Chapter 39

After Stefano left, I walked quietly back into the kids’ room. Stefano had thoughtfully turned the lights off and drawn the curtains for them, leaving the room dim enough to help them sleep better.

Walking forward, I stood over them for some time. Liam’s little chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, his lips slightly parted. Liana’s arm had already found her stuffed bunny and wrapped around it.

I sat down on the small couch near the window and let myself sink back into the cushions. Watching them like this… peaceful, unbothered by anything in the world, always made me feel two things at once: peace and fear.

They were everything to me. My biggest reasons for keeping on after racing Baltimore. They were mine. Just mine. But now it felt like that was slipping out of my hands.

I didn’t realize I was crying until a warm drop landed on the back of my hand. Then another. And another. A sob escaped my throat before I could hold it in, and soon I was shaking quietly as tears ran down my chee