“He made me steal,” Leo cried.
“He forces kids to beg for money!”
Gasps spread through the crowd.
The angry man’s face darkened instantly.
“Shut up!”
But Daniel stepped forward fearlessly.
“You’re not touching him again.”
The man laughed coldly.
“And what are you going to do about it, rich boy?”
Daniel’s hands trembled, but he didn’t move aside.
For the first time in his life, he understood something terrible:
people had walked past Leo every single day… and nobody had cared enough to stop.
Until now.
A woman from the crowd suddenly spoke up.
“I’ve seen this man before.”
Another person raised a phone.
“I recorded everything.”
The man’s confidence disappeared instantly.
“You people don’t understand—”
Police sirens echoed from nearby streets.
The man panicked and tried to run, but two officers rushed into the alley and forced him to the ground.
Leo burst into tears.
Not from fear this time.
From relief.
Daniel slowly walked back to him and placed the remaining half of the bread into his hands.
“You don’t have to survive alone anymore,” he said quietly.
Leo looked at him with red, tear-filled eyes.
“Why did you help me?”
Daniel smiled softly.
“Because somebody should have done it a long time ago.”
The crowd stood silently ashamed as the two boys walked away together beneath the city lights.
And for the first time in years…
Leo wasn’t cold anymore.
