I looked at him, a strange tightness growing in my chest. “Is he dead too?” I asked quietly. “Did he die before the two of you could make up?”
Marcus blinked. His eyes widened slightly in surprise. And then....he laughed. Not a laugh of joy, but one filled with disbelief, maybe even a little bitterness.
“After what he did?” he said, still shaking his head. “He deserted me and my mother. When I was old enough to really see what was going on, I saw the way he treated her, like she was nothing. And then he just left.”
His expression hardened.
“And even when my mom died… even when her family started arguing about who’d take me in, and someone, someone actually reached out to him to tell him she was dead. Gone and he didn’t even come to the funeral. He didn’t even acknowledge that he had a
