Eve
The bottom dropped out of my stomach.
"Oh, baby…" I breathed, reaching out gently, carefully—not touching until he closed the distance.
When I finally scooped him up, he clung to me so tightly I thought he might disappear into my skin. He buried his face in my shoulder, his whole body shuddering with silent sobs.
I held him like I was trying to hold the world together.
Montegue didn't speak.
He didn't have to.
Because this?
This wasn't politics.
This was the aftermath of something broken.
Something that should never have fractured in the first place.
And all I could do was rock Elliot slowly.
"Please..." the old man whispered. "I... I failed my grandchild enough." He bit his lips, trying to hold back the wave of emotion that no doubt mirrored mine.