Each feeding brought both comfort and pain. Sometimes Lucas gripped her finger and grief struck so sharply she had to turn her face away. He was not Grace.

She never pretended he was. But helping him survive gave purpose to the part of her that had been left painfully empty.

Chapter 3 — Eggs for the Men

On the third morning, Hannah carried Lucas downstairs and found two guards eating crackers beside the kitchen door.

“Is that breakfast?” she asked.

One guard straightened. “We’re fine, ma’am.”

“No grown man has ever looked fine eating stale cheese crackers at seven in the morning.”