MASON.

I couldn’t answer. Not immediately. Instead, I stared at the baby, her tiny chest rising and falling as she drifted off to sleep again. She didn’t deserve anything but goodness in this world. And I had sworn to give her that—to give her all the good things in life. To protect her with everything that I’ve got.

I took that words seriously, so seriously that I had unconsciously also tried to protect her from myself. Maybe I didn’t want to admit it, or maybe I was already ...