Because the name *Marlowe* still carried weight in places where power moved quietly.
Ava drifted in and out of consciousness as paramedics loaded her onto a stretcher. She remembered flashes of bright lights, voices speaking urgently, and one sentence repeated again and again.
* »The baby still has a heartbeat. »*
That was enough.
Enough to keep fighting.
—
Three days later, Atlanta believed Ava Pierce was dead.
The news spread quickly.