"I mean it. Anytime."
"Okay," Emmett said.
Sandstone straightened.
Ruffled Emmett's hair once, gentle, the way you'd touch something you didn't want to break.
Then he left.
Rimshot showed up an hour later.
Younger, more energy.
Grinned when Emmett opened the door.
"Brought you something," he said.
Handed over a laptop.
Refurbished but solid.
"It's got everything you need for school, homework, research. There's also a folder on the desktop labeled important stuff. Legal documents, housing records, everything related to your case. You're old enough to know what happened. Old enough to see the proof. If you want to read it, it's there. If you don't, delete it. Your choice."
Emmett took the laptop carefully.
"Why are you giving me this?"
"Because you deserve to know the truth," Rimshot said. "And because knowledge is power. Preston Aldridge took a lot from you, but he doesn't get to control the story. You do."
He pulled out his phone, showed Emmett his contact.
"I'm good with computers. You need help with anything. Tech, research, tracking down records. You text me. I got you."
"Thanks," Emmett said.
Rimshot knocked his fist gently against Emmett's shoulder.
"You're a good kid. Don't let what happened make you think otherwise."
Then he was gone.
Diesel came last.
Brought a first aid kit and a handwritten note with care instructions for the frostbite recovery.
"Hand's looking good," he said. "Keep it warm for another week. Any numbness or pain, you call me immediately. I mean it."
"I will."
Diesel stood there for a moment, hands in his pockets, looking uncomfortable in the way people do when they're trying to say something important.
"Listen," he said finally. "I've seen a lot of bad situations. Combat, emergency medicine, things that should have killed people but didn't. And you know what makes the difference?"
Emmett shook his head.
"People who show up when it matters. You showed up for Lily when she needed you. We showed up for you. That's how this works. You don't go through the hard stuff alone if you don't have to."
He pulled out a card.
Same as Luther's.
Contact numbers.
"You're part of the family now. Not patched, but family anyway. That means something to us. It should mean something to you, too."
Emmett took the card.
"It does."
Diesel nodded, satisfied.
Then he left.
And Emmett stood on the porch with three phone numbers, a laptop, and the first real proof he'd had in 3 weeks that maybe the world wasn't completely broken.
Maybe it was just cracked.
And maybe there were people who knew how to fix the cracks if you let them.
But this story isn't really about housing fraud or corrupt officials or even a homeless boy walking through a storm.
It's about what happens when the system designed to protect people becomes the thing they need protection from.
It's about the moment you realize that the scariest looking person in the room might be the only one who sees you as human.
And it's about the choice.
The one we all have to make at some point.
To keep walking even when you don't know where you're going.
Because Emmett didn't know where he was going when he picked up Lily on those hospital steps.
He just knew he couldn't leave her there.
And that one decision made by a 15-year-old boy with no home and no resources and no reason to believe anyone would help him changed everything.
11 days after Preston Aldridge's arraignment, Luther stopped by Nadine's house unannounced.
Not for a meeting, not for an update, just to check.