“No… Mom just said he was someone important… but I shouldn’t look for him.”
William covered his face, trembling.
“And… your mother… her name was Elizabeth?”
The boy’s eyes lit up.
“Yes! You knew her?!”
Silence crashed between them.
Heavy. Unavoidable.
William looked at the boy again.
Really looked this time.
The eyes. The features. The way he frowned.
It was like staring at himself… years ago.
A broken breath escaped him.
“I… I’m your father, Lucas.”
The world stopped.
The boy blinked.
Once. Twice.
“No…” he whispered. “That’s not true…”
William stepped closer carefully, as if approaching something fragile.
“I didn’t know,” he said. “I thought you… both of you…”
Lucas stepped back.
“You’re lying!” he shouted, voice cracking. “If you’re my dad—then where were you?!”
The question cut deeper than any blade.
William had no quick answer.
Because the truth… was ugly.
“I was wrong,” he said quietly. “I was a coward. And I’ve been paying for it ever since.”
Lucas clenched his fists.
“I was hungry!” he cried. “I slept on the streets! I called for her every night!”
Each word hit like a punch.
William didn’t defend himself.
He couldn’t.