Sophia broke all over again at those words, burying her face in my shirt until it was wet through. Mom wrapped her arms around both of us, rocking gently, whispering soft things into Sophia’s hair.
Liam kept talking. Kept holding himself together by sheer will.
“Yes, sir. Sophia’s with me. We’re safe.” Another shaky inhale. “We’re at the Wilsons’. Next door.” He blinked hard, but no tears fell. “Yes, sir. We’ll be here.”
He handed the phone to my dad, fingers trembling worse now. Dad stepped away to finish the call—quiet, tense words I couldn’t make out. Our address. His cell number. Promises that he would keep these children safe.
When Dad hung up, he came to Liam and rested a hand on his shoulder.
“They’re already on the road,” he said softly. “They’ll be here by morning.”
Liam nodded once. Just once. “Thank you, sir.”
He didn’t cry. He didn’t break. He didn’t fall apart.
He just stood there—fifteen years old and trying to be a mountain.
But his eyes… His eyes stayed locked on me. Like he was waiting for the moment the ground finally gave out beneath him.
And I held his gaze because I knew—deep down—that if I looked away, he’d shatter.
Mom brought down water, sandwiches that no one touched, extra blankets. "Try to get some sleep," she said softly, kissing my forehead, then hesitating before gently touching Liam's shoulder. "We're right upstairs if you need anything."
They left the basement light on, the door cracked. I could hear them moving around upstairs, making phone calls, their voices low and worried.
Sophia finally cried herself to sleep, curled into a tiny ball on one side of the pullout. Liam sat on the edge, staring at nothing, still in the same clothes, blood on his shoes that I tried not to look at.
"Lee?" I whispered.
Nothing.
"I'm gonna go tell Mom I’m staying down here with you. I'll be right back."
I ran upstairs and grabbed my pillow. Mom caught me at the top of the basement stairs.
"Steph—"
"I'm staying with them." I met her eyes. "Please, Mom. He needs me."
She studied my face for a long moment, then nodded. "Okay. But you come get us if you need anything."
I crept back down to the basement. Sophia was still asleep, but Liam had moved. He was sitting on the floor beside the couch, knees drawn up, arms wrapped around them, making himself as small as possible.
I sat down beside him, close but not touching. We stayed like that for maybe an hour, just sitting in the dim light, listening to Sophia's breathing and the occasional creak of the house.
Then I heard it—the tiniest sound, like air escaping through a crack. I looked over and saw the tears sliding silently down his face.
"Oh, Lee."
I wrapped my arms around him, and this time he didn't freeze. He turned into me, buried his face in my shoulder, and broke completely apart. Not loud, dramatic sobs—Liamhad never been loud about anything—but these horrible, quiet shudders that shook his whole body.
“They’re gone.” The words barely made it out of him—just a thin, cracked whisper against my shirt. “They’re just… gone. Someone came into our house and… and they’re gone.”
His whole body shook, every breath a jagged hitch that seemed to stab through his ribs. I wrapped my arms around him tighter, my own tears falling into his dark hair, disappearing there like they’d always belonged.
“I know,” I whispered. “I know, Lee. I’m so sorry.”
“Sophia saw it.” The words tore out of him, raw and shredded. “She saw them, Steph. She saw the whole thing.”
