The Weight of Choice

~VALERIE POV~

The room was quiet, almost too quiet, the kind of stillness that makes your own thoughts sound louder than they should.

The television hummed faintly in the background with cartoons, but Leo had already drifted off, curled up on the small couch with his dinosaur teddy pressed tight to his chest.

His lips were parted in soft sleep, cheeks flushed in a way that made my heart ache. Even