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00:00I used to believe peace was something you could build if you worked hard enough at pretending.
00:05Keep your head down, say good morning to the neighbors, smile at the cashier,
00:10and never, ever ask questions about the things you see at night.
00:15For a while it worked.
00:17My life was small, quiet, unremarkable.
00:21Just me and my little boy Liam in our apartment with the peeling paint and the humming fridge.
00:25I thought invisibility was safety.
00:29Turns out I was wrong.
00:31It started with a drawing.
00:34A stupid little drawing that shouldn't have meant anything.
00:37Liam sat by the window that afternoon, crayons scattered across the floor,
00:42his tongue poking out in concentration.
00:45He was drawing a man, tall, in a black shirt, standing in front of a car.
00:51I didn't have to ask who it was.
00:52There was only one man in our building who looked like that.
00:56Enzo Moretti.
00:57The neighbor no one spoke to, but everyone feared.
01:01The one whose men smoked on the stoop like they owned the air.
01:05The one who made the landlord nervous enough to repaint the hallway twice a year.
01:09The one who could silence an entire street just by stepping outside.
01:13And somehow, my son's favorite neighbor.
01:17Liam told me he'd seen him feeding a stray cat one morning before school.
01:21Said the man smiled at him.
01:23Said he was kind.
01:24I told him not to talk to him again.
01:28I said it sharper than I meant to.
01:30Because fear makes your voice cruel sometimes.
01:33But kids don't understand the kind of danger that hides behind politeness.
01:37They see what they want to see.
01:40And Liam saw a friend.
01:41So when I found him later that, day slipping on his sneakers, clutching the folded paper in his small hand, I knew I was already too late.
01:50He ran across the courtyard before I could stop him, his little body bouncing with excitement.
01:56I watched from the window, my heart climbing my throat as he walked right up to one of the men in suits.
02:02They said something I couldn't hear.
02:05Then, Enzo appeared.
02:07Tall, calm, with that unreadable expression he always wore.
02:12Liam handed him the drawing.
02:14The man took it.
02:15Looked down at it.
02:17Then looked up toward my window.
02:19Our eyes met.
02:21I swear, for a second I couldn't breathe.
02:24He didn't smile.
02:26Didn't frown.
02:27Just nodded, once.
02:30Before walking away, the paper still in his hand.
02:34I pulled Liam inside the moment he came back, his face glowing with pride.
02:39He said thank you, Mommy.
02:41He said he liked it.
02:43I wanted to yell, to tell him how dangerous that was.
02:46But when I looked at his little face, so proud, I couldn't.
02:51I just knelt down and whispered,
02:54Don't ever go near him again.
02:56Promise me.
02:58He promised.
02:59But promises don't mean much when innocence is all you know.
03:03That night, after I put him to bed,
03:06I kept pacing the kitchen,
03:08listening to the hum of the refrigerator
03:09and the creak of the floorboards.
03:12The city outside was its usual symphony of sirens and muffled arguments.
03:17I told myself it was over.
03:19That he'd forget.
03:20That Enzo Moretti had better things to do than worry about a five-year-old's drawing.
03:25Then came the knock.
03:27Three slow raps.
03:29Heavy.
03:31Deliberate.
03:31No one came to our door at that hour.
03:36And certainly not with that kind of confidence.
03:41Mommy?
03:41Liam's sleepy voice floated from the hallway.
03:45Go back to bed, baby.
03:48I tried to sound calm, but my pulse was pounding in my ears.
03:52The knocking came again.
03:52I looked through the peephole.
03:54I looked through the peephole, and my heart nearly stopped.
03:57Enzo stood there, his black shirt open at the throat, sleeves rolled to his elbows, shadows clinging to him like they belonged.
04:04One hand in his pocket, the other holding something.
04:08Liam's drawing.
04:08I opened the door halfway.
04:11Can I help you?
04:13He studied me for a moment.
