Men like Dexter Ostrander only write apologies when they have run out of appeals.

They mistake their own desperation for love.

They reach for the word father as a last bargaining chip when they have nothing else left to leverage.

I picked up the envelope and weighed it in my hand, and I waited for the old fear to rise — the old insecurity, the flinch — and I felt nothing at all.

Chapter 34 — Debts Paid

Not numbness.