Chapter 7: A Boy's Instinct
Upstate, at the Vance estate, life moved with deliberate peace. Leo spent his afternoons working in the garage with Marcus.
Marcus had bought a vintage steel road frame, and instead of simply buying a brand-new bike off the rack, he was teaching Leo how to lace the spokes, grease the bearings, and true the wheels himself.
"Why didn't we just get a new one from the shop?" Leo asked, tightening a spoke nipple with a brass wrench.
"Because when you build something with your own hands, you understand how every small piece depends on the others," Marcus explained, wiping grease from his fingers with a rag. "A bicycle wheel only works when every single spoke shares the tension equally. If one spoke gets too tight and takes all the glory, the rim warps. If one gets lazy, the wheel collapses."
Leo paused, turning the wheel slowly. "Like communities."
Marcus looked at him with profound pride. "Exactly like communities."
Later that evening, while flipping through an evening financial bulletin on his tablet, Leo saw a small article: Kane Capital Liquidated Following Vance Debt Recall. Beneath it was a photo of Julian Kane walking out of an office building with a cardboard box, head bowed, rain soaking his hair.
Leo studied the image for a long time.
"Dad?"
"Yes, Leo?"
"Is Mr. Kane a bad person, or did he just forget how to be good?"
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Marcus sat down beside the boy. "Most people who cause harm aren't monsters, Leo. They just build walls so high they can't see the people living on the other side."
"Can someone help him take the wall down?"
