I swallow hard.
She watches me a second longer.
Then, softer, “I need time.”
“I know.”
“And space.”
I nod. “You got it.”
Her eyes flicker. “But not… forever.”
That’s when I realize—this isn’t goodbye.
Not yet.
It’s a beginning.
The hardest kind.
CHAPTER 41
KAIRO
It’s been a week.
Seven days.
One hundred and sixty-eight hours since Jav tore the League compound apart with nothing but his rage and his name.
Since he carried Ben out of the dark like a myth brought to life.
And in that whole week, I’ve barely spoken to him.
Not beyond what’s necessary. Not beyond what motherhood demands.
Food’s on the table. Ben’s got a jacket. He has his meds, his sleep bear, his story time.
And Jav?
He gets nods. One-word answers. A slammed door here. A closed one there.
I can’t forget what he did for us.
But I also can’t forget what he didn’t say.
The lies he wore like second skin.
The danger he dragged into my son’s life like a shadow we never invited.
Ben,on the other hand, doesn’t seem to carry any of that weight.
Every day he wakes up with new drawings, new stories, a new name for the same man.
“Daddy Jav,” he chirps.
Like it’s always been that way.
