Chapter 2

"Elena, wake up!"

Charlie shook me awake. Excitement flared in his eyes, and a thin layer of sweat glistened across his forehead. "I've got some great news."

My voice was barely a whisper as I asked, "What is it?"

"The video of Vivian's speech from yesterday went viral. Her DMs are blowing up with people offering leads," he said.

His frantic movements made my head spin. Because I hadn't eaten a single bite all day, a sharp, burning pain tore through my empty stomach.

"Why do you look so pale?" He frowned. "No more dieting from now on. I don't care if you gain weight. Come on, let's get some food."

He drove me to a restaurant 12 miles from our house. Once inside, he confidently ordered the house specials without even looking at the menu.

"Vivian's brother would be 14 by now," he remarked, his tone casual. "There's a good chance that a kind family adopted him and put him through school, which is why she hangs out around here so often. She's just hoping to catch a lucky break.

"The middle school across the street gets out right about now. Help me keep an eye out, okay? See if any of the kids look like Zachary."

Just then, a massive crowd of students flooded out through the school gates across the street.

My hand froze around my fork.

He hadn't brought me here because he noticed how much weight I had lost. Instead, he simply refused to miss a single opportunity to hunt for Vivian's brother.

When Charlie stepped away to use the restroom, he left his phone on the table. Driven by a sudden, irrational impulse, I picked it up and tapped on Vivian's Instagram profile.

She had blocked me for three years, yet every single one of her posts remained visible to Charlie.

Over the past three years, they traveled to every corner of the world to hunt for a person who didn't even exist.

Her most recent post was geotagged in Norwell.

Under the glow of a streetlamp, she'd captured a photo of her feet stepping directly on Charlie's shadow.

"Thanks for spending the night searching with me. Show up already, Zachary! Charlie is running himself ragged looking for you."

All of a sudden, my heart seized.

On that exact night, our Calico cat, Callie, whom we'd raised together for seven years, had gone missing.

I had spent an hour searching for her in a downpour before calling him. At the time, he told me that he was out of town on business in Norwell.

"Why is it so loud over there? Where are you?" he had asked.

My voice had shaken as I replied, "Callie is missing, and I'm out in the storm looking for her. Charlie, think about where she could've gone. She's always around you—"

"How should I know where she is?" he had snapped, his tone dripping with irritation. "If the cat's gone, we can just buy another one. Look, I'm in the middle of a meeting, so stop making a mountain out of a molehill."

His business trip had been a lie, but he sure was committed to finding Vivian's brother.

Later, when the storm subsided, I found Callie's lifeless body in the apartment complex.

Charlie had left the house in such a rush that he forgot to lock the window, and Callie fell to her death.

When he returned, he offered to buy me an identical cat, but I refused.

Callie was a stray we'd rescued together, and she could never be replaced.

Suddenly, a violent brawl erupted at the table next to ours, throwing the entire restaurant into utter chaos. A shattered wine bottle came flying straight toward us.

Before I could duck, a jagged piece of glass sliced a deep, ugly gash across my arm.

"Elena!"

Charlie lunged across the table to shield my head, and then he guided me toward the exit. "Let's get you to the hospital."

Just then, his phone's ringtone blared. Vivian's name flashed across the screen, an unwelcome sight.

"Mr. Shaw, I just saw a boy who looks exactly like my brother. He just hopped onto a city bus, and I can't keep up with it. What do I do?"

"Stay right there. I'm on my way!" he blurted.

When he realized that I was right next to him, a conflicted expression washed over his face. "Elena, Vivian has an emergency on her hands..."

I clamped my hand tightly over the gash, but blood still seeped rapidly through my fingers. "I can handle this myself. Go take care of it."

A fleeting moment of hesitation crossed his eyes.

"Okay. Just grab a taxi to the hospital. I promise I'll be there to pick you up by 3:00 pm."

Within seconds, his back disappeared down the street.

I clutched my arm tighter. "Charlie, if you keep your word and actually show up by 3:00 pm, I'll finally tell you the truth."

At that moment, my phone screen displayed the evidence my private investigator had just sent over.

"It's confirmed. Vivian doesn't even have a brother. The kid in the photograph is just a composite image made from stock photos."