Page 262 of The Rules
"You just gonna stand there, kid?" His voice is hoarse.
And something inside her— Shifts.
The nickname lands in her chest like a warm fracture. The final breach in a dam that’s been holding for too long.
Her throat tightens. From relief. From recognition.
She doesn’t run. Doesn’t cry. She just steps forward.
She moved toward him without thinking. No words. No hesitation. Just quiet, certain steps until she stood before him.
He opened his arms.
And she walked into them.
He pulled her close—one arm firm across her back, the other cradling the back of her head. No caution. No ceremony. Just a father holding his daughter like he finally could. Like he understood the weight she’d carried to get here.
He didn’t speak right away.
Just held her.
And then, his voice—low, rough with feeling:
"I knew it," he murmured into her hair. "I knew you were the strongest."
That was it.
That was the moment.
Katherine’s breath caught—and broke.
The tears came fast. Hot. Silent. They slipped down her face as her body pressed tighter to his, trembling beneath the relief. She didn’t sob. Didn’t wail. Just cried in that quiet, unstoppable way that comes when the fight is over.
He held her through it. No questions. No rush.
And in his arms, Katherine let herself believe it.
She had carried the weight.
She had made it through.
And now—finally—
She let it go.
???
The room is all glass and steel.
Katherine sits perfectly still, shoulders squared, hands folded neatly on the conference table. The kind of composure forged not from calm, but from endurance.
The high-rise conference space is polished to the point of sterility.
Across the table sit the state representatives, their expressions professionally bland as they recite rehearsed statements.
Niel sits beside her.
His posture has sagged, just enough to betray the weight he still carries. One shoulder is slightly lower than the other, as if he's forgotten how to sit proud. His hands fidget faintly—thumb brushing over knuckles, a nervous tick that never used to be there. No courtroom calm, no studied stillness. Just exhaustionin a man trying to hold himself together. She sees it all, and it guts her.
