the boy who saved his daughter, Ricardo gave the only answer that mattered.
‘By making sure he never feels invisible again.’
Leo’s father was promoted to manager of the entire estate grounds. Leo received a scholarship in Sophia’s name, though Ricardo insisted it was not charity. It was a debt.
And on the first warm Saturday of summer, Sophia stood at the edge of the blue pool in a yellow swimsuit, thinner than before but smiling with the same stubborn brightness.
Leo stood beside her, gripping the railing.
‘I still think this is a bad idea,’ he said.
Sophia rolled her eyes. ‘Friends do not give up, remember?’
Ricardo watched from a chair nearby, his eyes wet behind dark sunglasses.
Leo took one step into the water.
Then another.
Sophia held out her hand.
This time, when the world felt deep and terrifying, Leo did not run.
He trusted her.
And somewhere beyond the garden, beyond the marble walls and the locked gates, the story of the millionaire’s daughter and the gardener’s son was only beginning…
