Chapter Twenty – What’s Left of Love
They were holed up in the remains of a burnt-out daycare.
South Loop. No power. No heat. Just a roof and silence.
Aaron lay sleeping in the corner, bandaged and unconscious.
Leon sat near the door, watching shadows like they might bite.
Matt sat alone in the far room.
Same floor where crayon drawings once lined the walls.
Now just soot and smoke stains and something rotten in the air.
He was shaking again.
But not from fear.
From memory.
Aaron had looked at him like he still saw a brother.
Leon hadn't pulled the trigger.
Matt wasn't sure what that meant.
But he was sure it wasn't over.
He stared at his hands, the ones that held the scalpel.
The ones that could've ended everything.
Then—
Footsteps.
Soft. Light.
Not Leon.
Not Aaron.
Different.
He looked up.
The door creaked open.
And there she was.
Mia.
Older. Taller.
Hair shorter, eyes the same—those same impossibly dark eyes.
But the warmth behind them was gone.
Matt didn't breathe.
She stepped inside.
No tears. No run. No "Daddy."
Just silence.
Then:
"Is it true?" she asked.
Matt's throat locked. "What?"
"That you let people die."
The words weren't angry.
They were clinical. Measured.
Bishop's fingerprints all over them.
Matt stood slowly. His legs felt wrong. Like borrowed things.
"I—I tried to find you. I thought you were gone."
"You didn't look hard enough."
He stepped closer.
"Mia…"
She didn't move.
"You said the pain made you feel real," she said. "Is that what I was? Just another pain?"
That shattered him more than any blade could.
"No," he whispered. "You were the only good thing."
She stared. And for a second, just one—
Her lip trembled.
But then it was gone.
"I live with people now," she said. "They tell me you're sick. That you hurt people. That I'm better off forgetting."
Matt dropped to his knees. Hands shaking.
"I'm still me," he said. "Somewhere under it. Please. Don't let him take this too."
Mia looked down at him.
And said nothing.
Just turned, walked away.
Left him on the floor.
And in the hallway, waiting in the shadows—Sienna.
Smiling.
Not because he broke.
But because he didn't beg her to stay.