I looked at my son standing pale and exhausted in that terrible place, and what I felt, underneath the terror, was an awe I have never entirely gotten over.

I had spent his whole life believing I was the one protecting him.

He had just shown me that when it counted most, he had been protecting me.

Chapter 24 — Your Twelve-Year-Old Did

“Give me the backups,” Lachlan said, stepping toward me.

“Hand them over and you both walk out of here.