“No… that’s not possible,” he whispered, even as his briefcase slipped from his hand. His heart pounded as he climbed the stairs, every step feeling like he was walking toward a ghost. When he opened Harper’s bedroom door, the world stopped. On the floor lay Talia Brooks, the new maid he had hired only three weeks earlier, flat on her back, laughing softly. And on top of her was Harper—moving, reaching, kicking, laughing with a brightness Elias thought had died with his wife. His daughter was alive again.
Elias stood frozen in the doorway, throat tight, vision blurring. This woman he had barely noticed, dismissed as “help,” had done what the best trauma specialists could not—she had reached his daughter. He didn’t understand how or why, only that something sacred was happening before his eyes. Yet fear overtook him instead of gratitude. He rushed forward, scooped Harper into his arms, and lashed out at Talia, warning her to stay in her place before firing her on the spot.