Sarah walked into the mansion with Daniel by her side, her hand wrapped firmly around his. She didn’t rush him. She didn’t drag him.
She simply held him the way a mother holds something precious she has waited too long to touch again.
Daniel looked around the massive living room, quiet, unsure, almost shrinking into himself.
“You’re safe now,” she said softly, bending a little so he could see her face clearly. “Nobody will hurt you again.”
Daniel nodded, but his grip tightened. The boy who once believed she didn’t want him now looked like someone afraid that if he blinked too long, she might vanish.
She led him upstairs, stopping in front of a door she had kept locked for months — waiting for this day.
“I made this for you,” she said. “But if you don’t like anything, we’ll change i
