The federal charges against Hartley and the two other former board members were filed before midnight. Alexander handled the coordination from the mainland with the methodical precision he brought to everything that required precision, and by the time the helicopter landed at the Hamptons estate the legal structure was already in place — not finished, not resolved, but contained. The kind of contained that meant Lila could go inside and put her sons back in their cribs and know they were safe there.
She did exactly that. She laid Noah down and tucked the blanket and watched his face — that watchful, considering face that she had been watching for three months now and still found astonishing — settle into sleep. She did the same for Lucas, who fell asleep mid-protest as he always did, as t
