After 3 years in prison, I came home to find my father dead and my stepmother in his house. “He was buried a year ago,” she said coldly. She didn’t know he’d left me a secret letter with a key. It led me to a storage unit, and a video he’d made before he d;ie;d. “She framed you,” he said.

She didn’t interrupt while I explained. She watched the video. She read the confession.

When she finished, she sat back, took off her glasses, and said quietly:

“Eli… this isn’t just a mistake. This is a scheme. A massive one.”

My throat tightened. “Can we fix it?”

Marisol looked at me carefully. “We can try,” she said. “But you need to be ready. Because once we start, they’ll fight like people who’ve been comfortable for too long. They will try to destroy you again.”

I nodded.

“I’ve been fighting since the day I was locked up,” I said. “I’m just finally fighting with the weapon my father gave me.”

Marisol’s eyes softened slightly.

“Okay,” she said. “Then we do this right.”

Within two weeks, the subpoenas went out.