Chapter 1 - Give Me the Baby
Nora Vale had been a mother for nine hours when her father asked her to sign away her daughter.
"It is temporary," Charles Mercer said.
He stood at the foot of the hospital bed in a charcoal suit that probably cost more than Nora's first car. Her mother, Elaine, sat near the window with a tissue pressed to her mouth. Daniel, Nora's older brother, stayed by the door. An attorney Nora had never met opened a leather folder.
Lucy slept against Nora's chest, pink and warm and impossibly small.
"Temporary guardianship," the attorney said. "Only until you recover."
"Recover from giving birth?"
Charles's jaw tightened. "From everything. Owen disappearing. The stress. The messages."
Nora looked at Daniel. "You said Owen probably panicked."
Daniel didn't answer.
Her phone buzzed under the blanket.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: DO NOT LEAVE WITH YOUR PARENTS.
A second message appeared.
OWEN KESSLER WAS LAST SEEN AT CHARLES MERCER'S LAKE HOUSE.
Nora's pulse slammed.
She looked at her father.
Charles smiled as if nothing had happened. "Give me the baby, Nora. You need rest."
Before she could answer, the door opened.
A stranger in a wet jacket stepped inside holding a photograph.
"My name is Eli Ward," he said. "Owen told me to find you if he vanished."
Charles went white.
Eli held up the photo.
Owen stood beside his truck at the lake house.
Daniel stood beside him.
And in Daniel's hand was Nora's missing hospital bag.
Nora stared at her brother.
May you like
"Daniel," she whispered. "What did you do?"
Nora had spent her entire childhood watching Charles solve problems by lowering his voice. Teachers stopped asking questions. Doctors changed schedules. Bankers returned calls. She had once mistaken that kind of control for safety. With Lucy breathing against her chest, it looked different. It looked like ownership.
