“Sir… I’ve never been with anyone before… not a woman, not a man. You’re the first person I trusted this much…”
Sometimes grief simply became quieter.
Other times, one sound could bring it rushing back.
Lucas cried again.
Evelyn’s fingers curled tightly around the edge of her blanket.
Her professional instincts were already analyzing what she heard.
The rhythm.
The pauses.
The frustration.
The exhaustion.
But beneath all of that was something her medical training alone could not explain.
The baby was searching for comfort.
And he was not finding it.
Evelyn opened her eyes.
Lucas cried again.
She stood.
A flight attendant immediately stepped toward her.
“Ma’am, is everything alright?”
Evelyn glanced toward the front.
“I’m a pediatric nurse.”
The attendant’s expression changed.
“Is something wrong with the baby?”
“I don’t think he’s in immediate danger,” Evelyn said. “But I think I know why he isn’t settling.”
The attendant hesitated.
“His father has declined assistance.”
Evelyn looked at Vincent.
The man was exhausted.
Not physically alone.
Broken in that quiet way people became when they had been carrying too much for too long.
“Then ask him if he’ll accept mine.”
“Sir… I’ve never been with anyone before… not a woman, not a man. You’re the first person I trusted this much…” Advertisements
The red light on the recorder kept blinking.
Rohan stood frozen beside the bed, staring at the open trolley bag as if his body had forgotten how to move.
A few minutes ago, he had been nervous for a completely different reason.
He thought this night was about trust.
About finally opening his heart to someone.
But now, looking at the things inside Vikram’s bag, Rohan felt something cold crawl up his spine.
There were no clothes.
No laptop.
Not even toiletries.
Only a thick brown folder.
Under it were several smaller envelopes, a digital camera, and what looked disturbingly like printed photographs.
Rohan’s throat tightened.
— “What… what is all this?”
Vikram didn’t answer right away.
Instead, he calmly picked up the folder, placed it on the table, and opened it like he had been preparing for this moment for a long time.
The first thing Rohan saw made his blood turn cold.
A photograph.
Of him.
Walking out of his apartment building two weeks earlier.
