ALARIC POV
I didn’t remember falling asleep.
I remembered sitting on the edge of the bed.
I remembered watching them breathe, counting every rise and fall of their little chests like that alone could keep the world from collapsing any further.
I remembered telling myself I would stay awake, just a little longer, just until I was sure nothing else could go wrong, just until my mind stopped replaying that f*****g footage over and over again—
And then—
Nothing.
The next thing I felt was small hands on my chest.
Warm.
Soft.
Real.
“Daddy…”
The word hit me before anything else did, before the room came back into focus, before I even registered where I was, and for a second I genuinely thought I had imagined it, that my brain had twisted something inside me just to cope, because there
