Court took less time than the weeks leading up to it.

Jenna testified. The phone records held. The rest of the evidence finally looked different once the missing piece was in place.

When the judge found Luca not guilty, I turned toward him expecting relief.

Instead, the color left his face.

He made it into the hallway before his breathing broke.

"Luca."

He shook his head and kept walking. I followed him into an empty restroom, where he braced both hands on the sink and stared down at the running water.

His fingers were shaking.

Not slightly.

I had never seen him lose control without anger attached to it.

"Look at me."

"I am fine."

"You are very obviously not fine."

That almost made him laugh, but the sound died quickly.

I stayed beside him while his breathing slowed. No speeches. No touching until he reached for the edge of my sleeve himself, like he needed something solid to prove the room had stopped moving.

A few minutes passed before he could speak normally.

"I thought I would feel different."

"You just got your life back."

"Exactly." He looked at himself in the mirror. "Apparently my body waited until I was safe to fall apart."

There was something unbearable about hearing Luca admit he had been afraid.

I touched his cheek.

He closed his eyes for half a second, then opened them again. Clear now. Present.

"The case is over," he said.

I knew what he meant.

I also knew I should leave.

Instead, I kissed him.

Luca went still before kissing me back.

Then he stopped.

"Valerie."

"I know."

"Tell me you are sure."

I looked at him, at the man I had spent weeks trying not to want because wanting him had been professionally impossible.

"I am sure."

The second kiss was nothing like the first.

The stall door locked behind us.

And for once, neither of us stepped away.

When I faced the mirror again later, my lipstick was gone and Luca's shirt was untucked.

The ordinary courthouse noise outside the restroom felt almost insulting.

Reality arrived all at once.

He had been my client that morning.

He had just come down from a panic attack.

And I had wanted him so badly that every careful boundary I had protected for weeks had vanished the moment it became technically possible.

Luca caught my eyes in the mirror.

"Valerie—"

"I need to go."

His expression changed, but he did not block the door.

I grabbed my coat and left before he could tell me whether what we had done was a mistake.

I was not sure which answer scared me more.

That line was gone the second the case ended. Was Valerie right to run afterward? ❤️