He glanced at her bleeding arm, regret etching deeper lines into his face. “I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way.”
Maya nodded, still rocking the boy. “You were terrified for him. It’s okay.”
Elias exhaled shakily. “Still wrong.”
Nathaniel whimpered when Maya shifted. Elias stepped closer. “Nathaniel… son, you okay?”
The boy buried his face deeper into Maya’s shoulder.
Elias watched, helpless, as the woman he’d just berated became his son’s only anchor.
After a long silence, Maya spoke. “Can we take him somewhere quiet? He needs to come down gently.”
Elias nodded. “Yes. Please.”
Rosa hurried ahead. Maya stood slowly, Nathaniel clinging to her neck like a lifeline. Elias instinctively reached out. “Let me—”
She shook her head. “Not yet. He’s holding on for dear life. Separating him now will start it all over.”
Elias stepped back, jaw clenched.
Vanessa approached. “That was… unexpected.”
Henry murmured, “It was more than that. It was a miracle.”
Elias ignored her. He shadowed Maya to the sunlit sitting room, watching as Nathaniel finally drifted into exhausted sleep.
**CHAPTER 2: The Offer**