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The ink on the adoption papers was barely dry in the secret biometric vault fifty floors above the city, but the target was already painted. Vincent Crowe—the Wolf—did not know that his deepest vulnerability had just been digitized, sold, and weaponized before the boy, Leo, even woke up in the master suite. / Chapter 19 / 20

Chapter 19 - The Final PromiseThat evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in shades of amber and violet, Vincent tucked Leo into bed beneath a quilt covered in little cartoon wolves.

Leo clutched his old stuffed bear, his eyelids growing heavy. "Dad?"

"I'm right here, son."

"Will you always be my dad? Even when I grow up big like you?"

Vincent smiled, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to the boy's forehead.

"Always, Leo," Vincent whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "For the rest of my life, and every day after that."

Leo smiled, his breathing slowing down as he drifted off into peaceful, untroubled sleep.

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