Chapter 4

On the day Celeste attended the open class, Kevin didn't enter the classroom. He sat at the end of the hallway, clutching his mended kite.

When his teacher called me, he only repeated one sentence. "Mommy isn't my Mommy today."

By the time I rushed to the kindergarten, Jonah was taking photos of Celeste and Iris with his phone.

The three of them stood in front of their parent-child art project. Celeste lowered her head to fix Iris's hair, her expression gentle and patient.

When Kevin spotted her, he still ran over. "Mommy."

Celeste turned around, her brows knitting together slightly. "Why haven't you gone inside yet?"

"My teacher told me to find my own mommy." He held out his kite to her. "Can you hold it for me? It'll only take a moment."

Iris immediately wrapped her arms around Celeste's leg. "No, she's mine today!"

"Iris, you shouldn't say that. Ms. Rochester is Kevin's mother," Jonah reprimanded her softly.

Iris pouted. "But you told me last night that as long as I behaved, Celeste would stay with us forever."

Jonah's expression changed instantly. "She's spouting nonsense."

I looked at Celeste. "Did you hear that?"

She avoided my gaze. "Jonah was only trying to placate her. Don't obsess over every little detail."

Kevin held his kite out a little farther. "It'll only take a minute, Mommy."

Celeste finally took it from him.

His eyes had just lit up when Iris yanked the tail of the kite. "This is mine."

The kite ripped in half.

This time, he didn't cry. He crouched down and picked up the torn pieces of paper.

Jonah held Iris back. "Hurry up and apologize!"

Yet, she broke free from his grasp and ran toward the prop room beside the stairs with the kite. "I'm not giving it back! I'm going to hide it."

Kevin chased after her.

Several minutes later, the parent-child class officially began.

Kevin still hadn't returned, so I immediately rushed out of the classroom. "Kevin?"

No one answered.

His teacher pulled up the surveillance footage in the hallway. Iris shoved Kevin into the prop room, slid the latch shut, and jammed a small chair against the door.

Jonah panicked. "Iris is just playing a prank; she doesn't know she's not supposed to lock someone inside."

I turned on my heel and bolted toward the prop room. Celeste, however, stepped in front of the security monitor. "Don't make a scene just yet."

I stared at her in disbelief. "Kevin's locked inside!"

"I know," she whispered. "Jonah's fighting his ex-wife for custody right now. If this footage gets out, she'll use it to argue that he can't even raise his own daughter properly. He could lose Iris."

My fingernails dug into my palms. "So what?"

"The prop room's on this floor. Kevin'll be fine. First, get his teacher to delete the footage. As soon as we find him, I'll have Iris apologize to him."

Jonah grasped my arm. "Kai, I'm begging you; Iris is all I have. I can't lose her." I flung him away.

His teacher rushed back with the key, only to discover that the lock was broken. The room was filled with old curtains and stage backdrops. The windows were sealed shut, and Kevin had mild asthma.

I pounded on the door, calling out his name. At long last, a faint cough came from inside. "Daddy... I can't breathe." My blood ran cold in an instant.

Just then, the principal hurried over with an iPad. "I've backed up the surveillance footage. I'll call the cops right now."

The moment she pulled up the footage, Celeste snatched her iPad amid the commotion. "Hold on. We haven't gotten to the bottom of this yet!" In the same breath, her fingers flew across the screen, tapping into the files and hitting delete.

The principal looked at the screen, and her expression changed drastically. "Did you just delete the footage?"

I whipped my head around.

Celeste's hand was still hovering beside the delete button. She looked at me and explained quietly, "I merely wanted to protect Jonah's daughter first."

Right then, a dull thud came from inside the room, as if something had collapsed. I snatched the fire axe off the wall and brought it down on the door lock.