04:16Then his voice came, low and smooth, carrying that slight Italian accent that made everything sound both dangerous and intimate.
04:23Your son made this for me.
04:28I'm sorry, I blurted.
04:30He didn't mean anything by it.
04:32He's just a kid.
04:34He, Enzo held up a hand, silencing me.
04:38I didn't come to complain.
04:41His eyes softened, barely.
04:44I came to say thank you.
04:46He glanced down at the drawing again, then back at me.
04:50No one's ever drawn me like this before.
04:53I couldn't think of anything to say.
04:56He was standing close enough that I could smell smoke and cologne and rain on his skin.
05:00The kind of scent that doesn't just stay in a room.
05:04It stays in your memory.
05:05Then Liam appeared, rubbing his eyes.
05:09Mr. Enzo?
05:11Enzo's entire expression shifted.
05:13The hard lines around his mouth eased.
05:16He crouched down, holding out the paper.
05:19You forgot your signature.
05:22Liam grinned, took the crayon I handed him, and scrawled his name in bright blue across the bottom.
05:28Enzo smiled faintly.
05:30Now it's perfect.
05:31When he stood again, I could feel the weight of his gaze on me.
05:37You should be careful who your son talks to, he said softly.
05:41I know.
05:43Good.
05:44He paused, then added, almost to himself,
05:48Be ready.
05:50Ready for what?
05:51He didn't answer.
05:53Just turned and walked down the hall, slow and certain, his footsteps echoing long after he was gone.
06:01I locked the door, leaned against it, and tried to steady my breathing.
06:06My hands were shaking.
06:08The knee.
06:09Next morning, there was a small brown paper bag waiting outside our door.
06:13Inside was a tiny metal car, sleek, expensive, the kind that wasn't sold in stores around here.
06:20A note was tucked beneath it.
06:23For the boy who still believes in sunlight.
06:26I didn't know whether to cry or throw it away.
06:29Instead, I hid it in a drawer.
06:32That evening, when I looked out the window, I saw him again.
06:35Enzo stood across the courtyard, leaning against his car, cigarette between his fingers.
06:42He looked up, caught me watching, and nodded once.
06:46Slow, deliberate.
06:49Something inside me twisted.
06:52Fear, curiosity, attraction.
06:55They blurred together until I couldn't tell one from the other.
06:59Days passed.
07:01His men lingered more often near the building now.
07:03One of them even started helping the old woman downstairs carry her groceries.
07:09I told.
07:10Myself, it was coincidence that it had nothing to do with me or Liam.
07:14Then, one night, I heard shouting outside.
07:19I peeked through the blinds just in time to see one of Enzo's men get shoved into a black SUV.
07:25Enzo's voice cut through the chaos.
07:27Cold.
07:28Controlled.
07:29Terrifying.
07:30Next time, you knock before entering her building.
07:34Her building.
07:36Mine.
07:37The words didn't make sense until I realized what he meant.
07:41Someone had been watching us.
07:43That night, I found a note slipped under my door.
07:47It was scrawled in dark ink, the handwriting sharp and impatient.
07:50If anyone asks about me, don't answer.
07:55I stared at the words for a long time, heart pounding.
07:59I should have been terrified.
08:01I was.
08:02But beneath that fear was something else.
08:05A strange, dangerous warmth.
08:08Because somewhere in the dark, Enzo Moretti was watching my door.
08:12Protecting it.
08:14Or claiming it.
08:15I told myself I hated that.
08:18But when I heard the sound of his car later that night, that deep growl of an engine cutting
08:23through the silence, I found myself standing by the window again, waiting for a glimpse
08:29of him.
08:30Waiting like someone who already knew she was in too deep.
08:34Liam asked the next morning,
08:36Mommy, is Mr. Enzo our friend?
08:38I wanted to say no.
08:42To shut it down before it turned into something I couldn't control.
08:45But the word got stuck in my throat.
08:48I don't know, baby.
