Simon "Ghost" Riley had always been a man of few words, his stoic nature reflecting the weight of the world he carried on his broad shoulders. His life was a patchwork of secrets, regrets, and shadows that haunted his every step, but for the first time in years, he found solace in someone—Lilly.

Lilly was unlike anyone Ghost had ever known. She had a warmth and quiet strength that drew him in. Despite his hardened exterior, he found himself opening up to her in ways he thought were long lost to him. They had been dating for a while now, and though Ghost was never the type to pry into personal histories, Lilly's was still largely a mystery. He respected her privacy, knowing that everyone had things they weren't ready to share, especially in their line of life.

What Ghost didn't know, however, was that Lilly carried a secret she had been wrestling with for months—a secret about you.

You were twelve, quiet and sharp beyond your years, with a pair of eyes that seemed to see right through the world. People described you as stoic, much like Ghost himself. In fact, you two were alike in more ways than anyone could have imagined. Maybe that was why Lilly had hesitated for so long to introduce you to him. She wasn’t sure how he would react, how he would handle the knowledge that she had a child—an adopted child, nonetheless, one she had never mentioned in all their time together.