“When Russell went missing, it was the worst pain I’d ever been in,” she murmured to a deadly quiet room. “I went mad without my son.” She set down her teacup, her hands shaking too much to hold it. “I quit my job as an elementary school teacher in order to look for him. It had been Adam’s idea to fake my death after that gas explosion. The


    Windsor family was sniffing around, and it became too dangerous for me to be alive.”


    Ava nodded, and I swallowed thickly as I processed all this new information.


    “Tell them what you told me,” Adam encouraged his sister. “They are here to help us. Don’t be afraid.”


    Sarah eyed Ava and then me as if she could figure out if we were trustworthy just by looking at us.


    After a few moments, she cleared her throat and continued. “Five years ago, right after Russell disappeared, the police found out about Kelly and Russell’s budding rtionship. They found Kelly at the hospital. She had those horrible scratches on her face. When they questioned her, she began to sob and scream. She was inconsble. She couldn’t even tell the police her own name.”


    Sarah paused to take a sip of her tea. Gently, I set my cup down on the table. My stomach was too full of anxiety to take another sip. I really wanted to hear more of Sarah’s story, but I didn’t want to rush her.


    “It seemed like Russell’s disappearance nearly killed Kelly almost as much as it broke me. They were inseparable as children, and they were growing even closer as teenagers,” Sarah said. “Weter learned from


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    the school’s security footage that Kelly left with Chloe the day Russell disappeared.” Sarah’s hands tightened around her teacup, and her eyes narrowed into slits. “That Chloe girl is trouble. She always has been. She became obsessed with my son, and when he rejected her, Chloe set her sights on Kelly and bullied that poor girl until she broke down crying every day after school. She would sit in my kitchen before school and cry about having to go because of that awful girl.”


    Sarah let out a deep breath and shook her head in disgust.


    “Did Kelly’s grandmother ever report Chloe’s bullying to the school?” Ava asked.


    “No,” Sarah said and sighed. “I didn’t even know that Chloe was the reason that she was so upset until after the fact. Kelly and Russell refused to tell us about their problems, writing it off as silly high school–misunderstandings, but I knew that what they were going through was serious.” Her lip trembled, and her eyes filled with tears. “I just didn’t know how serious it was.


    <i>“</i><i>1 </i>


    Sarah’s cheeks became wet, and she shakily wiped her tears away.


    I handed her a clean napkin, and Adam offered to get her a ss of water from downstairs.


    When he was gone, Ava and Alexander looked away from the older woman, trying to give her some space. But I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. The raw pain on her face broke my heart in two.


    My hands clenched into fists as I thought about how Chloe’s mother had inadvertently ruined this poor woman’s life. If Mrs. Windsor had just gotten her daughter the help she needed, and then Sarah Walker wouldn’t be in so much pain. Neither would Kelly. Who knew? Maybe Kelly and Russell would be married with a kid by now, and Sarah could be a happy grandmother instead of hiding out at her brother’s house.


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    ‘What if‘ was always a dangerous question to ask.


    *Olivia*


    As if Sarah had heard the direction that my thoughts had gone in, she raised her head and gazed at me with watery eyes. “Ever since they were kids and would y house together, I knew that Russell and Kelly were supposed to be each other’s first loves.”


    I noticed that when she said her son’s name, her hands tightened around the napkin in her hands.


    “They were meant to be,” Sarah continued. “I would sit and watch them make up childhood games and run through my backyard as I sat with Kelly’grandmother. We would talk about their future life together and what they would name their kids.” Her mouth trembled, and more tears flowed down her wrinkled cheeks. “I never imagined that Russell wouldn’t make it to eighteen.”


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