ROMAN'S POV

I pulled back slightly, just enough to really look at her, my eyes meeting hers without anything blocking the moment. The sincerity in that five-year-old’s gaze was unmatched, almost disarming in a way that caught me completely off guard. It wasn’t just innocence — it was trust, pure and simple, the kind that hit harder than any speech or dramatic moment ever could. For a second, everything around us seemed to go still. The air felt lighter. The house, which had felt so noisy ...