Chapter 71: One Choice Too Late
Grace closed her eyes, the courthouse steps only a few blocks ahead of her now, close enough to see the last of the morning crowd disappearing through the doors.
"Damien..." she said quietly. "You don’t understand."No,You don’t. She frowned.I’m trying to stop a man who destroyed our lives.
"Our lives?" A short, ugly laugh. "That’s what you keep telling yourself, isn’t it."Grace felt her chest tighten.
"Maybe it’s justice for you. Fine." His voice cracked halfway through the sentence and he had to stop, start again.
"But when this goes public I’m the one who gets dragged into it too. Every article. Every time somebody figures out whose kid I am."
"I’m doing this because Harrison deserves to answer for what he did."I don’t care what he deserves.
It came out fast, faster than he wanted. "I care what happens after. You act like this only belongs to you. It doesn’t."
Grace looked toward the courthouse. People kept climbing the steps, disappearing through the glass.
"Damien..."You spent time telling yourself things would get better if you just kept fighting him." A pause, his breathing uneven. "Look where it got us."
Grace swallowed hard. "I know I wasn’t a perfect mother."That’s not even what I’m talking about.
"Then what is?"You’re about to do it again." His voice shook, wavering somewhere between anger and something closer to begging. "Make some big decision and not think once about what it costs the rest of us."
She leaned against the cold stone wall bordering the sidewalk, unsure whether it was keeping her upright or just giving her something to hold onto.
The stone was rough against her palm, cold enough that she noticed it.I’ve thought about nothing else."
"No you haven’t." He said it flat, cutting her off. "You’ve thought about him. You’ve been chasing him for a long time, Mom."
"I’ve been trying to survive."
"And while you were surviving I grew up." His voice broke a little on the last word, he hadn’t meant to say it that plainly.
Grace closed her eyes. Traffic rolled past. The courthouse doors opened and closed as lawyers, witnesses, and court staff hurried inside.
Neither of them spoke for a long moment, the silence stretching out long enough that Grace almost checked to see if the call had dropped.
Inside Courtroom Three, Victor Whitfield finished his opening statement with the same calm confidence he’d carried all morning.
"...the plaintiff will demonstrate that Mr. Liam Sterling’s actions were never about exposing misconduct. They were a deliberate campaign of harassment built on speculation, trespass, and personal obsession."
He returned to his seat, unhurried, adjusting his cuff.Patricia stood immediately. "The plaintiff would have this court believe that asking difficult questions is harassment.
" She placed a thick binder on the podium. "The defense intends to show something very different."She opened the binder. "Defense Exhibit One."
The courtroom monitors flickered to life. Columns of bank transfers appeared on the screen, dense enough that a low murmur passed through the gallery before it settled again.
"These transactions moved through Eastbridge Holdings over a three-year period."
Another page. "Defense Exhibit Two." Internal company emails. Another. Board meeting minutes. Another. Accounting records showing payments that didn’t match official reports.
The gallery grew noticeably quieter.Whitfield stood. "Objection. The defense is asking this court to infer criminal intent from financial records without any witness capable of establishing personal responsibility."
Patricia nodded slightly. The evidence speaks for itself.It speaks only to unusual transactions," The judge looked toward Patricia. "Counsel?"
Patricia calmly closed the binder. "Not every witness exists to explain financial documents." She picked up another file. "Some witnesses establish the records.
She set it beside the first. "Others simply establish the pattern of conduct behind them.
Her eyes drifted toward the courtroom entrance. The chair reserved for Grace remained empty.
A brief silence settled over the room. Rowena quietly unlocked her phone beneath the table. Nothing. No missed calls. No messages.
She leaned toward Liam. "Still nothing?"His gaze stayed fixed on the entrance. "No."
"If she doesn’t come..."Liam finally looked away from the door. "Then we continue exactly as planned."Rowena blinked. "You expected this?"
"I prepared for it." He looked toward the evidence on the monitors, then back at the empty doorway. "Grace doesn’t prove the financial records." A brief pause. "She just proves Harrison."
Across the courtroom, Devon noticed the exchange. His phone vibrated beneath the table. A single message from Marcus.
He’s still talking to her.
Devon read it once. Locked the screen. Folded his hands neatly on the table, watching the empty chair with patience.
For the first time that morning, he smiled. Barely. Because from where he sat, every minute Grace remained outside made Harrison’s position stronger.
Outside, Grace finally spoke again.Damien...
"What."If I walk away today..." She struggled to finish it. "...Harrison wins."
"He already won long time ago." The words came out flat, no anger left in them, just tired. "You just won’t say it."
Grace’s fingers tightened around the phone. "He took my work."I know.He withheld my salary."I know."
"He made me feel like speaking up would only make things worse."
Silence. Then, quieter, "And now you’re letting him take the rest of your life too."
Grace couldn’t breathe. She hadn’t expected this, whatever this was.I don’t know how to let this go.
"You don’t have to." His voice wavered, unsteady again. "You just have to stop letting it be the only thing that decides what you do."
Grace looked at the courthouse, then back down the empty street behind her. Everything inside her pulled in opposite directions. One path led toward justice. The other led toward the son she’d already spent years losing, one careful conversation at a time, without ever quite noticing the losing as it happened.
Her voice trembled. "Damien..."He waited.
"If I walk through those doors..." She closed her eyes. "...are you going to hate me for the rest of your life?"
Silence. The call stayed connected. Damien never answered.
Grace stood frozen at the foot of the courthouse steps, unable to move, the phone still warm against her ear.