Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN IN THE REAR BOOTH.
Leo knocked the worn teddy bear from the booth. Maya caught it before it hit the floor.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. Mama’s got it.”
Both four-year-olds stopped crying.
“Mama?” Ella whispered.
“Mommy,” Leo repeated.
Ethan rose so quickly the table shook. “What did my children just call you?”
Maya traced the faded heart stitched into the bear’s paw. Ethan pulled a photograph from his wallet. His missing wife, Grace, wore the same heart-shaped bracelet Maya had hidden beneath her sleeve.
“The hospital declared her dead,” he said.
Maya’s eyes filled. “Do not say her name here. Someone is watching us.”
In the rear booth, an elegant silver-haired woman closed a compact mirror and whispered into her phone, “The twins recognized her. Move the records.”
She hurried toward the exit. Ethan recognized his mother, Victoria Cole.
May you like
Maya gripped the bear.
“They remember me because I cared for them the night Grace disappeared—and because Grace was my sister.”
