The Court Reporter’s Eyes

Elena Hartley spends her days capturing the truth—word by word, breath by breath. Behind her courtroom stenotype, she witnesses confessions, lies, heartbreak, and justice. She has trained herself to be invisible. Silent. Untouched. Until one man sees her. Marcus Ashford, a gifted novelist with a mysterious past, arrives in the gallery not to watch the trial—but to study her. His gaze is attentive, unsettling, impossibly sincere. When he asks to learn her world, Elena reluctantly lets him in, unaware that doing so will unravel her carefully guarded life. What begins as intellectual curiosity turns to connection—then to a love Elena never believed she deserved. But Marcus carries a family secret tied to the very courtroom where she works, and truth is not gentle. Soon, Elena must decide whether to protect her heart or risk everything for a love that sees her completely. A story about observation and vulnerability, about love born from quiet spaces and truth whispered between sentences. For anyone who has ever been afraid to feel—and dared to love anyway. Perfect for fans of The Light We Lost, Normal People, and The Notebook.**