Noah
Sophia's text arrived while I was still sitting in the back of a car, staring blankly out the window after yet another exhausting round of damage control with the outside legal team my father had brought in.
**Sophia:** We need to talk. Tonight. No more excuses.
The bluntness of it hit harder than anything else that had happened over the past several days combined, a clear signal that whatever patience she'd been extending toward me had finally run out completely. I typed back immediately, relief and dread tangling together in equal measure.
**Me:** I'll be there. Give me an hour.
I spent that hour rehearsing exactly how I was going to explain everything, running through different versions of the same impossible conversation, none of them landing anywhere close to adequate given
