"Nobody is going to that firm alone."
I take Julian's phone off the seat before he can reach for it. I read Elena Crane's message again. Every word is clean and direct. No extra drama. No empty threats. Just a woman who knows exactly what she has and exactly how much time she is giving us to respond.
That calm scares me more than Richard's anger ever could.
Julian looks at the phone in my hand. He does not try to take it back. That alone tells me something has shifted in him tonight. The man who handed me divorce papers four days ago would have taken the phone back. He would have told me to stay in the car. He would have handled it alone and called that protection.
He watches me read it a second time.
"She contacted you specifically," I say. "Not me. Not Nathaniel. You."
"Because she