08:50I said finally.
08:52I don't think people like him have friends.
08:54He thought about that for a second.
08:56Then maybe he just needs one.
08:59That's when I realized how close I was to falling apart.
09:03Because my son was right.
09:05And I already wanted to be that friend.
09:07The next time I saw Enzo, he was standing by his car, talking to someone in a low voice.
09:14He looked up, caught my eye across the courtyard, and gave me that same small nod.
09:20Only this time, I didn't look away.
09:24That's how it starts, isn't it?
09:26Not with grand gestures, but with a glance you hold too long.
09:30A silence you don't break soon enough.
09:33By the end of that week, I knew I'd made the mistake that would change everything.
09:37I'd let him in.
09:38Just a little.
09:39And once you let a man like Enzo Moretti in, there's no taking it back.
09:43The night he came back, the air felt different.
09:49Thick.
09:50Electric.
09:51Like a storm was crawling beneath the quiet.
09:54It was almost midnight when I heard the knock again.
09:56Three slow beats.
09:57The same rhythm as before.
09:59My blood turned cold.
10:00I told myself not to answer.
10:02But I did.
10:03When I opened the door, Enzo stood there, his black shirt untucked, dark hair falling over
10:10his eyes, a smear of blood drying along his jaw.
10:14Behind him, one of his men leaned against the wall, pale and clutching his side.
10:19Let us in, Enzo said, his voice low and hoarse.
10:23Just for an hour.
10:25Every instinct screamed no.
10:27But fear is strange.
10:28It doesn't always make you run.
10:30Sometimes it makes you freeze right before the edge.
10:33Liam's asleep.
10:34I whispered.
10:36Then keep him asleep.
10:38There was no threat in his tone.
10:40Just exhaustion.
10:41So I stepped aside.
10:43He guided the injured man to the couch, muttering something in Italian.
10:46I grabbed the first aid kit from the bathroom, my hands shaking so hard the gauze slipped
10:52twice.
10:53When I pressed it to the man's wound, he winced, and Enzo's head snapped up.
10:57He's fine, I said, sharper than I meant to.
11:01Enzo's eyes met mine, steady, unreadable.
11:04You shouldn't help us.
11:06Then don't make me.
11:08For a second, he almost smiled.
11:11Almost.
11:12You've got fire, he murmured.
11:15Most people lose that after fear takes root.
11:19I'm not brave, I said.
11:20I'm just tired.
11:22He looked away then, and something in his face shifted.
11:26Like he recognized that kind of tired.
11:30They stayed until dawn.
11:32I made coffee because I didn't know what else to do.
11:34Enzo sat at my table, the first light of morning touching his bruised knuckles.
11:39He looked too big for my kitchen.
11:41Too dangerous for the cracked tile and flickering light above us.
11:45Yet he looked right, like he'd been there before, in some other version of my life.
11:50When they left, he turned at the door.
11:53You'll see some of my men around for a while.
11:55Don't be alarmed.
11:57I wanted to ask why.
11:58Instead, I said,
11:59You're not welcome here again.
12:02His eyes softened.
12:04That's not true.
12:05And then he was gone.
12:06The days that followed blurred into something unreal.
12:11Two black cars parked outside the building.
12:14Strangers I didn't know nodded when I passed.
12:16I wasn't sure if I was being protected or surveilled.
12:19Maybe both.
12:20One afternoon, Liam came home from school with a grin and a story.
12:24Mommy, guess what?
12:26Mr. Enzo picked me up.
12:27He said my shoelace broke and he didn't want me to fall.
12:30I felt my stomach twist.
12:32He shouldn't be talking to you, baby.
12:34But he's nice, Liam said.
12:37He said you worry too much.
12:39That night I went to his building.
12:41I shouldn't have.
12:42I told myself it was to draw a boundary,
12:45but part of me just wanted to see him again.
12:48He opened the door before I could knock twice.
