The rooftop went silent.

The father dropped to his knees in front of Lila.

“Look at me, sweetheart.”

Lila blinked hard, trying to focus through her tears.

“I can see you now,” she whispered. “A little.”

Her mother stood abruptly. “This is ridiculous. She’s been unstable for months.”

The boy slammed his hand on the table.

“No! She cries after you leave. She said her eyes burn.”

The father turned to him.

“How do you know my daughter?”

The boy swallowed.

“I clean dishes downstairs. She used to sneak me bread from the kitchen when nobody watched.”

Lila reached toward him.

“He’s my friend,” she said. “He believed me.”

The father looked at the vial again, his hand trembling.

Then the rooftop door opened.

A private nurse stepped out, pale and shaking.

“I’m sorry,” she said, tears in her eyes. “I should have spoken sooner.”

The mother’s face collapsed.

The nurse held up her phone.

“I recorded her instructions. She said if Lila stayed helpless, you would never finalize the divorce.”

The father stared at his wife like he no longer knew her.

“You hurt our child to keep my money?”

Her lips trembled. “I was losing everything.”

“No,” he said, voice breaking. “You lost her.”

Lila began to cry.

The father gathered her into his arms, holding her like she might disappear.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered into her hair. “I should have listened sooner.”

The boy stepped back, suddenly aware of his torn clothes and the rich people staring at him.

But Lila reached out and caught his sleeve.

“Don’t go.”

The father looked at the child who had risked everything for his daughter.

“What’s your name?”

“Sam.”

The father’s eyes softened.

“You saved her, Sam.”

Sam looked down.

“She saved me first.”

Police sirens rose far below the rooftop.

The mother backed away as security approached.

Lila pressed her face into her father’s chest, still shaking.

“Will I be okay?”

He kissed her forehead, tears falling onto her white dress.

“Yes,” he whispered. “And from now on, no one decides what you see except you.”

As they led her mother away, Lila kept one hand in her father’s and one hand wrapped around Sam’s.

The sunset burned gold across the marble floor.

For the first time in months, she did not put her sunglasses back on.