ld wipers morphed into the loud, aggressiv

eyes snap

ut of the memory of that freezing, rai

ng sun struggled to filter through the dusty windowpane. She wiped a bead of sweat from her fo

d on the small flat-screen mounted on the wall. She switched it to the B

, the broadcast cut to a massive, brightly lit press conference

," the news anchor's voice boomed, filled with practiced excitement. "He returns t

panned to

e, and those piercing, bottomless blue eyes looking dead into the lens. He looked olde

l the air vanishe

ter their brutal divorce crashed into her mind. The sheer, suffocating panic of realizing she was ca

embling fingers. It hit the stainless-s

inst her ribs so hard it physically hurt. Her breathing tu

moke. The acrid smell of burnin

n the ceiling let out a piercing, ea

he stove, twisting the gas knob off. She grabbed a dish towel and started wav

m door cli

n dinosaurs, padded out into the living room.

om

on the cheap wooden floor. His voice was

es in front of him. She pulled his small, warm body tightly against her chest, buryin

y's here," she whisper

k slightly. He

that naturally pressed into a serious line. Looking at him was like looking at a

resemblance w

c grew like weeds in her chest, wrapping around her heart and squeezing tight. She pulled

le cheek. "Mommy sick?" he asked, his brow furr

he kissed his warm forehead. "No, baby. Mommy just got

av's deep, magnetic voice echoed through the small

pointed a small finger a

He didn't know what the word truly meant; he just knew it was the sound he made when he saw the secret

into a bottomless pit.

lammed her thumb against the power button. The scre

Leo up and carried him to his highchair. She placed a plate of slightly charred

bsessive precision, he used his small plastic spoon to scrape

it he had inherited directly from his father-

he kitchen counter, sud

nd looked at the screen. It was

e. She swiped to answer and pinned the phone between her ea

ey's voice shrieked through the speake

as happily eating his now-perfect eggs. She lo

finds out? If Gustav Ellison finds out about Leo, he will tear N

pted. Her voice was dry, but her gr

out at the busy, gritty Brooklyn street below.

low-level employee at a media company. He is a billionaire CEO living in the clouds. We e

y sky outside, her chest rising and falling