Chapter 1 - The Boy Nobody Was Supposed to Mention
The laundry cord scraped across Mason’s blue hoodie as Lenora jerked it once.
“You little liar! Maybe now you’ll learn to keep your mouth shut!”
The cord was loose around the outside of his shoulders, nowhere near his throat, but Mason was six.
He didn’t know the difference between being injured and believing he was about to be.
“Please! I’ll be good!”
Emily heard him from the stairs.
She and Ryan reached the upstairs hallway almost together.
For one second, neither moved.
Mason was backed against the wall.
Lenora stood in front of him gripping the cord.
Emily lunged.
She tore it away and pulled Mason behind her.
Ryan reached his mother next.
His first punch drove Lenora backward.
The second made her stumble into the hallway table.
The third stopped only because Emily screamed his name.
“Ryan!”
Lenora clutched the table, stunned.
Ryan pointed at her.
“Who the hell gave you the right to put your hands on my son?”
Mason buried his face against Emily.
Lenora’s expression twisted.
“That boy is the reason this family is cursed!”
Emily stared at her.
“You’re insane.”
Ryan stepped between his mother and Mason.
Then Mason lifted his wet face.
“Mom…”
Emily bent toward him.
“What, sweetheart?”
“Grandma said I had to stop asking why Daddy’s first little boy disappeared.”
Everything in Ryan’s body changed.
His rage vanished.
Color drained from his face.
Emily looked at him.
“What first little boy?”
Lenora stopped moving.
Mason gripped Emily harder.
“She said if I kept asking about him…”
His voice shook.
“…I’d end up hidden like he was.”
No one spoke.
Emily turned slowly toward her husband.
Ryan looked as frightened as Mason.
That frightened her more than Lenora’s cruelty.
“Ryan.”
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Lenora finally found her voice.
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Mason flinched at the sound.
Emily tightened her arms around him.
Ryan looked at his mother.
Then at his son.
May you like
And whispered a name Emily had never heard before.
“Ethan.”
