Marcus didn\u2019t finish his sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He didn\u2019t need to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James \u201cSantiago\u201d Fierro was already on his feet, the flash drive clutched tightly in his fist, his eyes locked on the door of the private VIP lounge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew woke up completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy hugged the old teddy bear against her chest, even though it was empty now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDid she come back?\u201d the little girl asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James looked at her. She was five years old, and she didn\u2019t ask the way someone who expects a warm hug asks. She asked like someone who hears footsteps in the dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes,\u201d he said. \u201cBut this time, she doesn\u2019t get to decide anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcus moved closer to the lounge window. From there, he could see a section of the corridor. People with luggage, families buying coffee, a woman carrying a box of pastries, airport employees walking briskly with radios in hand. And among all of them, Rebecca appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was no longer wearing her beige coat open with elegance. She had it wrapped tightly around her body, as if she were hiding something. Walking on either side of her was a man. They didn\u2019t look like tourists. They weren\u2019t looking at screens or departure gates. They were looking at exits. They were looking at cameras. They were looking for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James knelt in front of the twins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cListen to me very carefully. No one is going to touch you. No one. But I need you to stay here with Marcus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew shook his head quickly. \u201cDon\u2019t leave us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That sentence hit James in the chest like a physical blow. For years, he had listened to pleas without moving a single muscle. But that tiny voice made him look down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to leave you,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just going to stand between you and her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy took a step toward him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDaddy said bad men make beautiful promises.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcus swallowed hard. James didn\u2019t take offense. He took off his suit jacket and placed it over the little girl\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen don\u2019t believe me for what I say. Watch me for what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The door to the lounge swung open violently. Rebecca walked in first. Her smile appeared before her voice did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are my babies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy backed away. Matthew hid behind Marcus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James turned around slowly. Rebecca froze the moment she recognized him. She didn\u2019t know him personally, but in this country, there are names that require no introduction. There are faces that circulate in old news articles, in whispers across expensive restaurants, in warnings given by drivers and lawyers. James Fierro was one of those men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMr. Fierro,\u201d she said, her voice shifting instantly. \u201cWhat a shame. There\u2019s been a misunderstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James looked at the two men standing behind her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMisunderstandings don\u2019t usually show up armed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of them reached his hand inside his jacket. Marcus moved faster. He didn\u2019t draw a weapon; he just raised his voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are cameras, there are Homeland Security officers twenty yards away, and there are two minors present. Think about your next move.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man went still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca let out a nervous laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey are bodyguards. I am their legal guardian.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou abandoned two children in front of a departure gate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI went to the restroom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy spoke up from behind Marcus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLiar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca shot her a venomous glare. It lasted only a second, but James saw it. There was no concern there. There was only rage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLucy,\u201d Rebecca said with a fake, sweet tone, \u201ccome to Mommy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The little girl gripped James\u2019s suit jacket tighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not my mommy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca\u2019s smile completely shattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey are traumatized children. Their father passed away recently. They say things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James held up the flash drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThomas used to say things too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca turned ghost white. The men tensed. They were no longer looking at the children; they were looking at the flash drive. James understood then that the little girl hadn\u2019t handed him a mere keepsake. She had handed him a life sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGive that back to me,\u201d Rebecca said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t belong to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is part of my stepchildren\u2019s belongings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen let them decide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew peeked his head out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt belongs to my daddy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca took a step forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMatthew, come here right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The boy began to tremble. He didn\u2019t cry. That was the worst part. He trembled the way children tremble when they have already learned that crying only makes things worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James stepped right in front of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne more step, and I start calling everyone out by their full legal names.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca creased her forehead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James looked at Marcus. Marcus already had his cell phone pressed to his ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRebecca Olvera. Property sale finalized this morning at a notary public downtown. Buyer: a shell company opened three months ago. One-way tickets purchased to London, but never boarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flight changed to a domestic departure with a private connecting charter. Two minors abandoned in a secure terminal area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca stopped pretending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI understand enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know what Thomas left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James took a step toward her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThomas left two children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She laughed with pure contempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThomas left debts, problems, and paperwork that could sink a lot of powerful people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIncluding you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca\u2019s eyes flashed with hatred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIncluding you too, Mr. Fierro.