Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT LEO STOPPED SPEAKING
Leo refused breakfast.
Then lunch.
By afternoon, he had stopped speaking.
Alejandro sat beside him in the playroom.
“Leo.”
No answer.
“Little lion.”
Leo stared at the carpet.
Alejandro's heart tightened.
He had seen this before.
After Leo's mother died.
After the funeral.
After strangers filled the house with flowers and whispered about tragedy.
Leo had withdrawn into silence.
Doctors explained that grief and sensory overload could make communication difficult.
They encouraged patience.
Routine.
Predictability.
But Alejandro had never been good at patience.
He was good at solving problems.
Buying solutions.
Giving orders.
And none of those things could make his son feel safe.
That evening, Leo picked up a toy bird.
He held it against his chest.
Then whispered one word.
“Song.”
Alejandro closed his eyes.
He knew what Leo wanted.
And he knew who could give it to him.
But Sophia Brooks had refused to speak with him.
For the first time in years, Alejandro Duca faced a problem he couldn't solve through intimidation.
So he did something unfamiliar.
He wrote a letter.
Not a demand.
Not an order.
An apology.
He asked Silas to deliver it without following Sophia or waiting outside her home.
Then he sat beside his son.
And tried to remember the lullaby himself.
His voice was rough.
The words came slowly.
But Leo listened.
May you like
And when Alejandro forgot a line, Leo whispered, “Again.”
Alejandro began again.
