She took my cold hand in her warm, lined palms.

“I’m here, child,” Ruth whispered.

“I’m right here.”

Daniel looked at Sterling.

“We are going to your office. Now.”

“It is three in the morning, Daniel,” Sterling protested.

“Then you’d better wake up your secretary,” Daniel said, already walking past him.

The heavy door swung shut behind them, leaving only the quiet hum of the room.

Ruth pulled a plastic chair close to my bed and sat down.

“You told him,” she said softly.

“I had to,” I said, a tear slipping into my ear as I lay back on the pillow.

“He was going to find out anyway.”

“He needed to know,” Ruth said, brushing a stray hair from my forehead.

“He has lived in the dark for too long.”

“What if the lawyers win, Ruth?” I asked, looking at the ceiling.

“What if they take the boys from both of us?”

“Daniel is a powerful man when he wants to be,” Ruth said, squeezing my fingers.

“He just forgot how to fight for what matters.”

We sat in silence for what felt like hours.