Samantha looked toward the courthouse doors.
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Then we document that too.”
For once, the answer did not sound helpless.
It sounded procedural.
Samantha discovered she liked procedure when it belonged to people who were willing to use it.
The political damage began later.
Not because Grizzly leaked anything.
Not because Wyatt threatened anyone.
Because journalists started asking questions.
Why had a sitting councilman appeared at a private workplace after his estranged spouse had asked for no contact?
Why had his campaign described Samantha publicly as “taking personal time” when legal records showed a separation filing?
Why had city contractors exchanged messages with Reuben about campaign contributions and zoning votes?
Those questions came from records Samantha’s legal team obtained through lawful channels and from reporters who had been interested in Reuben long before anyone at the Devil’s Keep knew his name.
Once the first story appeared, people talked.
A former staffer.
A contractor.
A campaign volunteer.
Then another woman who had dated Reuben years before.
Nothing collapsed overnight.
Real lives rarely do.
Instead, credibility leaked away.
One statement.
One record.
One contradiction at a time.
Reuben suspended his mayoral campaign.
A week later, he announced he wanted to “focus on family and address malicious allegations.”
Samantha watched the statement on the small television above the bar.
Meat groaned.
“He still talks like a brochure.”
Wyatt drank coffee.
“Some men die before they admit a sentence was their fault.”