The next day dawned with a heavy sense of anticipation. Kage was just stepping into the shower, welcoming the rush of hot water against his skin, when he felt a prickling sensation at the back of his neck, a subtle awareness of being watched. Spidy sense?He whirled around, his senses instantly on high alert, muscles tensing, prepared to confront any threat, only to find Johanna leaning casually against the doorframe, a mischievous glint dancing in her eyes."Oh shit, Jo, you scared me" Kage gasped.He should really be used to having her around.Johanna laughed, tears pouring, face red that her face hurts, unrestrained sound that echoed through the tiled bathroom. She mimicked his startled expression, exaggerating his wide-eyed surprise with a playful pout, until he couldn't help but grin, a reluctant smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Come here" With a swift movement, he reached out, grabbed her hand, and yanked her into the shower with him, the sudden spray of water pla

The morning light poured through the penthouse windows and landed on the painting like it had been waiting for this day. There was something different about it, could be the morning January sun, or the look in their eyes.Kage stood in front of it, motionless.Twenty small faces looked up at him from the canvas, eyes wide with the kind of hope that had once felt impossible. Julius’s silver wings spread behind him, huge and ridiculous and perfect. He hadn’t looked at this painting in weeks, but today he couldn’t walk past it.He missed the hospital. Not the old one with the broken people and the gossip, but the version that existed inside these children’s heads: the place where Dr. Kage fixed everything. Where he would run breathless; trying to patch the same broken people. Mostly, it was those children.Footsteps—soft, deliberate. Kage couldn't believe it started as a deal to get property and boom, the kids and health insurance got him wings and something with a tinge of hope.

Nothing would ever be able to fix that hole. Whether the person was hated, loved, or never knew, it would always be that face and feeling that could never feel again .The coffin was already in the ground. No body visible. Just a dark brown rectangle casket in the earth, waiting. The sun, shining from it's angle gave the casket a peaceful Golden brown color. The kind of color a person would never complain of.John stood alone at the edge, dressed in black that looked too heavy for the mild January sun. The mid heat, it should be warm but it wasn't. Its job was to melt his heart and bring out those tears.Hands clasped behind his back. Shoulders rigid. Eyes fixed on the empty hole like it might give Miguel back if he stared hard enough.He had known this day was coming. He just hadn’t known it would arrive so soon. Not even when he got his own throat slit to save the same person. Not when he had to point a gun at the same person's head. It felt like foreshadowing, like fate kne

The gates looked different already. Was it the colors to the previous white fence or the facet that it was open.New sign going up—temporary banner for now: **Hope Children’s Home: A New Beginning**. Richard Ho’s name scraped off the old plaque like it had never been there. It should be there, sort of. It had been in the family for generations and getting if off their name seemed.He doesn't know how to be feel about that. Happy to say.Kage stood just inside the fence, hands in his coat pockets, watching workers hammer the frame. Alfie had called that morning with informations about the other members of the boards: arrest warrant served, assets frozen, orphanage officially in receivership. The foundation Kage set up months ago—quietly, through layers of lawyers—was first in line to take over. Legal. Clean. Final. Epic huh. Who doesn't love an happy ending.Least to say, it wasn't perfect without someone.He’d come alone. John was handling something else. Jackson waited by the car