Chapter 136

Ramon POV

I felt like I’d been punched in the chest. Half-brother. Lake thought Ollie was his half-brother because he thought Samuel had fathered him. I had been living with that horror for five years.

“Lake,” I said carefully, “if you could know the truth—if you could know who Ollie’s biological father really is—would you want to know?”

Lake was quiet for a long moment, staring at Ollie’s still form. “I don’t know,” he finally admitted. “Part of me wants to know. Wants to be able to tell Ollie the truth someday, to give him that piece of his history. But another part of me is terrified. Because what if his father is worse than Samuel? What if it’s someone cruel or violent or—”

He stopped, swallowed hard, then continued. “I passed around a lot, Ramon. Sold to different men, used in different ways. Most of them blend together in my memory—faces and hands and pain that all feels the same. But that July in 2019—”

He closed his eyes, like he was tryi