Six years of stubborn pride.
Six years of silence heavy enough to erase addresses, phone numbers, even memories of where one life ended and the other began.

Lucas didn’t know if Ryan still lived in Oregon. Or if he had drifted somewhere else entirely.

He knelt to meet the boy at eye level.

“What’s your name, buddy?”

“Mason,” the boy said confidently. “I live over there… with Ms. Harper.”

He pointed toward a pale brick building Lucas recognized instantly.

The county children’s residence.

Lucas’s heartbeat picked up.

A child under state care.
A tattoo only his brother shared.