Chapter 24
Leonard stood pinned against the rough brick wall, swallowed by the crowd.
The screaming, the curses-sharp as needles dipped in poison-lashed across his face, his chest, his soul.
Everyone around him looked at him with disgust and disappointment.
“She’s lying!” he shouted, trying to hold his ground. “The child isn’t mine! I have nothing to do with her!”
He wanted to scream, to drag Lillian up from the ground and force the truth out of her. But she was already surrounded by people shielding her, terrified he might hurt her again.
And just then, the child burst into tears.
“You’re scaring the kid now? Really?”
Someone roared and flung half a bowl of cold, mushy porridge at him. Sticky rice grains splattered across his shirt, a sour, rotting smell invading his nose.
A wave of despair rolled over him.
Then Leonard’s eyes locked on the boy.
The child’s face was blotchy and red from crying, yet he kept sobbing like he didn’t dare stop.
This-this boy-was his only hope. If the kid said no, if he just shook his head, Leonard could hold on to one last shred of dignity.
He shoved through the crowd and dropped to his knees, his kneecaps cracking hard against the pavement.
“Look at me,” he pleaded, gripping the boy’s cold, trembling hand so tightly his knuckles turned Lillian. “Tell Uncle Leonard… who’s your father? Look me in the eye and say it.”
The boy, startled by his desperate expression, sniffled and glanced toward Lillian.
“Mommy said… you’re my daddy. She says it all the time.”
A blinding white light exploded behind Leonard’s eyes. All he could hear was the blood roaring in his ears.
“See that? Kids don’t lie!”
“He still wants to worm his way out of this? Pathetic!”
Leonard opened his mouth, but no sound came out. The shouts of the crowd drowned him, dragged him down like a riptide. He felt like a fish tossed onto dry land, gasping helplessly on the dirty asphalt.
The disciplinary notice from the Army came faster than he expected.
“Leonard Grant, due to severe misconduct and violation of personal integrity, resulting in serious reputational damage, it has been decided that you are hereby discharged from active military duty.”
Leonard stared blankly at the document. He didn’t argue. Didn’t say a word.
He simply took the paper and walked away.
On moving day, Leonard realized there wasn’t much in the house that truly belonged to him.
Chapter 24
96.00%
He crouched down to clean out a drawer and his fingers rushed against sniff place of carbons & was Ext
On the first page, she had written
Leonard’s on another deployment. I moved in today by myself the toes were votary, they que suck in the stain wet 1 thought about asking someone for help, but didn’t want to cause trouble then i thong, then he comes home, at leas he’ll have a comfortable place to stay, that gave me the strength to keep going!
A lump rose in Leonard’s throa
He remembered the day Evelyn moved into the housing unit-he had been hundreds of miles away on a teld operation
She had called him that night and said, “it’s all settled, don’t worry” She hadn’t complaced on
Back at home, his mother had shaken her head and sighed, “Evelyn’s a good women, if you have any conscience, you’d go and bring her back.”
Even his usually reserved father lost his temper. “You’re no son of mine unless you get Evelyn back”
Leonard mumbled something noncommittal, but deep down, he knew some cracks, once formed, could never te repaired
He had just stepped out of the alley when he ran into Lillian
She was wearing a bright red dress and holding the child, standing at the bus stop with a smug smile.
“Well, if it isn’t Captain Grant,” she sneered, “Didn’t think I’d see you looking so pathetic.”
She stepped closer, voice laced with venom. “You really think Evelyn’s still waiting for you? She ran off ages ago. If it
weren’t for me=”
A shrill screech of brakes tore through the air.
Red light flashed.
Then-silence,
an’s scream died in her throat,
eonard instinctively shielded the boy’s eyes.
The driver fumbled for his phone, panic all over his face. A crowd began to gather.
Leonard, holding the child-now trembling violently-felt strangely calm.
Later that night, he dropped the boy off at a shelter.
Then he bought a one-way ticket.
And vanished.
No one ever heard from him again.
