The social worker introduced herself as Melissa Grant.

She spoke carefully, especially with Ethan standing there.

Lily had collapsed that morning near a convenience store.

Dehydration.

Exhaustion.

She had apparently eaten very little for several days.

Her condition was stable.

That should have comforted Daniel.

It didn’t.

“Can Ethan see her?” Daniel asked.

Melissa hesitated.

“Give me a moment.”

Ethan grabbed Daniel’s sleeve after she left.

“Dad, I didn’t know it was this bad.”

“I know.”

“I gave her food.”

“I know.”

“I should’ve told you.”

Daniel looked at his son.

“Yes.”

Ethan’s face crumpled.

Daniel immediately softened.

“But you’re twelve. This was never supposed to be yours to fix.”

“I promised her.”

“What?”

“That I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Why?”

“She thought they’d take her away.”

Daniel understood.

“And you believed protecting the secret protected her.”

Ethan nodded.

Daniel crouched so they were eye level.

“Listen carefully. Keeping someone’s secret is not more important than keeping them safe.”

Ethan wiped his eyes.

“I messed up.”

“You tried to help.”

“But—”

“And now we help differently.”

Melissa returned.

“Lily wants to see Ethan.”

They entered a small hospital room.

Lily looked impossibly young beneath the white blankets.

When she saw Ethan, relief flooded her face.

“You came.”

“Of course.”

Then she noticed Daniel.

Her smile vanished.

“This is my dad,” Ethan said quickly.

Lily looked terrified.

“You told him?”

“No. He followed me.”

Daniel almost objected to the phrasing, then decided Ethan was technically correct.

Lily turned away.

“You promised.”

“I know.”

“They’ll take me away.”

Daniel stepped closer but kept distance between them.

“Lily, nobody here wants to hurt you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No,” Daniel admitted. “I don’t.”

That answer made her look at him.

“But I know you shouldn’t have to wonder where your next meal comes from.”

“My mom takes care of me.”

“Where is she?”

Lily’s eyes filled.

“I don’t know.”

“When did you last see her?”

She hesitated.

“Sunday.”

It was Thursday.

Daniel felt anger rise, but he controlled it.

“Did she say where she was going?”

“She had work.”

“What kind?”

“She cleans offices.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know.”

“Does she have a phone?”

“It stopped working.”

Melissa gently interrupted.

“Lily, we need to locate your mother.”

“She’ll come back.”

“I hope she does.”

“She always comes back.”

But Lily didn’t sound convinced.

Daniel noticed Ethan watching her.

The boy looked devastated.

After they left the room, Melissa asked Daniel to stay behind.

“There’s more.”

Daniel glanced toward Ethan.

“Can he hear it?”

“Some of it may be better discussed privately.”

Daniel sent Ethan to the vending machines.

Melissa lowered her voice.

“The apartment manager says Lily and her mother are behind on rent.”

“How far?”

“Several months.”

“I’ll pay it.”

Melissa blinked.

“That isn’t necessarily the issue.”

“What is?”

“We’re trying to determine why Lily’s mother disappeared.”

Daniel remembered the gray sedan.

“There’s a man.”

Melissa’s attention sharpened.

“What man?”

Daniel explained what he had seen.

“Do you have the plate?”

“Part of it.”

“Give it to me.”

Daniel did.

Melissa wrote it down.

“Do you think Lily is in danger?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet.”

That answer disturbed him more than reassurance would have.

When Daniel and Ethan finally left the hospital, Ethan said nothing until they reached the car.

Then:

“Dad?”

“Yes?”

“Can she stay with us?”

Daniel looked at him.

“It isn’t that simple.”

“We have six bedrooms.”

“That isn’t what I mean.”

“She doesn’t have anybody.”

“We don’t know that.”

“She has me.”

Daniel stared at his son.

Ethan’s voice became quieter.

“And maybe us.”

Daniel looked toward the hospital windows.

He thought about Rebecca.

About the huge house.

About all the rooms nobody entered anymore.

“We’ll see what happens.”

For Ethan, that was enough.

But Daniel soon discovered Lily Harper’s story was far more complicated than hunger and unpaid rent.

Because that evening, Melissa called.

They had finally entered Lily’s apartment with the landlord.

Her mother was still missing.

But inside a kitchen drawer, investigators found something unexpected.

A stack of unopened letters.

Every envelope carried the same return address.

And every one was addressed to Lily.

The sender was a man named Thomas Harper.

Lily’s father.

A man Lily had been told was dead.

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