The air in the crematorium was thick, smelling of ozone and the suffocating perfume of lilies

doors burst open moments later. Officers flooded the room. Dr. Crane sank into a chair as if his bones had dissolved. Marcus was disarmed before he could speak. Helena Vale stood perfectly still, her face stripped of power for the first time in her life.

They had built their empire on silence, signatures, and fear.

But Clara’s child had kicked at the continue reading …