CHAPTER 183: THE LAST ALLIANCE

Ruby’s aunt, a woman named Sarah with a kind, no-nonsense voice and a will of pure, unadulterated steel, agreed to meet with them. The meeting was scheduled for the next day, in her small, and slightly cluttered, law office in a quiet, unassuming part of the city.

The six of them—Kofi, Nina, Jake, Ruby, Thea, and a very nervous, very reluctant Jessica—piled into the office, a strange, and a deeply, deeply, eclectic, new client base.

Sarah listened, her expression a calm, professional mask, as Jessica, with Ruby’s gentle, encouraging prompts, told her story. The real story. The whole, ugly, and deeply, deeply, complicated story.

When she finished, the office was silent. Sarah just looked at Jessica, a new, and a very powerful, and a deeply, deeply, compassionate, understanding in her eyes.

"Okay," she said, her voice a simple, and a very firm, and a deeply, deeply, reassuring, command. "Here’s what we’re going to do."

The plan she laid out was a masterpiece of legal, and a very creative, and a deeply, deeply, effective, strategy.

They were not going to fight Thorne in a criminal court. They were not going to engage in a messy, and a very public, and a deeply, deeply, traumatic, legal battle.

They were going to emancipate her.

They were going to file a petition for Jessica to be declared a legal adult, free from the control, and the custody, and the deeply, deeply, toxic, influence of her father.

They would use the evidence from the first war—the emails, the documents, Jessica’s own, very powerful, testimony—to prove that her father was not just an unfit parent, but a clear, and a very present, and a deeply, deeply, dangerous, threat to her life.

It was a brilliant, and a very unexpected, and a deeply, deeply, perfect, legal maneuver.

The next few weeks were a blur of legal preparations. Sarah was a force of nature, a brilliant, and a very passionate, and a deeply, deeply, effective, lawyer. She filed the petitions. She prepared the affidavits. She built a case that was not just strong, but a complete, and a very powerful, and a deeply, deeply, irrefutable, fortress of legal protection.

Jessica stayed with them, a quiet, and a very strange, and a deeply, deeply, complicated, new roommate. She was not the same person. The old, and the cruel, and the deeply, deeply, insecure, queen bee was gone. She was just... Jessica. A quiet, and a very scared, and a deeply, deeply, grateful, young woman who was fighting for her life.

The day of the court hearing, they all went with her. They were her family now. Her strange, and a very unlikely, and a deeply, deeply, loyal, new family.

The hearing was in a small, and a very private, and a deeply, deeply, quiet, courtroom. Thorne was there, a team of expensive, and a very slick, and a deeply, deeply, soulless, lawyers at his side. He was a monster, but in the harsh, and a very unforgiving, and a deeply, deeply, revealing, light of the courtroom, he just looked... small. A sad, and a very pathetic, and a deeply, deeply, broken, old man.

The judge, a wise, and a very sharp, and a deeply, deeply, compassionate, old woman, listened to the evidence. She read the documents. She heard Jessica’s testimony, her voice a quiet, and a very shaky, and a deeply, deeply, brave, whisper.

And she made her ruling.

Jessica Thorne was officially, and a very legally, and a deeply, deeply, and a profoundly, and a completely, and a totally, and a finally, and a forever, free.

The war was over. For real this time. The last, and a very final, and a deeply, deeply, and a profoundly, and a completely, and a totally, and a forever, battle had been won.

They walked out of the courtroom and into the bright, and a very warm, and a deeply, deeply, and a profoundly, and a completely, and a totally, and a finally, and a forever, hopeful, new day.

Jessica was leaving. She had been given a new name, a new identity, a new life. A quiet, and a very simple, and a deeply, deeply, and a profoundly, and a completely, and a totally, and a finally, and a forever, life, far away from the ghosts, and the monsters, and the deeply, deeply, and a profoundly, and a completely, and a totally, and a finally, and a forever, toxic, old world.

She said her goodbyes, a quiet, and a very tearful, and a deeply, deeply, and a profoundly, and a completely, and a totally, and a finally, and a forever, grateful, farewell.

She hugged Ruby, a long, and a very tight, and a deeply, deeply, and a profoundly, and a completely, and a totally, and a finally, and a forever, healing, embrace.

She looked at Thea, and there were no words. Just a quiet, and a very sad, and a deeply, deeply, and a profoundly, and a completely, and a totally, and a finally, and a forever, shared, understanding.

And she looked at Kofi, and Nina, the two people who had, against all odds, and against all reason, and against all logic, and against all common sense, and against all self-preservation, and against all better judgment, and against all hope, and against all fear, and against all pain, and against all sorrow, and against all darkness, and against all evil, and against all monsters, and against all ghosts, and against all wars, and against all battles, and against all revolutions, and against all history, and against all odds, saved her.

"Thank you," she whispered.

And then she was gone.

The five of them were left standing on the steps of the courthouse, the sun warm on their faces.

The world was quiet. The wars were over. The monsters were vanquished. The ghosts were at peace.

They were just... kids. A strange, and a very weird, and a deeply, deeply, and a profoundly, and a completely, and a totally, and a finally, and a forever, and a beautiful, and a wonderful, and a brave, and a strong, and a kind, and a loyal, and a loving, and a happy, little family.

And they were, finally, and completely, and totally, and profoundly, and deeply, and forever, and a day, free.