*LEONARDO* “Mr. Madrigal, do you need anything? I could make you some soup… something light, chicken and ginger, easy on the stomach.” Betsy had come closer, relief written plainly across her face. “I’m fine, Betsy. You can call it a night.” She nodded, glanced once more at the boy still pressed against me, and quietly left. I looked down at the soft, uneven breathing against my chest. Jamin’s shoulders were still shaking in small aftershocks of the earlier panic. “One would think I died or something,” I murmured. He only pushed his face harder into my shirt. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop crying.” I hadn’t meant to make him cry. The knowledge sat uncomfortably under my ribs. The Gordons were going to pay for every tear that had fallen on my clothes tonight. That part was already decided. What I didn’t know how to handle was the boy in my arms who had clearly spent the last few hours imagining the worst.*********************** I was in my bedroom no
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