Chapter 33

Garrison POV

The glowing screen of my laptop cast long shadows across the stacks of financial reports scattered over the desk.

I had spent the last two hours staring at the same legal addendum for a major corporate acquisition, unable to process a single sentence.

Ordinarily, my mind thrived in the certainty of contracts and profit margins. But tonight, the sterile legal jargon blurred into useless shapes. Every time I tried to focus on the quarterly projections, the text was replaced by the vivid image of a little boy proudly clutching a wooden birdhouse.

You found the balance, kiddo.

I rubbed my tired eyes and leaned back in the leather chair, letting the silence of the lodge wash over me.

Liam.

The realization that he was my son hadn't been a simple thing to process.

For years, I had convinced myself that maintaining distance equated to providing protection. I had built my life around the flawed philosophy that