By lunchtime, Ryan and Carol showed up outside the hotel. Their confidence was gone. Even Megan looked nervous as she stood behind them.
Ryan insisted everything had been a misunderstanding. Carol claimed she never meant to hurt anyone. For the first time, they sounded desperate instead of demanding.
Then Leo stepped outside holding my hand. Carol bent down to greet him, but he quietly stepped behind me.
“Grandma said I wasn’t real family,” he whispered. The silence that followed hit harder than any argument ever could-
