“I am here for my children,” she said, stopping a few feet behind the deputy.

“You and your brother have played your little game, but it’s over.”

She looked at the deputy, her tone shifting to one of soft, practiced distress.

“Officer, I am terrified of what they might do to those poor kids.”

“We are keeping them safe from the woman who left them on a bench at Gate Seventeen,” I said.

Marissa’s smile vanished, her eyes narrowing into thin slits.

“You know nothing about my family,” she hissed.

“I know about the forty-million-dollar trust,” I said.

The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the sound of falling rain.

Marissa’s gaze flicked to Marco, then back to me.

Her hand gripped the handle of her umbrella so tightly her leather glove creaked.

“That is none of your business,” she said.

“It is the court’s business,” I replied.

The deputy looked between us, his brow furrowing.

“Ma’am,” the deputy said to me, his voice slightly softer now.

“I still have to execute the order.”

“We are waiting on our legal team to file a stay,” Marco stepped forward, showing his ID.