AXEL POVThe baby was laughing.It was that pure, unbridled sound, the kind of visceral laughter that made his entire small body shake with joy. I sat cross-legged on the hardwood floor of the living room, carefully balancing one wooden block on top of another. Stacking them higher. Higher.He squealed, slapping his chubby hands against the floor as his wide, dark eyes tracked my movement."Even bigger, buddy," I murmured, sliding another polished rectangle onto the apex.He reached out, his tiny fingers grasping at the air, babbled something incoherent, and lunged forward.The structure was wobbling now, listing precariously to the left. One microscopic tremor, one wrong breath, and the entire architecture would collapse into absolute ruin. It felt exactly like the rest of my life.It was just past noon, and a heavy, slate-gray sky hung low outside the window. We were currently in a nondescript safe house in the industrial pockets of Brooklyn—our third tactical location in less than
Last Updated : 2026-05-29 Read more