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcus hung up the phone. The corridor outside began to move differently. Two airport security officers approached the entrance. Then several more. The passing crowd didn\u2019t notice it yet, but the air had completely changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James lowered his voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been targeted for ruin by much better people than you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca clutched her purse tightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose children belong to me until a judge says otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChildren don\u2019t belong to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLegally, I am their guardian.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLegally, you abandoned them at an international airport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca glanced toward the exit. Her men did too. They were calculating their escape. James didn\u2019t move. He didn\u2019t need to run. His entire life had been hunted by ghosts far bigger than them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMarcus,\u201d he said, \u201ctake the children to Ms. Robles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChild Protective Services and the local authorities are already on their way inside,\u201d Marcus replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca\u2019s eyes widened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou called Child Protective Services?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James looked at her with chilling indifference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted to protect them, not buy them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That sentence left Marcus entirely motionless, because it was the last thing anyone expected to hear from him. Not even James expected it from himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy only let go of James\u2019s jacket when a woman in an official institutional vest entered the lounge alongside a social worker and two officers. The woman knelt in front of them. She didn\u2019t touch them; she just spoke softly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy name is Audrey. I am here to listen to you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew looked up at James.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan we go with him?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The social worker looked at the most feared man in the room. For a split second, she didn\u2019t know how to respond. James answered before she could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou are going with the people who can take proper care of you. I am not going to disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca lunged toward the little girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLucy!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of her men tried to block the officers. Everything happened in three seconds. Marcus shoved a heavy table out of the way. A glass shattered on the floor. A guard shouted a warning. The people out in the corridor spun around to look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca managed to grab Lucy\u2019s arm. The little girl let out a small, sharp cry. It wasn\u2019t loud. It wasn\u2019t a scream. But for James, it was enough. He grabbed Rebecca\u2019s wrist and forced her to let go. He didn\u2019t strike her; he didn\u2019t need to. He just squeezed hard enough for her to understand that this time, she wasn\u2019t locking children inside an empty house. She was standing in front of witnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNever again,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca stared at him with tears of pure rage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have no idea what these people are capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James brought his face close to hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do know. That\u2019s exactly why I chose not to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The officers escorted the men out first. Rebecca began screaming that this was an abuse of power, that she knew judges, that she was going to sue every single one of them. But the more she screamed, the smaller she looked. The very same woman who had abandoned two children without looking back was now desperately demanding that everyone look at her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy didn\u2019t look at her. Neither did Matthew. The twins remained seated on the couch in the private lounge, side by side, holding the ripped teddy bear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James requested a laptop. He refused to hand over the flash drive without reviewing the contents first. Not because he distrusted Thomas, but because he knew that truths, when they arrive late, can also be fatal. The state representative agreed to let them review the data right there in the room, with the officers present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A folder appeared on the screen. Videos. Contracts. Construction site photographs. Audio files. And a document with a simple title:
\u201cFor James Fierro.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcus held his breath. James hesitated to open it. For the first time in years, his hand trembled. He pressed play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thomas Cardenas appeared sitting in a humble kitchen, carrying dark circles under his eyes and wearing a denim shirt. Behind him, a refrigerator could be seen covered in children\u2019s drawings held up by colorful magnets. His voice sounded exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMr. Fierro, if you are watching this, it means my children made it to you. I only wish it hadn\u2019t come to this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew moved closer to the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDaddy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy covered her mouth with both hands. James wanted to pause the video, but the little girl shook her head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thomas continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know you are no saint. I\u2019m no fool either. But that night on the highway, when I pulled you out of the fire, I saw a man who didn\u2019t want to die. Today, I\u2019m asking you to look at my children the exact same way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James felt the jagged scar on his hand begin to burn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRebecca didn\u2019t marry me out of love. I reached out to her when my kids desperately needed a mother figure at home. Matthew and Lucy\u2019s mother passed away when they were born. I was entirely alone. Exhausted. And I made the mistake of confusing company with family. Six months ago, I discovered that on the luxury development project downtown, they were using cheap, substandard materials and reporting fraudulent costs. There are signatures, deposits, names. Rebecca was linked to the firm moving the money. When I tried to blow the whistle, they told me to think about my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The video cut out for a brief second. Then Thomas appeared in a different location. A car. Rain was pelting hard against the windshield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf anything