The verdict arrived faster than Ms. Alvarado had originally predicted, international prosecutors moving with unusual speed given the overwhelming weight of Voss's documented testimony and the corroborating evidence Chen's continued investigation had steadily assembled over the preceding months.
Ivy learned the news during a Tuesday morning calculus class, her phone buzzing with a text from Lex that made her stomach drop the moment she read it, urgency evident even through the brief message.
Verdict just came through. Can you get out of class? Need to tell you in person.
She found him waiting outside the classroom building, his expression carrying a complicated mixture of relief and something closer to solemn gravity than pure celebration.
"Guilty," he said, without preamble, once she'd
