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The three little girls stopped in front of me like they had been sent by fate, and one of them pointed at the tattoo on my arm. “Hello, sir,” she said softly. “Our mother has a tattoo exactly like yours.” For one frozen second, Central Park disappeared, the coffee in my hand went cold, and the scarred compass on my skin burned like a warning. Because that broken compass belonged to a night I had spent eight years trying to bury. / Chapter 6 / 10

Chapter 6 - The Secret Meeting

Maria De Souza met me in a quiet, dimly lit botanical garden in Brooklyn. She was a middle-aged woman with tired eyes and hands that showed a lifetime of hard work. She sat on a bench, clutching her coat tightly around her.

"I shouldn't be here," she whispered, her eyes darting around the green foliage. "If Mr. Montgomery finds out..."

"He won't," I assured her, sitting at the opposite end of the bench. "Maria, I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want my daughters. I want to protect them. And I want to protect Camila."

Maria looked at me, her eyes lingering on the compass tattoo on my arm, which I had deliberately uncovered. She let out a soft, shaky breath. "She talks about that compass, you know. When she thinks the girls are asleep, she sits by their beds and tells them a story about a brave soldier who carried a magic compass that always pointed home, no matter how lost they were."

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, but I forced them back. "Why did she leave Seattle, Maria?"

"Her father found her," Maria said. "He threatened to have you court-martialed. He told her he would use his influence to destroy your life and make sure you spent the rest of your days in a military prison. She did it to save you, Leo. She didn't know she was pregnant until she arrived back in New York. By then, she was locked in that penthouse like a prisoner."

"How are the girls?" I asked, my voice cracking.

"They are beautiful," Maria smiled warmly, a genuine light appearing in her eyes. "But they are lonely. They ask about you, Leo. Ever since they saw you in the park, they haven't stopped asking why the man with Mommy's compass looked so sad."

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"I need to see them," I said. "Just once. I need them to know I’m not a story."

Maria looked at me for a long time, measuring my heart. Finally, she nodded. "Tomorrow at noon, the house staff will be off for the holiday preparation. Arthur Montgomery will be at his corporate offices. I will bring the girls to the library on 79th Street. You have thirty minutes."

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