Alina’s POV
By midday, Leo and I were on a bus heading back toward the city not the city, but its shadow. The places rich people forgot existed.
I watched the skyline rise in the distance, steel and glass catching sunlight like a challenge.
Leo leaned against me, sleepy and warm.
“Mama,” he murmured. “Are we going home?”
I kissed his hair.
“We’re building a new one,” I said.
That night, as Leo slept in a new bed in a new room, my laptop chimed.
An encrypted file.
From Sebastian.
Inside were court transcripts. Sealed motions. And one document that made my blood freeze.
A guardianship contract. Not Leo’s. Older. Different name. Same structure. Same lawyer. Same judge. Harold Finch.
I closed the laptop slowly, my hands steady despite the storm raging inside me.
Madam Estelle didn