happens to me, it was no accident. And if she gets custody of my kids, she is going to sell the house, collect the insurance payouts, and disappear them with the very first cover story that works. Don\u2019t let her take them away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James closed his eyes. Thomas had known he was going to die. And even so, he had used his very last ounce of strength to leave a trail of truth behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final fragment was shorter. Thomas looked directly into the lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMatthew, Lucy, if you ever watch this\u2026 forgive me for not making it home. I wanted to come back. I always wanted to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew let out a choked sound that was neither a word nor a cry. James knelt down and caught him before he fell to his knees. The boy buried his face into James\u2019s shirt, clinging tight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy daddy didn\u2019t leave us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo,\u201d James said, his voice cracking. \u201cYour daddy fought all the way to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The formal investigation began that very afternoon. Not like in the movies. No gunfights. No burning SUVs. It began with copies, stamps, depositions, and two children drinking hot chocolate out of paper cups while outside the private lounge, the airport intercom continued announcing flights to Miami, New York, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. Life didn\u2019t halt, but Rebecca\u2019s lie did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The investigators discovered that the ticket to London was a total diversion. Rebecca had planned to take a domestic flight down to a private airfield in south Texas. She possessed falsified travel documents for the twins, but one critical detail had failed her: the flash drive wasn\u2019t in their backpacks, nor in their clothes, nor in the medical files she had swept through before leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She never imagined Thomas would hide it inside an old teddy bear. She never imagined Lucy would remember a scar. She never imagined that James Fierro, of all men, would be the one standing near a gate long enough to notice two abandoned children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That night, Child Protective Services didn\u2019t allow James to take the twins home with him. And they were legally right. He was not a relative. He was not their guardian. He was not a man with a clean record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James didn\u2019t argue. That surprised everyone. He only requested to know the location of the shelter they were being transferred to and demanded, through his legal team, that absolutely no contact from Rebecca be permitted without strict court supervision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy clung to his hand right before they led them away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou said you weren\u2019t going to disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James knelt down in front of her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTomorrow, I am going to be wherever they legally let me be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd what if they don\u2019t let you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He looked up at the social worker, then looked back down at the little girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen I am going to keep knocking on the door until someone opens it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew handed him the teddy bear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTake care of him.\u201d
James took it into his hands as if it were a sacred relic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ll return him to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPromise?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI promise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The twins drove away in a state vehicle. James remained standing by the large terminal window, watching the airport runway lights reflect off the polished floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcus stepped up beside him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBoss, this is going to bring an immense amount of trouble down on us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James didn\u2019t turn his gaze away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been living in trouble for years, Marcus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mean our usual business. I mean going up against major construction firms, city notaries, and corporate lawyers. There were heavily protected names on that flash drive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet them fall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcus looked at him as if he didn\u2019t recognize the man standing before him.
\u201cYou always used to say that debts are only paid with cash or blood.\u201d
James held up the old, empty teddy bear.
\u201cThis one is paid with a life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the weeks that followed, Thomas Cardenas\u2019s name began surfacing in legal case files that a lot of powerful people would have preferred to keep buried forever. The accident at the construction site hadn\u2019t been a simple fall. Logbooks had been altered. Shift schedules changed. Security footage wiped clean. Thomas\u2019s safety harness appeared explicitly severed in photographs that had never made it into the initial police report. Rebecca had already collected on a life insurance policy, sold off the family home, and requested expedited passports to transport the children out of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The city notary office was temporarily shut down. A site engineer fled the state. An accountant turned state\u2019s witness. And several men who believed they were entirely untouchable discovered that, sometimes, the truth doesn\u2019t require an army to conquer. Sometimes, it just needs two children, a teddy bear, and a hidden flash drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James attended every single open court hearing. Always wearing a dark suit. Always in absolute silence. The mothers of other children looked at him with profound distrust in the family court hallways. He didn\u2019t blame them; he distrusted his own reflection too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One afternoon, the social worker approached him.
\u201cThe children keep asking for you.\u201d
James looked down at the floor.
\u201cI am not a good presence for them.\u201d
The woman organized her paperwork calmly.
\u201cI didn\u2019t ask you that.\u201d
\u201cI have done things in my life that have no business being anywhere near innocent kids.\u201d
\u201cThen do something completely different near them.\u201d
That sentence remained stuck in his mind, just like Thomas\u2019s words seven years ago: \u201cJust do something good for someone else someday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legal proceedings didn\u2019t grant custody to James\u2014at least, not in the beginning. The twins were sent temporarily to live with an maternal great-aunt in a quiet town outside of town, Mrs. Rosemary\u2014a silver-haired woman who sold homemade goods on weekends and had no idea Thomas had listed her as an emergency contact in an old folder. When they tracked her down, she arrived at the courthouse wearing a simple shawl, carrying a bag of fresh bread, her hands trembling.
\u201cI thought there was no one left from my sweet girl\u2019s side,\u201d she said, weeping as she saw the twins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy looked at her with caution. Matthew hid behind James. Mrs. Rosemary didn\u2019t take offense. She simply set her bag down on a bench.
