Chapter 2 📖: The Boy by the Window

Theo didn't look at me. Not really.

His eyes slid past my face like I was fog on glass. There, but never enough to matter.

He sat perfectly still, hands curled around a worn tiger plush like it was the only thing holding him together. His hoodie was two sizes too big. His silence, even bigger.

Mrs. Keller cleared her throat. "He likes quiet. Routine. No sudden touch."

She meant don't get attached. Or worse - don't try to fix him.

But I saw the tremble in Theo's fingers.

Not fear.

Hope, maybe. The quiet kind that gets people hurt.

"He eats dinner at six. No screens. He doesn't sleep without the tiger."

Her voice was clinical. Like she was reading instructions on how to hold a ghost.

"And Mr. Rowe?" I asked.

I shouldn't have.

Her spine straightened. "He doesn't involve himself in domestic affairs."

Of course he didn't.

The man whose name had once choked headlines now hid in shadow. Powerful. Unreachable. And if I were smart, I'd stay far from whatever closed door he was behind.

But as she left, I looked back at the boy.

Theo blinked, just once, and slowly placed the tiger between us. A silent offering.

My throat tightened.

He hadn't said a word.

But in that small gesture, he was screaming everything.

Don't leave me alone.

And suddenly, revenge didn't feel so sharp anymore.