Chapter 148

Ramon POV

“But you found us,” Ollie said simply. “You always find us. That’s what papas do.”

If only it were that simple. If only love and good intentions were enough to erase the complicated, messy reality of how Ollie had come into existence.

Lake was watching us from his cot, his expression soft but still concerned. I could feel his emotions through the bond—love, yes, but also worry. Confusion about why I was acting differently. Fear that something had changed between us.

And it had changed. How could it not? Knowing what I now knew—that I’d been intimate with Lake when he was a child, that I’d fathered Ollie in circumstances that were at best ethically complicated and at worst criminal—how could anything stay the same?

“Let’s all try to get some sleep,” I suggested, gently settling Ollie back against his pillows. “It’s late, and we all need rest.”

Ollie nodded, but his hand caught mine before I could move away. “Stay,” he said. “Please