Chapter 126

Rhodes POV

The moment I pushed through the ICU doors and saw Ollie on the gurney, my professional detachment nearly shattered.

He looked so small. That was my first coherent thought as the trauma team wheeled him into the operating bay—this child who’d been playing with my son just hours ago, who’d held Julian’s hand in the gardens, who’d been bright and curious and alive. Now he looked like a broken doll, pale and still and covered in warming blankets that couldn’t quite hide how fragile he was.

“Talk to me,” I said to the EMTs as we transferred him to the surgical table, my hands already assessing vitals, checking airways, evaluating the situation with the practiced efficiency of fifteen years in trauma surgery.

“Five-year-old male, severe hypothermia on arrival, core temp was eighty-nine when we found him. We’ve got it up to ninety-three now but it’s climbing slowly. Head trauma, significant—you can see the contusion on the right temporal region. Lo