“Wade admits driving?”
“Not yet.”
“But his phone was there.”
“Yes.”
“Truck was there.”
“Yes.”
“Brock says Wade drove.”
“Yes.”
Nolan exhaled.
“Fine.”
Lena smiled slightly.
“You don’t mean that.”
“No.”
“That’s also fine.”
She stood.
“You’re allowed to be angry.”
Nolan looked up.
“Just don’t confuse anger with evidence.”
That line stayed with him longer than he expected.
The damage inside the Reeves house extended beyond the broken window.
Sophie stopped sleeping in her bedroom because it faced the street.
Every time a pickup slowed near the house, Claire looked outside.
Nolan started checking camera notifications during work meetings and once left a job site because a delivery van parked in front of the driveway longer than expected.
Nothing happened.
That did not make the fear imaginary.
Three weeks after the brick, Sophie told her parents she wanted to return to school early.
Nolan did not argue this time.
Claire noticed.
“You sure?”
“No.”
Sophie looked at him.
“Then why are you saying yes?”
“Because I spent the last three weeks acting like staying here proves something.”
He leaned against the counter.
“It doesn’t.”
Sophie watched him.
“This is your home too.”
“Yes.”
“And if home does not feel good right now, you get to leave for a while.”
Claire reached for Nolan’s hand.
Sophie went upstairs to start packing.
Nolan stood quietly.
Then Claire said, “That was difficult.”
“Thank you.”
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
“I’m taking it anyway.”
Sophie left four days later.
Nolan drove her to campus.
At the curb, she hugged him longer than usual.
“Don’t start a neighborhood war while I’m gone.”
“I have meetings.”
“Dad.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
He smiled.
“No wars.”
She pulled back.
“Paperwork only.”
“That I can promise.”
On the drive home, Nolan realized how badly Vivian’s operation had distorted him.
He had spent his career believing documentation gave people control.
The brick taught him documentation could not always prevent somebody from deciding control no longer interested them.
Records were not armor.
They were evidence afterward.
That difference made him uneasy.