybe three hours of sleep, and those had been filled by nightmares of losing Gio, of watching him being taken away while I stood frozen, unable to speak.
The week since Christina's office had been hell.
We'd practiced. Standing in the living room after Gio went to bed, rehearsing answers to devastating questions while carefully maintaining two feet of distance between us. Maxwell's voice clinical and hollow. Mine shaking. Both of us dying inside.
"Are you in love with your husband, Mrs. Kingston?"
"Yes."
"Look at him when you say it."
I'd looked. He'd looked back. And the pain in his eyes had been so raw I'd had to
