Chapter 2 - The Child Who Vanished
"Don't touch him."
Celeste's voice surprised even her.
Ellen Price froze with one polished black shoe against the pavement.
"Mrs. Rowan," she said, attempting a smile. "There's been a misunderstanding."
Celeste stood motionless.
Behind her, the barefoot boy pressed himself against the utility pole.
Theo had moved beside him without being asked.
"He's coming with us," Ellen continued. "He's had a difficult few days."
"His name isn't Samuel."
Ellen's smile disappeared.
Celeste turned her head toward the entrance of the apartment building across the street.
"Someone call the police!"
The building's doorman, who had been watching the encounter, reached for his phone.
Ellen glanced toward the driver.
"You're making a terrible mistake, Celeste."
"No," Celeste said. "I made a terrible mistake when I trusted you."
The driver abruptly pulled the door shut.
The sedan moved into traffic before anyone could stop it.
A delivery cyclist swerved around its bumper.
The doorman stepped closer, his phone still raised.
"I got the plate," he said. "And I called 911."
Celeste thanked him, barely hearing her own words.
She turned to the boy.
He was shaking.
"Did she hurt you?"
He looked toward the disappearing car.
"She gets mad when I leave."
Celeste removed her cream-colored wool coat and wrapped it around his shoulders.
He hesitated before accepting it.
His eyes stayed on her hands.
"You're not going to send me back?"
"No."
She swallowed.
"I won't willingly send you back to someone you're afraid of."
The promise was careful.
Celeste knew that after so many years, she couldn't simply take a child home because he looked like her missing son.
There would be police questions, medical examinations, identification procedures.
But she could stand beside him.
She could make sure he was heard.
And she could refuse to disappear again.
Theo crouched near the boy.
"I'm Theo."
The child studied his face.
"I know."
"How?"
The boy glanced toward Celeste.
"I saw your picture."
Before Theo could ask another question, two police officers arrived.
Within minutes, the sidewalk had become a small gathering of concerned strangers.
Celeste gave the officers her name and explained that her son had been abducted nearly nine years earlier.
One officer stepped aside to contact detectives.
The other spoke gently to the barefoot child.
"Can you tell me where you've been staying?"
The boy pulled Celeste's coat tighter.
"Outside."
"For how long?"
"Three nights."
"Where were you before that?"
He looked frightened.
Celeste wanted to answer for him.
Instead, she waited.
"At a house," he whispered. "With Ellen."
That evening, after the boy had been taken to a hospital for examination and protective care, Celeste sat beside Theo in a quiet family waiting room.
He hadn't stopped asking questions.
"Did you really have two babies?"
"Yes."
"At the same time?"
She nodded.
"You were born six minutes before Eli."
Theo stared at his shoes.
"What happened?"
Celeste clasped her trembling hands.
Eli had disappeared when the twins were fifteen months old.
At the time, she and her husband, Daniel, lived in a townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Ellen Price was their nanny.
She was dependable, experienced, and came with references that appeared impeccable.
On the morning Eli vanished, Ellen had been responsible for watching both boys while Celeste attended a medical appointment.
When Celeste returned, Theo was asleep in his crib.
Eli was gone.
So was Ellen.
Security footage showed Ellen leaving through the service entrance with a covered stroller.
The vehicle waiting outside had stolen license plates.
Police searched for months.
Then years.
Ellen's references were eventually discovered to be connected to false identities.
Her previous addresses led nowhere.
Daniel spent every spare hour contacting investigators and organizations that searched for missing children.
Celeste printed posters.
She followed sightings.
She traveled to three different states after people claimed they'd seen a boy matching Eli's description.
Every lead ended in disappointment.
Then Daniel died after a sudden illness.
Celeste was left with a growing son who couldn't remember his brother.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Theo asked.
She looked at him.
"At first, you were too little to understand."
"And later?"
Celeste felt her throat close.
"Later, I was afraid."
"Of what?"
"That you'd be scared all the time. That every time I left you at school, you'd wonder whether you'd disappear too."
Theo was quiet.
"You could've told me."
"I should have."
She reached for his hand.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart."
He let her hold it, but his expression remained troubled.
For years, Celeste had convinced herself that keeping the loss hidden protected the child she still had.
Now she understood the cost.
Theo had grown up without knowing he had a brother.
And Eli had grown up without knowing whether his mother even wanted him.
A nurse appeared in the doorway.
"Ms. Rowan?"
Celeste stood.
"The little boy is asking for you."
She hurried down the hallway.
Inside the examination room, Eli sat beneath a white hospital blanket with the silver locket clenched in his hand.
When he saw her, he didn't smile.
May you like
Instead, he asked a question that nearly brought her to her knees.
"If you knew who took me, why didn't you come get me?"
