<h4>Chapter 682: Caught</h4>


    ?Olivia’s POV


    ?The Next Morning


    ?I was in the kitchen fixing a snack for my growing belly when I heard the slow, rhythmic thump-drag of Levi’s footsteps. He was still refusing the wheelchair, determined to walk even if it killed him.


    ?He made it to the sunroom and sank into a chair, looking utterly exhausted. A momentter, I saw Lyra and Lana walk in. They were stiff, their little hands clenched at their sides. Levi looked up, his sea-blue eyes instantly filling with a guarded hope.


    ?"Good... good morning, girls," Levi rasped, his voice hesitant.


    ?Lyra took a deep breath, looking like she was about to swallow a lemon. She walked over and stood two feet away from him.


    ?"Good morning... Father Levi," she said, the words forced but clear. "Did you... did you sleep okay?"


    ?Levi froze. I froze in the kitchen, a strawberry halfway to my mouth. Levi’s entire face transformed. The crushing weight of sadness that had been there since he woke up seemed to lift for a split second. A genuine, shaky smile touched his dry lips.


    ?"I did, Lyra," he breathed, his voice trembling. "Thank you for asking. I... I slept very well."


    ?Lana stepped forward then, holding out a crumpled dandelion she must have picked from thewn. She didn’t look him in the eye, but she thrust it toward him. "This is for you. For your room."


    ?Levi took the weed as if it were made of solid gold. He clutched it to his chest, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "It’s beautiful, Lana. Thank you."


    ?The girls didn’t stay. They turned and bolted toward the backyard, likely looking for Louis to im their reward. Levi sat there in the sunroom, staring at the dandelion in his hand, a soft, broken sob escaping his throat.


    ?I walked into the room and ced a hand on his shoulder. "I told you they’de around."


    ?Levi looked up at me, his eyes bright. "It’s a start, Olivia. It’s finally a start."


    ?The "progress" continued for the next few days, but it felt... mechanical. The girls would walk in, recite a polite sentence, hand Levi a rock or a leaf, and then dart out of the room like their hair was on fire. Levi didn’t seem to notice the stiffness; he was just drowning in the joy of finally being acknowledged.


    ?Until Tuesday Afternoon


    ?I was heading toward the sunroom with a tray of tea when I saw Levi standing near the ss doors, hidden by the heavy velvet curtains. He was watching the garden, a soft smile on his face as he looked for the girls.


    ?Outside, on the patio, Louis was sitting on the stone wall. Lyra and Lana were standing in front of him, jumping up and down with impatience.


    ?"We did it, Daddy Louis!" Lyra’s voice carried clearly through the cracked door. "I asked him about his breakfast, and Lana gave him a shiny stone from the driveway."


    ?"And he smiled at us," Lana added, tugging on Louis’s sleeve. "Can we get new toys now? You also promised an hour with the big boys!"


    ?Louis chuckled, ruffling their hair. "A deal is a deal. You were good to him, so you get your reward. And I’ve got the double-fudge ice cream waiting in the freezer for when we get back."


    ?"Yay!" they shrieked, racing toward the tree line where the older boys were waiting.


    ?I felt the air leave the room. I slowly turned my gaze toward Levi. He was frozen. The dandelion Lana had given him yesterday was tucked into his shirt pocket, right over his scarred heart. His face wasn’t pale anymore—it was grey. The light that had been returning to his sea-blue eyes went out, reced by a hollow, crushing realization.


    ?"Levi..." I whispered, stepping forward and reaching for his arm.


    ?He flinched away from my touch, his breathing in shallow, jagged gasps. He leaned his forehead against the cool ss of the door, his shoulders shaking.


    ?"It was a bribe," he rasped, his voice sounding more broken than the day he woke up. "My daughters aren’ting around, Olivia. They’re... they’re being paid to look at me."


    ?"Levi, Louis was just trying to help," I pleaded, my heart breaking at the sight of him copsing back into that chair. "He wanted to break the ice—"


    ?"By making me a chore?" Levi looked up at me, and the raw agony in his eyes made me want to scream. "By making a ’deal’ so they can tolerate the stranger."


    ?He reached into his pocket, pulled out the crumpled dandelion, and stared at it. A moment ago, it was a treasure. Now, it was just a weed bought with ice cream.


    ?"Lennox and Louis didn’t mean to hurt you," I whispered, kneeling beside him.


    ?"They didn’t hurt me. They just confirmed what I already knew." He let the dandelion fall to the floor. "I can’t buy their love, Olivia. And I won’t let my brothers buy it for me."


    ?Suddenly, the door to the sunroom burst open. The girls had forgotten their dolls and came running back to grab them, stopping dead when they saw Levi sitting there, staring at the floor, with me kneeling beside him.


    ?"Oh," Lyra said, her voice dropping into that polite, fake tone. "Hello again, Father Levi. Do you... do you like the sun today?"


    ?She looked at Louis, who was standing in the doorway behind them, waiting for his ’deal’ to be fulfilled. Levi looked at Lyra. Then at Lana. For the first time, he didn’t look at them with longing. He looked at them with a quiet, regal dignity that made the girls fidget.


    ?"You don’t have to do it anymore," Levi said softly.


    ?The girls blinked. "Do what?" Lana asked.


    ?"The deal," Levi said, his gaze shifting to Louis, who went rigid with guilt. "You don’t have to ask me questions. You don’t have to bring me flowers or stones. You don’t have to be nice to me for ice cream or trips to the woods."


    ?The twins looked at Louis, then back at Levi, their faces turning red with the shame of being caught.


    ?"I’m sorry I’m a stranger to you," Levi whispered, his voice trembling but firm. "But I’d rather you stay away from me forever than have you pretend to care because you were promised a treat. I am your father... not a price you have to pay."


    ?He stood up, his legs shaking, and without looking at anyone, he began the slow, painful walk back to his room in total silence. Lyra and Lana stood there, stunned. For the first time, they didn’t look bored or annoyed. They looked at the dandelion on the floor, then at the retreating back of the man they had been mocking.


    ?The silence in the room was deafening, and for the first time in four years, the girls looked truly, deeply guilty.


    ?