Chapter 10 - The Express Train
A year later.
The new house was in the suburbs, surrounded by oak trees and a massive backyard. The sun was setting, casting long, golden shadows across the freshly cut grass.
Jillian sat on the back porch, sipping a cup of hot tea. The air was peaceful. There were no cameras in the corners. There were no locks on the closet doors.
“Mom! Look!”
Leo came running out of the back door. He was seven now, taller, his cheeks flushed with healthy color. The dark shadows under his eyes were completely gone. He was laughing—a bright, beautiful sound that Jillian had fought a war to protect.
He was holding the red wooden train, pulling it along a wooden track he had built on the patio.
“The Holiday Express is arriving at the station!” Leo announced, making train noises.
Jillian smiled, kneeling down next to him on the patio. “Does the conductor have his seatbelt on?”
Leo grinned, pointing to a small action figure taped securely into the cargo car. “Double-checked and secured, Captain!”
Jillian pulled her son into a tight hug. He didn't flinch. He hugged her back with all his might, burying his face in her shoulder.
She had traveled across the world, fought in war zones, and dismantled a criminal conspiracy, but this—this small, quiet moment on a wooden patio—was the greatest victory of her life.
“I love you, Leo,” she whispered into his hair.
May you like
“I love you too, Mom,” he said.
The train kept moving forward on the tracks, and for the first time in a very long time, so did they.
