I nodded, curling into his chest, holding him as tightly as I could manage. The thought that he might not be here, that his father had done such a heinous thing . . . His father almost extinguished one of the brightest lights I knew. “I’m glad you got away from him.” “The leaving wasn’t the hard part,” he admitted. “Finding your way in a world that doesn’t see you like you’ve been told to see yourself. Accepting your worth and hoping others will too. That’s the hardest part.”
