Chapter 6 - THE FATHER'S GHOST Richard moved toward the wall as though walking through a dream.
"Leo?"
The boy stared at him.
His face changed.
Confusion.
Fear.
Then something much deeper.
Recognition.
"Dad?"
Richard's knees nearly gave out.
Six years.
Six years of grief.
Six years of believing he had failed his son.
Six years of nightmares.
He had watched a coffin lowered into the ground.
He had stood beside a grave.
He had kept Leo's bedroom untouched.
And now his son was looking at him from behind a wall.
Alive.
Richard dropped to his knees.
"Get him out."
Security moved forward.
Richard shouted:
"Carefully!"
He didn't wait.
He reached through the opening himself.
The wood tore his hands.
Blood appeared across his palms.
He didn't notice.
"Come here, buddy."
Leo hesitated.
Then he reached for him.
Richard pulled him free.
The boy collapsed against his chest.
Richard wrapped both arms around him.
"I'm sorry."
Leo buried his face against his father's shirt.
"I thought you forgot me."
Richard closed his eyes.
"Never."
Behind them, Victoria stood frozen.
May you like
Because she knew what Richard did not.
A living child meant a dead lie had just come back to life.
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