Chapter 6
I drove all night.
Lily slept through most of it, only waking once when we crossed the state line into Michigan, asking where we were going.
“To see some old friends,” I lied, forcing a smile. “It’s gonna be an adventure, okay?”
She nodded, sleepy, and went back to sleep.
My eyes burned. I drank three gas station coffees, rolled the window down to let the cold air hit my face, pushed myself to keep going. I couldn’t stop. If I stopped, Diane would find us. Daniel would find us. Ethan would find us.
The sun came up pink and cold over the flat Michigan fields.
I pulled into a cheap motel on the edge of my old college town, Ann Arbor. The sign flickered, the paint peeling. It was the kind of place no one would look for us.
I checked in under a fake name—Jenny Miller—paid cash, carried Lily inside. The room smelled like cigarette smoke and bleach, but it was clean enough. I locked the door, put a chair under the handle, and laid Lily on the bed.
I sat in the hard plastic chair by the window and stared out at the parking lot.
I had a plan.
Sort of.
I’d find Ethan. Confront him. Tell him to leave us alone. Tell him I’d tell the police he’d kidnapped Lily from school, that he’d broken into our house, that he’d never see her again if he didn’t back off.
And if that didn’t work?
I didn’t know.
I pulled out my phone. Twenty missed calls from Daniel. Thirty texts.
I opened them, my hands shaking.
Where are you?
Bring Lily back now.
If you hurt her, I swear to God I’ll kill you.
Mom says you’re taking her to Ethan. Is that true?
Answer me, Sarah. Please.
I closed my eyes.
He believed her.
He believed Diane over me.
I deleted all the texts, turned my phone off, and threw it in my purse. I couldn’t talk to him yet. Not until I had proof. Not until I could show him Ethan was still dangerous, that Diane was the one manipulating everyone.
Lily woke up an hour later, hungry and confused. I took her to a diner down the street, got her pancakes and chocolate milk. She was quiet, picking at her food, looking around like she expected someone to jump out at her.
“Mommy?” She looked up at me, her big eyes sad. “When are we going home? I miss Daddy. I miss my room.”
My throat tightened.
“Soon, baby. I promise. We just have to take care of a few things first.”
After breakfast, I drove to the auto shop on the west side of town. Jake Henderson. Ethan’s old college roommate. I’d looked him up on my phone before I’d turned it off. He owned the shop now.
I left Lily in the car, locked the doors, told her to roll the window down an inch if she needed me.
The shop was loud, the smell of oil and gasoline thick in the air. A man in grease-stained overalls was bent over the hood of a truck. He looked up when I walked in.
Jake was older, his hair cut short, a tattoo of his kid’s name on his forearm. But I’d know him anywhere.
“Sarah?” He wiped his hands on a rag, his eyes wide. “Wow. I haven’t seen you in… what? Nine years?”
“Hi, Jake.” I forced a smile. “I need to talk to you. About Ethan.”
His face fell.
He looked over his shoulder at the other mechanics working, then gestured for me to follow him into his office. He closed the door, leaned against his desk, crossed his arms.
“What about him?”
“Is he in town?”
Jake hesitated.
“Look, Sarah. I know what he did to you back in the day. He was an idiot. A drunk. He hurt you. But he’s different now. He served five years in prison for beating a guy at a bar—got in a fight over a girl, nearly killed him. Got out seven months ago. He’s been sober five years. Goes to AA every day. Sees a therapist. He’s not the same kid you knew.”
My stomach turned.
“Does he know I’m here?”
Jake paused too long.
“He told me he saw you in Chicago a few months back. At a park. With a little girl. Lily. He says she’s his.” Jake studied my face. “Is she?”
I nodded, slow.
“Sarah, he’s not gonna hurt her. Or you. He talks about her all the time. Keeps her drawings taped to his fridge. Buys her little toys, keeps them in a box. He just wants to be her dad. That’s all. He doesn’t want to take her from you. He wants shared custody. He was gonna file papers next month.”
“Shared custody?” I laughed, sharp and bitter. “He forged my signature to take her out of school. He broke into my house, left a rose in her room. He’s been stalking us for months. That’s not a guy who wants to co-parent. That’s a guy who’s obsessed.”
Jake’s eyes went wide.
“Wait. He took her from school? Broke into your house? Sarah, that doesn’t sound like him. Not now. He knows if he gets in trouble, he loses any chance at custody. He’s been following every rule. He even got a steady job at the lumber yard. Passed three background checks.”
He leaned forward, earnest.
“Look. He lives in a trailer out on Miller Road, ten minutes from here. White trailer with a blue door. Go talk to him. Hear him out. If he’s been doing the things you say? I’ll help you get a restraining order myself. But I swear to you, the Ethan I know now wouldn’t hurt a fly. Especially not his own daughter.”
I left the shop with Ethan’s address, my head spinning.
Jake was telling the truth. I could see it in his eyes.
But if Ethan hadn’t taken Lily from school? If he hadn’t broken into the house?
Who had?
I thought of Diane.
Her cold smile. Her voice on the phone, calling Daniel, lying.
She’d forged the note. She’d opened Lily’s window. She’d left the rose and the boot print.
All to make Ethan look dangerous. All to make me look crazy.
I got back in the car. Lily was coloring in the backseat, quiet.
“Mommy? Where are we going now?”
“To meet someone.” I turned the car toward Miller Road. “It’s gonna be okay, baby. I promise.”
I drove down the dirt road, past cornfields and run-down farms, until I saw it.
White trailer. Blue door.
A man was outside, bent over a little pink bicycle, tightening the training wheels. He was wearing flannel and jeans, his dark hair a little longer than I remembered, the scar on his jaw still bright.
Ethan.
He looked up when the car pulled up.
He froze.
Then he stood up, wiping his hands on his jeans.
Lily looked up from her coloring.
She grinned, dropping her crayon.
“Nice man! Mommy, it’s the nice man from the park!”
My blood ran cold.
May you like
Ethan walked slowly toward the car, his hands up like he was approaching a skittish animal.
“Sarah,” he said, his voice soft. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