12:51You shouldn't be here, he said, voice quiet but firm.
12:55Then tell your men to stop babysitting me.
12:58He raised a brow.
12:59You think I'm the one you need protecting from?
13:02I folded my arms.
13:04You tell me.
13:05He stepped closer.
13:06Close enough that the air between us shifted.
13:09I'm the reason you're still breathing.
13:11I flinched.
13:12But he didn't back away.
13:14Someone came looking for you last night, he said.
13:17A man who knows my name.
13:19He asked if I had a woman and a kid living across from me.
13:21You're not invisible anymore.
13:23Why?
13:24Because I made you visible.
13:25His jaw tightened.
13:27That drawing.
13:28Your son gave it to me in front of everyone.
13:30In my world, that means something.
13:32Means what?
13:33Means you're mine to protect.
13:35The words hit like thunder.
13:37My pulse tripped.
13:38I don't belong to anyone.
13:40Maybe not, he said softly.
13:42But that doesn't mean they'll see it that way.
13:45He wasn't wrong.
13:47After that night, I stopped fighting the inevitable.
13:50Enzo was around more often,
13:51though never long enough to feel safe.
13:54Sometimes he'd knock just to ask if Liam was okay.
13:57Sometimes he'd drop groceries at the door.
14:00Sometimes he'd stay for coffee,
14:01the silence between us sharp as glass.
14:03I told myself it was only gratitude.
14:06That the warmth in my chest was an attraction.
14:09But when I caught myself standing at the window waiting for him,
14:13I knew better.
14:14He never touched me.
14:16Never crossed that line?
14:18But he didn't have to.
14:19His presence filled every room.
14:21Every thought.
14:23Every breath.
14:24Then, one night,
14:27Liam got sick.
14:28Fever high,
14:29coughing until his little body shook.
14:31I called every clinic, nothing open.
14:33My hands trembled as I tried to bundle him up for the hospital.
14:37When I opened the door,
14:39Enzo was there.
14:40Like he'd known.
14:42Like he'd been waiting.
14:44He took one look at Liam and said,
14:46Get in the car.
14:48I didn't argue.
14:50The drive was silent,
14:51except for Liam's soft whimpers.
14:54Enzo's hands gripped the wheel like he was fighting God himself.
14:57When the doctor said it was just a viral infection,
15:00his shoulders finally dropped.
15:02He looked at me,
15:03eyes glassy under the harsh fluorescent light.
15:06He's going to be okay.
15:08Yes, I whispered.
15:09He's fine.
15:10But something changed in that moment.
15:13The walls between us cracked.
15:14On the way home, he said,
15:16You remind me of someone I used to know.
15:19Who?
15:20My mother.
15:22She used to look at me like that.
15:23Like there was still something left to save.
15:26The confession hung heavy in the air.
15:30Later,
15:30after I put Liam to bed,
15:32I found Enzo still in my kitchen,
15:35staring at the night through the window.
15:37You're not safe here,
15:39he said quietly.
15:40I'm not leaving my home.
15:43He turned,
15:44leaning against the counter.
15:46His shirt was half unbuttoned,
15:48revealing a scar near his collarbone.
15:50It's not your home anymore if they know where to find you.
15:53Who's they?
15:54People who think hurting me means breaking me.
15:58He took a step forward.
16:00And they've seen your face.
16:02My throat tightened.
16:03What are you saying?
16:05I'm saying I won't let them touch you.
16:07Before I could speak,
16:08his phone rang.
16:09He answered,
16:10said something in rapid Italian,
16:12then looked up at me with that cold,
16:14controlled calm.
16:16I'd come to dread.
16:17They're already here.
16:19What?
16:20Glass exploded.
16:21The window behind us shattered.
16:24A spray of shard slicing through the air.
16:26Liam screamed from the bedroom.
16:28Enzo grabbed me,
16:29shoved me down,
16:30his body covering mine
16:32as bullets tore through the walls.
