Chapter 125

Lake POV

Oh. Oh, this poor child. He’d watched his papa get stabbed, watched his new friend get kidnapped, and now he was terrified that he’d lose everyone he loved.

I knelt down again, ignoring Dr. Chen’s look of concern, and took Julian’s face in my hands. “Listen to me, Julian. Your daddy is safe. He’s right here in this hospital, helping Ollie. And Ollie is going to be okay. The bad men can’t hurt any of us anymore. Ramon made sure of that. Your uncle Ramon is the strongest, bravest person I know, and he won’t let anything bad happen to this family ever again. Do you understand?”

Julian nodded slowly, tears still streaming down his face. “Promise?”

“I promise,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure I had the right to make that promise. Even though I knew that bad things could still happen, that danger could still find us.

But Julian needed to hear it. Needed to believe that the adults in his life could keep him safe.

“Okay,” he finally whis