The boy’s voice was quiet… but it cut deeper than anything he had ever heard.

“My dad said… ask if you still keep promises.”

The world tilted.

Because those weren’t just words.

They were his words.

A memory exploded in his mind—

A dark alley. Blood on his hands. Sirens in the distance.

Scott standing in front of him, breathing hard but smiling like always.

“If I ever disappear… and someone finds you with that watch…”

“Don’t ask questions first.”

“Help first.”

The man’s heart started pounding.

No one knew that.

No one.

Slowly… he pulled back and looked at the boy again.

Really looked this time.

The eyes.

The silence.

The certainty.

“Where is your father?” he asked, barely holding himself together.

The boy’s fingers tightened around the watch.

His expression didn’t change.

Not fear.

Not sadness.

Something else.

Something heavier.

And then he said it—

calm… steady… undeniable:

“My dad isn’t dead.”

Silence swallowed the entire lobby.

The chandeliers. The people. The noise.

Everything disappeared.

Because in that moment… the past wasn’t buried anymore.

It was back.

And it was coming for him.