Chapter 1 - THE BOY UNDER THE AWNING
“You can have mine.”
Emily held out the sandwich with both hands.
The boy under the pharmacy awning stared at it as if kindness might be a trick.
Rain dripped from his torn hoodie.
His sneakers were split at the toes.
“Really?”
Emily nodded.
“I already ate half my fries.”
He took the sandwich carefully.
“Thank you.”
Then Emily stepped closer and gave him a tiny hug.
The boy went stiff.
For one second, his eyes closed.
He looked like someone remembering what safe felt like.
Then heels slapped against the wet pavement.
“Emily!”
Julia Mercer rushed from the coffee shop next door.
“Step away from him.”
“Mom, he’s just hungry.”
Julia pulled her seven-year-old daughter behind her and turned toward the boy.
She was ready to warn him away.
Then he looked up.
Blue eyes.
A tiny scar under his chin.
A frightened little crease between his eyebrows.
Julia’s handbag slipped from her fingers.
The boy stared at her.
His lips parted.
“Mom?”
Julia’s knees almost failed.
“Thomas?”
His face changed.
“You know my name?”
She dropped to the sidewalk and touched his dirty cheek with shaking fingers.
“My baby.”
The boy started crying before she finished the words.
Julia pulled him into her arms.
“I never stopped looking for you.”
Thomas clutched the back of her coat.
Emily stood frozen beside them.
“Mom?”
Julia looked up.
“Who is he?”
Julia could barely speak.
“Your brother.”
Emily’s face went pale.
“But you told me Thomas died.”
Julia closed her eyes.
“That’s what they told me.”
Thomas pulled away.
“They?”
Julia stared at him.
He reached beneath his hoodie and removed an old hospital bracelet tied to a cord around his neck.
The plastic was yellowed with age.
But the printing was still visible.
THOMAS MERCER.
MOTHER: JULIA MERCER.
Julia covered her mouth.
Thomas whispered, “The woman who kept me said you were never supposed to see this.”
Julia’s voice dropped.
“What woman?”
Thomas looked over Julia’s shoulder toward the street.
A black sedan was parked at the curb.
Its engine was running.
Thomas grabbed Julia’s sleeve.
“We need to go.”
“Why?”
His eyes filled with terror.
“Because she found me.”
May you like
The rear door of the sedan opened.
And a woman stepped into the rain.
