He released Elena’s fingers and took one uncertain step toward her.
Then another.
Anna held out both hands but did not pull him forward.
He reached her on his own.
She lifted him against her chest while Elena wiped tears from her face.
“Are you okay?” Elena asked, repeating the question she had asked on the morning they left.
This time, Anna did not have to think.
“Yes,” she said.
She was not untouched.
She was not grateful for what had happened, and she did not pretend betrayal had been a gift.
It had cost her sleep, trust, money, and the future she had once pictured for her son.
But Marcus had been wrong about one thing from the beginning.
Anna had never been too tired to fight.
She had simply been quiet while she prepared.
She carried Luca down the courthouse steps, past the doors Marcus would walk through later, and into the ordinary afternoon waiting beyond them.
This time, when she left, she did not need a folder to prove the life ahead belonged to her.
