Chapter 13 - LEO'S SILENCE
Healing did not arrive quickly.
Leo stopped screaming after a few weeks.
But silence replaced it.
He rarely wandered through the mansion alone.
He refused to enter the grand hall.
Any woman wearing strong floral perfume made him hide.
A child psychologist came twice a week.
Dr. Rachel Monroe taught Mark something he had never understood.
"Children remember with their bodies before they can explain with words."
Mark looked at Leo playing nearby.
"So what do I do?"
"Make safety predictable."
"How?"
"Show up."
The answer sounded simple.
For Mark, it wasn't.
For twelve years, his company had rewarded his absence.
Flights.
Deals.
Late meetings.
There was always another emergency.
Mark canceled half of them.
His board protested.
"You can't personally handle daycare."
Mark looked at the executive who said it.
"He's my son."
The room went quiet.
He promoted his deputy.
Reduced travel.
Moved several meetings to video.
Wall Street commentators questioned whether Sterling had lost his ambition.
Mark didn't care.
Every evening at six, he came home.
Every evening, Leo watched through the window.
Slowly, the child stopped asking:
"Daddy come back?"
Because Daddy always did.
Elena noticed the transformation.
Mark noticed hers.
Without the constant tension created by Victoria, Elena laughed more.
She sang while making breakfast.
She wore her hair loose on weekends.
Leo followed her everywhere.
One afternoon, Mark watched them building a train track across the living-room floor.
For the first time since Anna died, Sterling Manor sounded alive.
He felt something dangerous.
Hope.
Then Daniel called.
"Trial date."
Mark's smile disappeared.
"When?"
"Six weeks."
Victoria was going to court.
May you like
And the entire country would be watching.
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