I found a young woman half-frozen in the park with two babies clinging to her — and when she whispered, “Please don’t let him find us,” I didn’t realize I was seconds away from a truth tied to my own past.

CHAPTER 2: A HOUSE TURNED INTO A SANCTUARY

When we reached my Pacific Heights home, Dr. Hayes was already stepping inside with a medical bag. The man moved fast, and this morning, he didn’t waste a second.

For the next few hours, the house was filled with hurried footsteps, blankets warming in the dryer, soft cries from the infants as they regained energy, and short, tense instructions from Hayes.

I waited in the hallway, staring out the window at the slow sunrise, my hands still trembling with leftover adrenaline.

Finally, Hayes opened the door.

“They’re stable,” he said. “All three of them. The babies were dangerously cold, but they’re strong.” He lowered his voice. “The girl… she has old bruises. Signs of stress and exhaustion.”

I exhaled a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. “I need to talk to her when she wakes.”

“You will. Just be gentle.”

When I stepped into the room, she was sitting upright, a blanket pulled around her shoulders. Her eyes lifted slowly toward me, guarded but alert.

“I’m Logan,” I said softly. “You’re safe here.”

She didn’t answer, but she didn’t look away either.

“Can I ask your name?”

“Isla,” she whispered.

“And the babies?”

“Theo and Silas.”

I nodded. “Isla… I need to understand what happened.”

Her fingers tightened around the blanket. “I wasn’t looking for you. I didn’t even know your name until… until Mom told me before she…” Her voice broke.

Pieces clicked into place—too slowly.

“Your mother?” I asked quietly.

She nodded. “Carolyn Benton.”

I sank into the chair beside her bed, every memory from twenty years ago crashing back like a wave I wasn’t ready for.

Carolyn. The girl with the quiet smile who left without saying goodbye.

“I came because she told me you were the only person she ever trusted,” Isla said, voice trembling. “She told me you didn’t know about me. And she told me that if anything happened to her, I should find you.”

My throat tightened.

“Isla… are you saying…”

“Yes,” she whispered. “You’re my father.”

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