Chapter 13 - North
We crossed into Canada before sunrise.
That was illegal in at least three ways, according to my attorney.
I fired him.
Then rehired him ten minutes later because Mara said, “Stop behaving like a billionaire toddler.”
He deserved the fee.
Montreal was covered in dirty snow.
The address connected to Celeste led to a narrow townhouse.
No SUV.
No lights.
I knocked.
Nothing.
Mara knocked harder.
Still nothing.
Then a neighbor opened her door.
“You're looking for the woman with the little girl?”
“Yes.”
“She left.”
“When?”
“Two hours ago.”
Mara swore.
The neighbor frowned.
Then she looked at me.
“You're the man from television.”
“Unfortunately.”
“She left this.”
A pink backpack.
Inside were crayons, a French workbook, a stuffed rabbit, and a photograph of my father holding baby Maya.
On the back:
FOR ADRIAN. I WAS WRONG.
Celeste.
Mara sat on the stairs.
“She had a picture of your father.”
“He visited her.”
“He visited Maya.”
“Yes.”
“He held my daughter while I thought she was dead.”
I couldn't defend him.
I didn't try.
Mara punched the wall.
Then cursed because her hand hurt.
I found ice.
She refused it.
Five minutes later, she took it.
Small imperfections.
Stupid details.
The things that make grief real.
My phone rang.
My mother.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“Canada.”
She exhaled.
“Of course you are.”
“Where's Celeste going?”
“I don't know.”
“Try harder.”
“Adrian, Charles has called a board vote.”
“I don't care.”
“You should. If he takes control of Whitaker Holdings, he controls the foundation records.”
That mattered.
“When?”
“Tomorrow at nine.”
I looked at Mara.
She understood.
“No,” she said.
“I have to go back.”
“Our daughter is here.”
“And the records that can find her are there.”
Mara stood.
“You always choose the company.”
“That isn't fair.”
“Neither is six years.”
I snapped.
“You took my father's money and never told me!”
Her face changed.
I wished the words back.
Too late.
She dropped the ice pack.
“Go save your company.”
“Mara—”
“Go.”
I went.
That was mistake number three.
At the airport, my phone buzzed.
A Canadian emergency alert had been issued for a missing six-year-old girl.
Maeve Whitaker.
Suspected abductor:
May you like
Mara Reyes.
