#Chapter 7- The Disappearance

Kingston I watched Cora walk away, Riley’s small hand tucked in hers, the boy glancing back over his shoulder with a wide-eyed, trusting expression. Something in me pulled tight at the little boy’s look. It was odd. I wasn’t the sentimental type. I didn’t get attached easily—especially not to children. But lately, if I was being honest, I’d found myself softening. Perhaps it was the timing, or the sudden awareness that somewhere out there, a child of my own blood had been born without my knowledge. After my sperm had gone missing, the idea of a child of my own was taking shape. A miniature version of myself made of all of my best parts. That kind of truth reorders a man’s priorities. And Riley… he was different. It was in the way he looked at Cora with unshakable love. There was something raw and real about him I hadn’t seen in a child before. Maybe that’s why I found him so… familiar. After learning about our similar allergies, perhaps I had even seen a bit of myself in