“Leo,” the boy whispered, clutching a small, worn-out toy truck to his chest like it was the only thing keeping him together.
Ethan exhaled slowly.
Then he did something no one in his world would have expected.
He turned on his hazard lights, opened the door, and stepped out.
The contrast was almost absurd.
A man in a tailored suit, stepping onto a grimy sidewalk, kneeling in front of a trembling child.
“Take me to her,” Ethan said.
Leo hesitated—like he had learned not to trust promises.
“Really?”
Ethan nodded. “I don’t make promises I won’t keep.”
That wasn’t entirely true.
But this time, it needed to be.
They ran.
Past storefronts and polished glass… into a narrow alley where the city changed its face completely.
The air grew heavy. The ground was littered with trash. The walls were stained with years of neglect.
Leo slowed down, pointing ahead with shaking hands.
“She’s there…”
Ethan followed his gaze.
And then he saw her.
A woman lay on a thin layer of cardboard, her body curled slightly, her breathing shallow—too shallow.
Too still.
For a moment, Ethan froze.
Not because he didn’t know what to do.
But because something inside him cracked open.