"Who hit you?"
"Nobody."
"Leo."
He finally whispered the name.
I stood.
He grabbed my hand.
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Make it worse."
I looked at his face.
Then I sat back down.
"You're right."
He looked surprised.
"I won't make it worse."
"What will you do?"
"I'll teach you how to defend yourself."
His eyes widened.
"Really?"
"First lesson."
"What?"
"Running."
He laughed.
I laughed too.
For the first time in years, my apartment didn't feel like a place I was passing through.
It felt occupied.
Alive.
Dangerously close to home.
Sarah's Secret
Sarah remained in the hospital for nearly three weeks.
Every afternoon after school, Leo and I visited.
She improved slowly.
She could sit up.
Then walk.
Then speak without losing her breath.
But something was bothering her.
One afternoon, she asked to speak to me alone.
Leo was drawing in the hallway.
Sarah looked exhausted.
"There is something you need to know."
"What?"
"Daniel wasn't Leo's biological father."
I waited.
"His father is alive."
The room seemed to change temperature.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
She shook her head.
"He disappeared before Leo was born."
"Does he know about him?"
"I tried to find him."
"Who is he?"
Sarah gave me a name.
Evan Cross.
The name meant nothing to me.
But Sarah's expression told me it mattered.
"He has money," she said.
"How much?"
"I don't know."
"Why does that matter?"
"Because when he found out I was pregnant, he wanted nothing to do with us."
I stared at her.
"And now?"
"I don't know."
"Why didn't you put him on the birth certificate?"
"He refused."
Sarah looked away.
"Riker, I need you to understand something."
"I'm listening."
"If something happens to me..."
She swallowed.
"Don't let Evan take Leo just because he has money."
I didn't answer.
"Promise me."
I looked through the window.
Leo was showing a nurse his drawing.
A motorcycle.
A house.
Three people.
Three.
I turned back.
"I promise."
Sarah closed her eyes.
"I knew you would."
I frowned.
"Why?"
"Because you pretend you don't care."
She smiled faintly.
"But you always do."
That night, after we returned to the garage, I found an envelope under my apartment door.
No return address.
Inside was a photograph.
Sarah.
A younger man.
And a baby.
On the back, someone had written:
You don't know what you've stepped into.
I stared at the photograph.
Then I looked at Leo sleeping on the couch.
The old instincts returned.
The military part of me woke up.
Observe.
Assess.
Protect.
I checked the locks.
Then the windows.
Then the parking lot.
At midnight, I saw a black SUV parked across the street.
It stayed there for twenty minutes.
Then it left.
I didn't sleep.
The Man in the Black SUV
The next morning, I followed the SUV.
Not because I was looking for trouble.
Because trouble had already found us.
The vehicle turned into a downtown office complex.
A man stepped out.
Late forties.
Gray suit.
Expensive watch.
He looked like someone who had never worried about rent.
He saw me.
Then smiled.
"You must be Riker Hale."
I stopped.
"Who are you?"
"Evan Cross."
The name landed like a stone.
"You've been watching my house."
"Your house?"
"Where the boy is staying."
He studied me.
"You've become protective."
"I have."
"Leo is my son."
"Then why did you leave?"
His jaw tightened.
"That's complicated."
"No."
I stepped closer.
"It's actually very simple."
He stared at me.
"You don't get to disappear for seven years and walk back in because the boy suddenly needs you."
"I have legal rights."
"You have paperwork."
His expression hardened.
"Be careful."
I smiled without humor.
"I've spent my entire adult life being careful."
He handed me a card.
"Have your attorney call mine."
"I don't have an attorney."
"You will."
He walked away.
I watched him enter the building.
That afternoon, a lawyer named Nora Bell arrived at the garage.
She was in her fifties, carried three folders, and had the calm expression of someone who had seen every kind of family disaster.
"Sarah called me months ago," she said.
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"She wanted to."
"About Evan?"
"About everything."
She opened a folder.
"Evan Cross has significant financial resources. He also has a history of disappearing when responsibilities become inconvenient."
"Can he take Leo?"
"Possibly."
"What can we do?"
"Prove that Leo is safer with you."
I laughed.
"Have you seen where I live?"
"Yes."
She looked around.
"Surprisingly clean."
"That's not enough."