Liam stared straight ahead through the windshield, his hand resting on the door handle but making no move to open it. His voice came quiet now, the earlier edge of frustration dulled into something heavier and more resigned. "When he wakes up… he's going to ask for her."
Gerald's grip tightened briefly on the steering wheel before he released it with a slow exhale. "Yes," he said. "He will."
"And what do we tell him?" Liam pressed, turning in his seat to search his father's face. "That everything just changed while he was lying here unconscious? That his entire future was decided for him without his voice in any of it?"
Gerald finally turned to look at him fully, his expression calm on the surface but carrying a quiet weight that was quieter than guilt yet not far from it. He had known this conversation would come, and he had prepared his words carefully. "We tell him the truth," he said evenly. "But not all at once. It's best if he knows what's going on."
