JAYDEN

We stepped into our room and I closed the door behind us.

For a second, I couldn’t even look at her.

I turned my back, stared at the wall, and tried to keep the rage down. Tried to find air in lungs that felt like they’d been crushed for hours.

And all I could see… was Gabriel holding my son.

My son.

The same boy who’s never clung to me when I left for business.

Who never smiled when I came home after long days.

Never ran into my arms like he missed me.

Like I was just... there.

A presence in the house. A figure in the background....