Amber POV
Jason passed Rose and Iris on his way to the microphone.
He gently touched Rose's shoulder, then Iris's.
Both girls stopped.
Jason continued toward the podium.
The cameras immediately turned toward him.
He stood behind the microphone and looked across the room.
"You all know me."
The room quieted.
"My name is Jason Sun."
Everyone there knew that.
What they didn't know was what came next.
"But what most of you don't know is that I understand some of what these girls are describing."
I stopped breathing for a second.
Mrs. Sun went completely still.
Jason looked directly toward the cameras.
"I lost my identity too."
Whispers erupted.
"For two years of my childhood, I was kept away from my family. I was mistreated and isolated. I was made to forget who I was."
The room exploded with questions.
"Mr. Sun, who took you?"
"Were the Vincents involved?"
"Did your grandparents know?"
"Are you saying you were trafficked?"
Jason waited.
Eventually, the room quieted again.
"When my grandparents found me, I didn't know my own name."
Mrs. Sun covered her mouth.
Mr. Sun took her hand.
"I didn't know who I was or where I belonged. Other people had decided that for me for so long that the person I'd been before was almost gone."
Jason looked toward Rose and Iris.
They were still standing at the side of the stage.
"So I'm not saying this for the people who did it."
His eyes returned to the cameras.
"I'm saying it for everyone we've rescued and everyone who will still be rescued."
The room became completely silent.
"If you're safe now but you don't know how to move forward, you don't have to have the answer immediately."
His voice was calm.
"If you've forgotten who you were, you can discover who you want to become."
I felt tears sliding down my face again.
"If someone took your name, your childhood, your family, your choices, or years of your life, they still don't own what comes next."
Rose reached for Iris's hand.
Jason's expression hardened.
"And to the people responsible for this network: we're coming."
Nobody moved.
"Not only for the people who physically held these victims. We're coming for the people who paid for them, the people who transported them, the families who arranged these exchanges, the officials who looked away, and everyone who benefited from keeping children and adults trapped."
Mr. Stait stood behind him without interfering.
Jason leaned slightly toward the microphone.
"Justice will be served."
Then he stepped away.
For several seconds, the press room was silent.
Rose suddenly ran toward him.
Jason barely had enough time to turn before she threw her arms around his waist.
He immediately hugged her.
Iris joined them.
The cameras erupted in flashes.
And I didn't care.
Because the Becker matriarch had gone to the media expecting the world to debate whether her daughter should be returned to her.
Instead, Rose had told the world exactly who had saved her.
Iris had told them who had kept her alive.
And Jason had revealed that even he knew what it was like to have his identity taken from him.
The people behind this network had survived for generations because their victims had been isolated, frightened, and silent.
That silence was over.
But as I watched Jason holding Rose and Iris, something inside me refused to let it end there.
Because there was another part of the story.
One that needed to be said.
I pushed myself to my feet.
Jason saw me immediately.
Of course he did.
His expression changed from emotional to alarmed in approximately half a second.
"Amber."
"I'm walking."
"You're supposed to be sitting."
"I've been sitting."
"That isn't how bed rest works."
A few reporters close enough to hear us laughed.
I ignored him.
Mr. Stait looked at me as I approached the stage, probably trying to decide whether stopping a six-months-pregnant woman in front of several dozen cameras was worth the consequences.
Apparently, he decided it wasn't.
He stepped aside.
Jason met me halfway and offered me his arm. I accepted it, mostly because I knew refusing would turn this into an argument neither of us needed broadcast live.
Rose and Iris moved toward Mr. and Mrs. Sun.
I walked to the podium.
The room quieted again.
I looked at the reporters.
Then at the cameras.
There were things I'd spent months refusing to say publicly because investigations were ongoing. Because we needed evidence. Because exposing too much could send people running.
But this wasn't about exposing evidence.
It was about drawing a line.
"My name is Amber Asher."
The flashes intensified.



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