Chapter 53: It's About Hudson
Roman
They didn’t say a word, and in that silence, I found the answer I had already been dreading. It settled over the room like a verdict that had been reached long before I ever opened my mouth to argue against it.
Reese didn’t need to nod, Lizzie didn’t need to agree out loud; the quiet between them was enough, because it carried certainty, and certainty was always more dangerous than hesitation.
It meant they had already convinced themselves. It meant that whatever came next had been decided before I was even given the illusion of having a say.
River would never say no to something like this. That was the part none of them seemed willing to acknowledge out loud, as though avoiding the truth made it less damning.
She had spent most of her life tr
