Cole’s POV

Monday arrives, crisp and bright, but the city outside doesn’t matter, not today. Today, nothing matters except the small circle I’ve arranged, the quiet ceremony at the civil office, and the family I finally have the chance to claim. I can feel the tension coiling in my chest as we step into the waiting room, the faint scent of polished wood and bureaucratic antiseptic doing nothing to calm the nervous excitement and anticipation pulsing through me. Elena walks beside me, her ...