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to love me today, little ones. I just came so you know that you do have someone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was what finally convinced James to let go. Not because it didn\u2019t tear at him, but because he understood that protecting someone doesn\u2019t always mean staying in their space. Sometimes, protecting means ensuring that someone better is there to hold them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca was formally indicted months later for child abandonment, grand fraud, forgery of legal documents, and her direct role in covering up Thomas\u2019s fatal workplace accident. As they led her down the hallway in handcuffs, she caught sight of James standing by the wall.
\u201cYou think this cleans your soul, Fierro?\u201d
James didn\u2019t smile.
\u201cNo. But it saves them.\u201d
She spat onto the floor.
\u201cThose kids aren\u2019t yours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James thought of Matthew falling asleep against a teddy bear. Of Lucy asking him if he was bad. Of Thomas crawling straight into a burning vehicle to drag a total stranger out to safety.
\u201cNo,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cThey belong to themselves. That\u2019s the one thing you never managed to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A year passed. The airport returned to being a place of background noise, flights, and rushing crowds for James. But every single time he walked past Gate 17, something deep inside him paused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One afternoon in December, he received an envelope postmarked from the countryside. Inside was a child\u2019s drawing. Two children. A teddy bear. A house with a bright red roof. A silver-haired woman cooking over a massive kitchen pot. And standing right beside them, a man in a black suit with a jagged scar stretching across his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beneath the drawing, written in Lucy\u2019s neat handwriting, it read:
\u201cYou did come back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James stood staring at the piece of paper for a very long time. Marcus found him in his private office, sitting completely still in front of the window, his eyes glistening. Marcus said nothing; he simply set a fresh cup of coffee on the desk.
\u201cBoss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James carefully folded the drawing and slipped it into his breast pocket.
\u201cHave Thomas\u2019s original house repaired.\u201d
\u201cThe one that was fraudulently sold?\u201d
\u201cAcquire it back legally. If the current owners won\u2019t sell, purchase another property near Mrs. Rosemary\u2019s home. Put it entirely in the children\u2019s names. My name stays off the paperwork completely.\u201d
Marcus nodded. \u201cAnything else?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James looked down at the scar running across his hand. For years, he had looked at it solely as a grim reminder of a deadly ambush. Now, he looked at it as a doorway.
\u201cYes. Find a reputable, independent foundation that explicitly works with abandoned and runaway children in transit hubs and bus terminals. No press releases. No publicity. My family name stays completely off it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcus almost smiled.
\u201cThomas would be surprised.\u201d
James shook his head slowly.
\u201cThomas would be busy taking care of his kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He placed the drawing in the top drawer of his desk, right next to the old teddy bear Matthew had left with him and later flatly refused to take back. \u201cSo you don\u2019t forget us,\u201d the boy had told him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He didn\u2019t forget them. Not once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because the most dangerous man in the region had watched many things crumble throughout his life. Structures. Names. Kingdoms. Men who falsely believed they were immortal. But nothing had ever brought him to his knees quite like the sight of two small children sitting in front of an airport gate, waiting for a woman who had no intention of ever coming back. And nothing had ever changed him quite like discovering that, sometimes, a life debt isn\u2019t settled by destroying your enemies. Sometimes, it\u2019s settled by ensuring that two innocent children can finally fall asleep without an ounce of fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew and Lucy learned over time that not all adults walk away. That some arrive late. That some arrive broken. And that, every now and then, even a man with far too many shadows in his past can stand in front of a closed door and decide never to look away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James Fierro never referred to himself as a good man. He didn\u2019t forgive his own sins easily. But every December, he traveled down to that quiet country town, sat at a simple table with a plastic tablecloth, ate a home-cooked meal with red rice, and listened to two happy children talk about their school, their drawings, and a father who truly wanted to come back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And whenever Matthew asked him about the scar on his hand, he always gave the exact same response:
\u201cI got it on the day your papa saved my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy, always a bit more serious than her brother, would look up and add:
\u201cAnd then you saved ours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James would glance up at the old teddy bear sitting on the shelf, then look back down at the twins. And although he never said yes, he never denied it either. Because some truths don\u2019t need to be bragged about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They just need to stay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Marcus didn\u2019t finish his sentence. He didn\u2019t need to. James \u201cSantiago\u201d Fierro was already on his feet, the flash drive clutched tightly in his fist, his eyes… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanh.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanh.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanh.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanh.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanh.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/myanh.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3228,"href":"https:\/\/myanh.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3225\/revisions\/3228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanh.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanh.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanh.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}