Chapter 170

That night, Terrell, a child left behind by his parents, found himself abandoned again—emotionally, this time. Nobody in the Schroeder family seemed to care anymore. Word was, the family's financials were a mess. Callen's parents were swamped, too busy to even check on him. And Callen? Drunk off his face, probably passed out in some woman's bed somewhere. Danna wasn't doing much better—also wasted, crashed at the Beach family home. Madeleine didn't feel comfortable letting Terrell leave with the housemaids from the Schroeder family, so she carefully asked Beckett if the kid could stay. Terrell was over the moon, clutching Chris' hand, beaming but trying not to get too loud. Truth was, nothing scared a kid more than feeling alone. Having a buddy around made everything better. "Good thing I swapped in a bigger kid's bed for Chris," Beckett leaned against the doorway, glancing around the tidied-up children's room and ruffling Chris' hair. "Looks like it's comfier now that he's grown, huh?