Chương 1
“She’s not our mom.”
The boy’s whisper was nearly swallowed by the mechanical groan of the jet-bridge door, but Amelia Hart heard it. She was already kneeling in front of him, the ice-blue skirt of her evening gown spread across the polished airport floor, when his fingers tightened around the worn beige rabbit crushed against his chest. His twin sister sat pressed against his shoulder, staring past Amelia at the woman in the cream trench coat who had just scanned a boarding pass and was pulling a silver suitcase toward the aircraft.
Amelia looked at the closing door, then back at the children.
The girl’s face had gone perfectly still. Only her breathing betrayed her—small, uneven pulls of air that caught high in her chest.
Behind Amelia, Theodore Grant spoke quietly. “Boarding has started.”
He had been reminding her for the past four minutes, with increasing restraint, that the Seattle flight would not wait because the Hart Foundation gala had run late. Amelia did not turn around.
“Cancel my flight,” she said. “Call airport security.”
Theo’s silence lasted half a second. Then he touched the earpiece beneath his left ear.
Amelia kept her voice low. “Is anyone coming for you?”
The girl’s eyes moved toward her brother as if permission might be written on his face. When it wasn’t, she slowly shook her head.
“Olivia doesn’t want us anymore.”
The name carried farther than the whisper had.
Beside the boarding scanner, the woman in the cream coat stopped.
Her suitcase rolled another inch before tilting against her leg. She did not turn her body. She only looked back over one shoulder, and for a moment the careful emptiness in her face gave way to fear.
Amelia rose halfway, staying close enough that the children remained behind her.
“Security to Gate C9,” she said into her phone. “Stop the woman in the cream coat.”
The security guard near the boarding lane moved without running. He was broad-shouldered, dressed in a black suit that made him look more like private security than airport staff, and he stepped across the carpeted entrance just as the scanner emitted a sharp warning beep.
Olivia’s hand remained wrapped around the suitcase handle.
“You need to move,” she said.
The guard’s tone stayed level. “Please step away from the jet bridge.”
“My flight is boarding.”
“So are other people’s.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand over here.”
Passengers slowed. Some pretended to check their phones. Others openly stared. A man holding a paper cup nearly walked into the black airport seats because he was watching Olivia instead of where he was going.
The jet-bridge door shuddered as it tried to close.
Olivia glanced toward it.
The guard moved one foot closer.
“Don’t,” he said.
It was not loud. It did not need to be.
Olivia released the suitcase.
The silver shell rocked once on its wheels and settled upright.
The boy flinched at the sound.
Amelia lowered herself again. Up close, she could see that the rabbit had been repaired several times. One ear had been sewn on with blue thread. A brown stain darkened its cloth paw.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
The boy stared at her diamond earrings. He seemed to be deciding whether expensive things made her safer or more dangerous.
“Mason.”
“And your sister?”
“Avery.”
Avery’s lips trembled. She pressed them together until the trembling stopped.
“My name is Amelia.”
Mason looked at the cream quilted handbag Amelia had dropped beside her. “Are you on the plane?”
“I was supposed to be.”
“Olivia said planes don’t wait for people.”
“She’s right about that.”
He looked past her. “You missed it?”
“Yes.”
“Because of us?”
Amelia considered lying. Children were often offered lies in bright voices, as though cheerfulness made dishonesty harmless.
“Because something is wrong,” she said. “And I don’t leave when something is wrong.”
Mason’s grip on the rabbit loosened by a fraction.
Two uniformed airport police officers arrived from opposite ends of the concourse. Theo met one of them and spoke in a low voice, occasionally pointing toward Olivia, the boarding scanner, and the twins. The second officer approached the guard.
Olivia watched them organize themselves around her.
“This is ridiculous,” she said. “Those children are being dramatic.”
Avery made a noise that was not quite a sob.
Mason leaned toward his sister. “Don’t cry.”
“I’m not.”
“I know.”
The first officer introduced herself as Officer Elena Park. Her gaze passed over Amelia’s gown, the handbag, the silver heels, and Theo’s severe black suit. Nothing in her expression suggested that wealth impressed her.
“Ma’am, are you related to these children?”
“No.”
“Did you witness the woman leave them?”
“She walked into the jet bridge alone. The boy told me she isn’t their mother.”
Officer Park crouched several feet away from Mason and Avery, careful not to crowd them.
“Did she tell you to stay here?”
Mason nodded.
“What exactly did she say?”
He looked at Olivia.
Olivia’s face changed. Not much. Her eyebrows lifted in a warning that might have been invisible to anyone who had not spent years reading people across negotiation tables.
Mason saw it.
His mouth closed.
Officer Park followed his gaze. “Ms. Hart, could you move with the children behind those seats?”
Amelia did not know how the officer knew her name until she noticed Theo holding her passport and boarding pass.
She gathered her gown with one hand and reached for her handbag with the other. Avery stood immediately. Mason remained seated.
“Can Rabbit come?” he asked.
“Rabbit would be offended if we left him.”
For the first time, Avery glanced at Amelia instead of the boarding door.
Mason got up.
May you like
They moved behind a row of black seats near the floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, aircraft tails stood against a pale winter sky. A baggage vehicle crawled beneath the glass, orange light turning silently on its roof. Somewhere above them, a terminal announcement apologized for a gate change no one seemed happy about.
Avery sat first. Mason sat beside her. Amelia lowered herself onto the floor because the chairs were too high for her to remain at their eye level.