16:34The sound was deafening.
16:36Plaster fell from the ceiling.
16:38Someone shouted outside.
16:39Then silence.
16:41When it ended,
16:42all I could hear was my heartbeat.
16:44Enzo's arm was bleeding,
16:45crimson soaking through his sleeve.
16:47He pulled me up,
16:48voice rough.
16:49You hurt.
16:50No, Liam-
16:51He ran to the bedroom,
16:52kicked the door open.
16:54Liam was crouched behind the bed,
16:55crying.
16:56Enzo scooped him up like he weighed nothing.
16:58We're leaving.
16:59Now.
17:00I followed,
17:01barefoot,
17:02heart in my throat.
17:03The hallway reeked of smoke and gunpowder.
17:05One of his men lay near the stairwell,
17:07groaning.
17:08Enzo didn't stop.
17:10He just kept moving,
17:11barking orders into his phone.
17:13We reached the car,
17:15and he shoved me into the back seat with Liam.
17:18Keep your head down.
17:20Enzo,
17:20what is happening?
17:22Someone thought they could send me a message,
17:25he said.
17:26Eyes dark as the road ahead.
17:28They just did.
17:29I clutched Liam,
17:30tears streaking my face.
17:31I can't do this.
17:33I didn't ask for this.
17:35I know.
17:36His voice cracked for the first time.
17:38But you're in it now,
17:40and I'm going to keep you alive.
17:42We drove for hours,
17:44the city lights fading into the emptiness of the highway.
17:47Liam eventually fell asleep against me,
17:49his small fingers tangled in my shirt.
17:51Enzo didn't speak again until we stopped outside a gated house,
17:55isolated and silent.
17:56He got out,
17:58opened my door,
17:59and said the words that sealed everything.
18:01You're coming with me.
18:03You don't have a choice anymore.
18:05I wanted to fight,
18:06to tell him I'd rather risk everything
18:07than live like one of his kept secrets.
18:09But when I looked at Liam,
18:11his tiny face pale and peaceful,
18:13I knew I couldn't.
18:15Enzo offered his hand.
18:17Blood still stained it.
18:18I took it anyway.
18:21He led me inside,
18:22through marble floors and heavy silence,
18:24to a guest room overlooking a garden I couldn't see.
18:28Stay here, he said.
18:29Don't open the door for anyone but me.
18:32I nodded,
18:33too numb to argue.
18:34When he left,
18:35the weight of it all hit me.
18:37The fear,
18:38the guilt,
18:39the strange,
18:40unbearable pull toward the man
18:41who'd just destroyed the life
18:43I thought was mine.
18:45Through the window,
18:47dawn was breaking,
18:48the light caught on the shattered glass
18:49still clinging to my hair.
18:52That's when I realized
18:53something terrifying and true.
18:55I didn't just feel safe with him.
18:57I felt alive.
18:58And that was the most dangerous thing of all.
19:04It's strange
19:05how silence can sound like safety
19:07when you've lived long enough inside fear.
19:09I used to flinch at every knock,
19:11every phone call,
19:12every car door outside the apartment.
19:14Now,
19:15I wake up to the sound of my son's laughter
19:17echoing through a kitchen
19:18filled with sunlight,
19:19and it doesn't hurt to breathe anymore.
19:22That's how I know we made it out.
19:24It's been almost a year since that night,
19:26the one where everything burned down
19:27just to make room for something new.
19:30After the fire,
19:31after the chase,
19:32after him,
19:33I thought we were done.
19:35I thought men like him
19:37didn't survive the world they built,
19:38and women like me
19:40didn't get happy endings.
19:41Turns out I was half right.
19:43Luca started school a month ago.
19:45He wears this ridiculous superhero backpack
19:47that's almost bigger than him.
19:49And he tells everyone his favorite color is
19:51whatever color mommy's eyes are today.
19:54He doesn't remember much from before.
