Chapter 1 - The Weight of Secrets
"Then why are you helping me?" Roman looked down at Lily, sleeping beneath his jacket. For a moment, something in his face changed. It wasn't softness and something deeper. As though an old wound had suddenly reopened.
"Because someone should have helped you before things got this bad."
Emma didn't know what to say.
She lowered her eyes to her hands because if she kept looking at him, she might cry.
And crying in Roman Callahan's office felt like another mistake she couldn't afford to make.
Finally, he spoke again.
"Who usually watches her?"
"My neighbor, Mrs. Alvarez. She slipped on the ice this morning and hurt her knee."
"Family?"
"None nearby."
"The father?"
Emma's jaw tightened.
"Gone."
Roman heard the warning in her voice and didn't ask another question.
Instead, he crossed to his desk, picked up the phone, and gave a few quiet instructions.
Five minutes later, one of the men who guarded the rear entrance appeared carrying Lily's diaper bag.
He placed it carefully on the couch and left without saying a word.
After the door closed, Roman nodded toward the bag.
"Feed her when she wakes up. Then finish your shift."
Emma stared at him.
"You're... letting me work?"
"You need the money."
"I also need my job tomorrow."
"You have it."
She blinked.
"Mr. Callahan—"
"Roman," he corrected.
She hesitated.
He didn't repeat himself.
Taking a slow breath, she said, "Roman... I appreciate this. I really do. But I don't understand it."
His eyes returned to Lily.
"I haven't slept more than two hours at a time in almost two years."
The confession settled quietly between them.
Emma didn't move.
Roman seemed surprised he'd said it out loud, but after a long pause, he continued.
"My younger brother used to sleep like that."
He looked at Lily's tiny hand curled against her cheek.
"Fist closed. Face serious. Like even his dreams were none of my business."
"You had a brother?"
"Caleb."
The name seemed to cost him something.
Emma felt an unexpected tightness in her chest.
Roman never looked away from the sleeping child.
"He disappeared seventeen months ago."
"I'm sorry."
"He didn't just disappear."
His voice turned cold.
"He got involved with people he shouldn't have touched. He stole from men who don't forgive theft. Then he vanished before I could find out why."
Emma sat perfectly still.
The name Caleb had struck something buried deep inside her.
Lily's father had called himself Caleb Price.
He had worked as a mechanic in a small garage near Pilsen.
He loved cheap coffee, old country songs, and the baby growing inside her before there was even a heartbeat to hear.
When Emma told him she was pregnant, he had gone completely silent.
For one long minute, he said nothing.
May you like
Then he covered his face with both hands...
and cried.
