Sky held the folder against her chest.
“He said figure out what people know and what they don’t.”
She looked at Gregory.
“The gap between those things is where you have room to move.”
Sky pulled the legal documents free again.
“These are real.”
She pointed at the approval.
“The conditional order is real.”
Her breathing steadied.
“The reason the final filing never happened wasn’t because Luther abandoned it.”
She looked at Gregory.
“It was because he disappeared before he could finish.”
She paused.
“That changes things legally, doesn’t it?”
“It might,” Gregory said carefully.
“It does.”
There was no arrogance in her certainty.
It was the certainty of someone who had been running for fourteen months and had suddenly spotted solid ground.
“It establishes intent.”
Sky’s thoughts accelerated.
“It proves a legal process was already happening.”
“Renata can claim she’s acting in my interest, but there’s a court record showing Luther, my direct family member, was already moving to take legal responsibility for me.”
She looked at Gregory.
“And that process was interrupted by his disappearance.”
Sky closed the folder.
“I need your lawyer friend.”
“Today?”
“I know what day it is.”
Gregory looked at Strand.
Strand shrugged.
She was not wrong.
Gregory took out his phone.
Before he could dial, Strand’s phone buzzed.
He checked the screen.
His expression changed.
“Jimmy.”
Gregory stopped.
“What?”
Strand read.
“Briggs didn’t follow Devlin.”
Sky stared.
“He didn’t wait outside Garland’s either.”
Strand lifted his eyes.
“He went straight to county court.”
The air in the storage unit changed.
“He filed an emergency motion.”
Sky’s face hardened.
“Your aunt is requesting an emergency hearing the day after tomorrow.”
“On what grounds?”
“That you’re a minor.”
“I’m eighteen.”
Strand continued reading.
“Who may be under undue influence of a criminal organization.”
The words landed physically.
Sky stared.
Then something appeared on her face that was neither fear nor exactly anger.
Harder than both.
The expression of somebody who had been underestimated for so long that patience was beginning to expire.
“Criminal organization.”
“That’s what the motion says.”
“I walked into a garage and asked to paint motorcycles.”
Her voice sharpened.
“I’ve been there twenty-four hours.”
She began counting on one hand.
“I painted three pieces and ate a turkey sandwich.”
“I know.”
“She’s trying to make me look like a victim.”
Sky paced once.
“She’s making it so anything you do to help me looks like coercion.”
Her voice got sharper.
Not louder.
“Like I can’t make my own decisions.”
She shook her head.
“She’s been doing this my whole life.”
“With my mother. With Luther. With anybody who took my side.”
Sky’s eyes stayed on Gregory.
“She reframes everything.”
“She makes help look like harm and harm look like help.”
She stopped.
“And then everybody spends so much time arguing about the framing that nobody watches what she’s actually doing.”
Gregory studied her.
“What is she actually doing?”
“Buying time.”