“Sit down, Colonel,” Judge Vane said, his voice sharp.

The Colonel remained standing for a moment, his chest rising and falling, before he slowly sank back into his chair.

I looked at my brother.

He looked smaller under the high ceilings of the federal courtroom, but there was a quiet resolve in his shoulders.

“How did you obtain these keys, Mr. Mercer?” Judge Vane asked.

Ethan took a deep breath.

“They were on a dedicated hardware token kept in the safe at the Whitaker estate,” Ethan said.

“He stole them,” Cassandra cried out, her composure completely breaking.

She walked toward the well of the court, ignoring her father’s lawyer who tried to wave her back.

“He stole them from my private study,” she said, her eyes wide and wet with tears. “He lied to me. He used my trust to get into our home.”

Ethan finally looked at her.

There was no anger in his face, only a profound, heavy sadness.

“I didn’t want to believe what Grace was saying, Cassandra,” Ethan said softly. “But then I saw the files on your desk. I saw the logs from the night of the incident.”