Kylian
Vanessa's testimony at the preliminary hearing the following week reshaped the entire tenor of the case, and I watched from the gallery beside Ella as her stepsister sat in the witness stand and delivered, in careful, measured detail, the exact account she'd first confessed in that hotel room weeks earlier.
"I pushed her," Vanessa said, her voice steady despite the visible effort it clearly cost her. "We were struggling near the railing. Adrian had taken her phone, I was blocking the door, and in the confusion I shoved her back, harder than I intended. She went over before either of us fully understood what had happened."
Adrian's attorney rose for cross-examination, his tone carefully skeptical. "Ms. Hart, isn't it true you're testifying today under a cooperation agreement that