19:56Just flashes.
19:57The noise.
19:58The shouting.
19:58The fear.
19:59I've worked hard to make sure those memories fade into nothing.
20:03The only thing he holds onto is the drawing.
20:05The one that started it all.
20:06It's framed now,
20:07sitting on the windowsill.
20:08A crooked house.
20:10A stick figure with too much hair.
20:12And another one with a gun drawn in crayon,
20:14but smiling.
20:15His favorite neighbor.
20:16That drawing was his way of saying
20:18he saw something good in a man
20:19the world called dangerous.
20:21Maybe that's what children do.
20:23They see through the smoke before it clears.
20:26I didn't see him again after that night.
20:29The cops called it a territorial incident.
20:31I called it survival.
20:33He'd told me to run, so I did.
20:35No goodbye, no promise.
20:37Just that look.
20:38The kind that holds more truth than a thousand words.
20:42Months went by.
20:43I built something quiet.
20:44Steady.
20:45A job at the cafe down the street.
20:47A small apartment with locks that worked.
20:49And sunlight that poured in every morning like forgiveness.
20:53I stopped waiting for footsteps behind me.
20:56Stopped expecting shadows to whisper my name.
20:58But healing isn't linear.
21:00It's a loop of memory and mercy.
21:02Every time I saw a black car slow down near the curb,
21:04my heart skipped.
21:06Every time Luca asked if his friend was coming back,
21:09I lied a little.
21:11He's busy, sweetheart.
21:12Maybe someday.
21:14Then, someday came.
21:15It was a Thursday mid-afternoon.
21:17The cafe was quiet.
21:19Just the hum of the espresso machine
21:21and the soft clinking of cups.
21:23I was wiping down tables
21:24when the bell over the door chimed.
21:26I looked up and there he was.
21:28Same black shirt, collar open.
21:29Same calm in his stance.
21:31But there was something different.
21:33The edges were softer.
21:34His right arm was in a sling.
21:36And there were scars on his knuckles.
21:38Faded, but deep.
21:39He looked tired.
21:41Not the kind of tired that sleep fixes.
21:43The kind that comes from fighting ghosts.
21:45He didn't say anything at first.
21:48Just stood there like he wasn't sure if he had the right to speak.
21:51So I did.
21:52You're late, I said, my voice breaking halfway through.
21:56That was all it took.
21:58He exhaled like he'd been holding his breath for a year.
22:01I didn't think you'd want to see me,
22:03he said quietly.
22:04I didn't, I lied.
22:06Because I needed him to earn this.
22:08He nodded.
22:10Fair.
22:11Then his gaze drifted toward the window,
22:13where Luca's latest drawing was taped up.
22:16This one of a man and a woman holding hands beside a kid with wild hair.
22:21He's growing fast.
22:22Kids do that, I replied.
22:25My hands were trembling, so I shoved them into my apron pockets.
22:29You look.
22:30I didn't finish.
22:31Because the word that came to mind was alive,
22:33and that felt too fragile to speak.
22:36He smiled.
22:36Small.
22:37Genuine.
22:38Alive, barely.
22:39But enough.
22:41We stood there.
22:43Surrounded by the smell of coffee and years of things unsaid.
22:46When he finally spoke again,
22:47his voice had that edge of regret only men like him carry.
22:50I cleaned it up, he said.
22:52All of it.
22:54The people who came after you.
22:55The ones who came after me.
22:57They're gone.
22:58You expect me to believe that?
23:01No, he said.
23:03I just needed you to know it.
23:05I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
23:08Part of me wanted to scream for disappearing.
23:10The other part wanted to thank him for letting me breathe.
23:13He stepped closer.
23:14Slow.
23:15Careful.
23:16Like I was something sacred.
23:18I never stopped thinking about you.
23:20About him.
23:21Every time I thought about what I'd lost,
23:23it was your voice I heard in my head.
23:25You didn't lose me, I said.
