His words settled like a weight in my chest, heavy and raw.

I tried to laugh, but my voice cracked instead. “So what you’re saying is… I need to redo this and start from scratch.”

“Yes.” Carlos leaned back, studying me with quiet intensity. “You have the dream. You just don’t have the armor yet. But that—” his voice lowered, rich and deliberate “—we can fix.”

For a moment, the air between us thickened, the edges of silence stretching too long, as though neither of us ...