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I didn’t understand the technicalities of how somebody had faked it. I didn’t need to. That was me. That was our room. And the man with me was Seb, no matter whose face was on the screen. It had been so obvious to me that I still couldn’t understand how he hadn’t seen it.

“I worked it out the next day. Twenty-four hours, near enough. I pulled it apart frame by frame in front of the whole club. The man who made it is in federal custody, but I still don’t know how he got the original.”

“Twenty-four hours,” I said.

His eyes dropped. “Yeah.”

I believed him. Seb had never lied to me. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that when it mattered, he’d believed what he saw on a screen instead of the woman standing in front of him.

“Nobody else believed you’d cheated.”

I stared at him.

“Dutch was watching you, not the screen. He knew what he was seeing wasn’t guilt. Austen and Handful never believed it either. The next day, Austen spotted a blur and made me slow the video down.” He kept his eyes on mine. “Everyone who knew you believed you. I was the only one who looked at you and saw guilt.”

Dutch had known. Austen had gone looking, had never doubted me. The messages from the women came back to me. Are you okay? Are you safe? We miss you. They hadn’t been apologizing. They’d been reaching for me.

“You let me leave thinking they agreed with you.”

“Yeah.”

“Every one of them knew me better than you did.”

He looked straight at me. “Yes.”

Relief hit me hard. Austen, Indira, Lilac and Bea hadn’t sent those messages because they wanted to explain or apologize. They’d sent them because they believed me and wanted to know I was safe. It didn’t repair what Seb had broken. It only made the truth clearer. Everyone who knew me had believed me. Except him.

“Why now?” I asked. “Why are you here now?”

“I’ve been looking for you since the day after you left. Every day for a year.” He pointed toward the door. “The only reason I wasn’t here days after I fucked up was them. They shut down every trail before I could follow it. Tuesday night, I got a lead that brought me here.”

“I’m sorry, Wren. So fucking sorry. I was wrong. You told me it was us, and I should’ve believed you. I should’ve checked the video before I said one fucking word, and I should never have made you leave.”

I’d prepared for his anger. I hadn’t prepared for him to sit in front of me and admit he was wrong. I’d wanted those words for a year. Hearing them now didn’t fix anything, but they mattered. I hated that they mattered.

This wasn’t going how I’d expected. To be fair, I hadn’t expected to see him again. Not until Sparrow was eighteen and old enough to decide for herself whether she wanted to know her father. I’d never intended to hide her from him forever. I only wanted the choice to be hers.

But he was here now, and if he’d come for Sparrow, surely that would have been the first thing out of his mouth. Where’s my child? He hadn’t asked. He hadn’t even asked her name.

“I got the onesie,” he said.

I braced myself. Here it was. The part where he told me he was here for his child. That Dutch and half the club were waiting outside Kettlewell and they were taking Sparrow back to Millfield with them.

“It arrived four days after you left. I opened it. That’s when I realized you were pregnant.” His eyes dropped to the desk. “I found the confirmation in your medical records. I worked out the due date and counted every week, but after you left, there was nothing. No scans. No hospital record. No birth certificate. Nothing.”

He took a breath and looked at me again. “I know I gave you every reason to leave. But why didn’t you tell me about the baby?”

“I didn’t know you’d opened the parcel. After that video, I thought you might tell me the baby wasn’t yours. But I was afraid of what would happen if you did believe me. You’ve changed records for Venom. Built evidence. Helped make sure children ended up with the parent the club believed was right.”

He went still.

“You were right about those parents, Seb. But that night, you were certain you were right about me too.”

“Wren, I would never take our child from you.”

“I didn’t know that.”

He looked down at his hands.