The legal proceedings moved fast.
Faster than anyone expected — faster than James had projected, faster than the solicitors had promised, faster than three years of careful brick by careful brick had prepared any of them for. Richard, apparently, had not anticipated the Mara variable. Had not anticipated that his carefully maintained leverage could become someone else's evidence. Had not anticipated that the woman he'd used as a weapon would walk into a coffee shop on a Wednesday and hand the last piece to the person he'd been trying to destroy.
He folded on Tuesday.
Not publicly. Not dramatically. No courtroom, no press release, no moment of cinematic reckoning. Just — his solicitor calling Ethan's solicitor at nine in the morning with a proposal. Structured admission. Private settleme
