ROMAN’S POV
As I left the office, the usual hum of downtown traffic and the low roar of engines echoed around me, but my thoughts were somewhere else entirely.
My conversation with Ruby was replaying in my mind, a reel I couldn’t shut off. Her words, the tension in her voice—they gnawed at me. No amount of reasoning could make that feeling go away.
I walked briskly to my car, contemplating if I was harsh with my decision to go to court. What if it was up to the kids to decide? They barely know me; I barely know them.
A part of me told me I was doing the right thing, while the other part insisted I just shot myself.
I couldn’t wait any longer—I needed to see the kids myself.
Without Ruby there to complicate things, to add more barriers between us, I could finally see them as they were. My kids. I had to know them for myself, beyond stories, beyond pictures and reports.
Before I knew it, I was pulling up at their school, the brick building coming into view. I parked by the curb, watch