23:28You let me go, his jaw tightened.
23:30Because I thought it was the only way to keep you alive.
23:34And now?
23:35He looked down, then back at me.
23:37Now I'm trying to learn what to do with peace.
23:40There it was.
23:41The truth I'd been waiting for.
23:43He wasn't the man who burned the world to feel powerful anymore.
23:47He was the man who'd walked through the flames
23:49and realized there was nothing worth holding on to but love.
23:53I reached out before I could stop myself.
23:56My fingers brushed his arm, the one still bandaged.
23:59He flinched just slightly, then caught my hand and held it.
24:02It wasn't passion or desperation.
24:04It was recognition.
24:05Do you still live next door?
24:07I asked, a weak attempt at humor.
24:09He laughed, low and rough.
24:11No, I bought the house across town.
24:13Bigger garden, safer.
24:15For who?
24:16For you, he said simply.
24:18That silence that followed wasn't awkward.
24:20It was full.
24:22Like everything that had gone unsaid had finally settled between us.
24:25No longer needing words.
24:28When my shift ended, we walked out together.
24:30The air was warm.
24:31The city noisy in that ordinary, beautiful way.
24:34Luca saw him from across the street and froze for half a second.
24:37Then ran straight into his arms like no time had passed.
24:40Hey, little man, he murmured, lifting him carefully despite the sling.
24:45You still drawing?
24:46Luca nodded, grinning.
24:48I made one for you.
24:50He handed him a folded paper from his backpack.
24:53Another drawing.
24:55This one showed three figures.
24:56One tall, one small, one with long hair.
24:59All holding hands beneath a big yellow sun.
25:02At the bottom, in shaky letters, it said,
25:04My family.
25:06My throat closed.
25:07He looked at me over Luca's head, eyes soft, voice quiet.
25:11Guess I'm part of the picture now.
25:14That night, after Luca fell asleep, we sat on the porch.
25:18The world felt small, peaceful.
25:21The wind carried the faint smell of rain, though the sky was clear.
25:25I used to think survival meant running, I whispered.
25:27Now I think it means staying, he nodded.
25:31You're stronger than you know.
25:33So are you.
25:34He shook his head.
25:36No.
25:37You were my way out.
25:39There's something terrifying about being loved by someone who's seen the worst parts of themselves
25:43and still chooses to keep trying.
25:46But there's also something healing about it.
25:48It's not perfect.
25:49It's not even easy.
25:50But it's real.
25:52Sometimes I catch him watching us from the kitchen doorway.
25:55That same quiet intensity in his eyes.
25:58Sometimes I wake up to his arm around me, his breath steady against my neck.
26:03And I remember the nights I slept with one eye open.
26:07That's when I realize we both made it out of something that should have destroyed us.
26:11We never talk about the fire.
26:13We don't need to.
26:14It's in the way he reaches for my hand when the news gets too loud.
26:17Or the way I touch his shoulder when he wakes from dreams he won't name.
26:21People like us, we don't get fairy tales.
26:23We get second chances that feel like miracles.
26:26So, if you're listening, this is my confession.
26:29Not a love story.
26:30A survival story that turned into love.
26:32I didn't plan it.
26:34I didn't even want it.
26:35But he showed up in the ashes.
26:36And somehow, we built something that lasted.
26:40And every time I look at that drawing,
26:42the one that started it all,
26:44I remember what my son said when I asked why he drew it in the first place.
26:49Because he looked lonely, Luca told me.
26:51And I thought maybe he needed a friend.
26:54Turns out he was right.
26:56Maybe we both did.
26:58If this story pulled you in and you want more love,
27:01danger, and confessions that stay with you long after the last word,
27:04subscribe to the channel.
27:06Like the video?
27:08Leave a comment with what moment hit you hardest.
27:10And tell me what story you want whispered next.
27:12Your support keeps these voices alive.
27:15Your support keeps these voices alive.
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