The Boy I Chose

VANCE’S POV

Malachi pauses for a moment, then nods once.

He offers no argument, rehearsed defence, or rationalisation.

No carefully worded explanation for why twenty years of service should outweigh sixty-three bodies and a drugged cup of coffee.

All I get is that nod.

The absence of a fight from a man who has fought me on every decision I’ve made since I was seventeen was the most damning part.