He’d hoped Daniel was in stasis somewhere. He’d scoured death records and never found anything but couldn’t find any proof he’d survived and was in stasis, either. The last three years his life have been an unpleasant blur filled with regret and nightmares, punctuated by work—a desperate quest to make sure other submissives with a designation like Daniel’s get a chance for happiness when his boy didn’t.

It made sense for Daniel’s father to tell him Daniel had died so he’d stop looking. Daniel’s father was a powerful man and Liam had been blocked at every turn. Eventually, he’d had no choice but to accept that Daniel was gone.

“Daniel was your boy,” Robert repeats.

Logan says, “Daniel isn’t dead. My father was just an asshole with too much power, and he probably told you Daniel was dead so you’d go away. My father put him into stasis, but now he’s gone and we’re bringing him out.”

“When?” Liam demands. “I have to be there. He—He’ll need me. And I need him. My god. I won’t believe he’s alive until I see him,” he says, voice rough with emotion.

“Did you love him?” Logan asks.

“I love him more than I’ve ever loved anyone,” Liam rasps. “I did love him then and I still do.” I just didn’t know it, he thinks. Didn’t say it because the relationship was too new and Daniel wasn’t in a position to make choices for himself. And because they’d thought it was temporary.

Daniel is Liam’s biggest regret. He didn’t deserve Daniel and didn’t treat him like he deserved, like he was loved and cherished. In hindsight, he’s examined their time together and can see so many mistakes.

“He’s perfect just as he is, you know. Gorgeous and smart. Funny and wise about people. But he’s shy, and it took him a while to come out of his shell. And I miss him every single day. He loved you so much, Logan. Loves, I suppose.” A sound comes from his chest that could be a laugh. “I can’t believe he’s alive.”

They plan to meet up the following day to get Daniel out of stasis. Liam doesn’t sleep a wink. He paces and finds himself lost in thought and memory, staring at nothing. He goes to the gym at three a.m. but starts crying on the treadmill and walks the city until the sun rises instead.

Daniel is alive. Daniel has been so badly abused by the people who were meant to care for him. By his father and even the military, both conspiring to change and ruin him rather than accept him as he was.