Guests screamed. Chairs scraped violently against the floor. Veronica dropped to her knees beside the unconscious boy as waiters called for an ambulance.
“Kid! Stay with me!” someone yelled.
But Veronica barely heard them.
Her eyes stayed locked on the photograph lying beside him.
The baby.
The hospital bracelet.
Her name.
Her hands began shaking uncontrollably.
“No… no, no…” she whispered.
Then the boy’s weak voice stopped her cold.
“She said… you’d lie…”
Veronica froze.
The boy slowly opened his eyes.
“She said you abandoned us because Grandpa threatened to destroy your life.”
Veronica’s entire body stiffened.
How could he know that?
Twenty years earlier, Veronica’s powerful father had forced her to give up her newborn son in secret to protect the family’s reputation. She had been told the baby died hours later.
That lie had haunted her ever since.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Who is your mother?” Veronica asked desperately.
The boy reached weakly into his pocket again.
This time, he pulled out a small silver necklace.
Veronica gasped the second she saw it.
She had given that necklace to the baby’s mother the night they escaped the hospital.
“She’s outside…” the boy whispered.
Veronica turned toward the restaurant entrance.
A woman stood beneath the streetlight across the road.
Older now. Tired. Rain beginning to fall around her.
But Veronica recognized her instantly.
The woman slowly stepped forward…
And police cars suddenly screeched into the street behind her.
One officer jumped out shouting:
“DON’T LET THAT WOMAN LEAVE!”
Veronica stared in horror.
The boy grabbed her hand weakly and whispered:
“She didn’t kidnap me…”
The police moved closer.
“…she’s running from your father.”
