LAURA’S POV
I didn’t sleep.
Not when the guards arrived. Not when the children were transferred in silence, tucked into secure rooms on the far end of the Reed mansion, surrounded by three layers of surveillance.
Not even when Elijah held my hand and whispered, “They’re safe now.”
Because I had believed in safety once. And it had nearly cost Elina her life.
Jimmy clung to Elijah when they arrived. Luna just stared at me with those haunting, sea-glass eyes—too quiet for a child her age.
It broke me.
They didn’t ask why we moved them in the middle of the night.
Didn’t ask where Richard was.
Or why Elijah wouldn’t let go of the gun at his waist.
Children shouldn’t have to learn how to stop trusting.
But ours had.
*****
By morning, Elijah left to meet the legal team about my fathe
