Chapter 20 

“Click.” 

The moment Patrick flipped on the lights, everything came into sharp focus. The walls, once covered in wedding photos, were now dotted with empty hooks and faded outlines–like someone had ripped the memories right off the surface. All of Maisy’s favorite little trinkets, the cozy furniture she loved, even the small touches that made the place feel like home–gone. The whole house felt hollow, echoing with the kind of silence that says nobody’s lived here in a long time. 

“Maisy?” he called out. 

His voice bounced back at him from every bare wall, shattering into lonely fragments in the empty living room. 

He cut through the silence, heading upstairs. The bedroom was just as deserted. Her clothes, the ones he’d bought her, still hung untouched in the closet. On the far right, a sleeve still bore a faded lipstick stain from New Year’s–now dried and brown, like an old scab, a tear that never healed. 

Another sunrise, another sleepless night. Patrick sat on the dusty sofa, staring at his phone as it lit up with notification after notification–every one from his assistant. 

Each message said the same thing: [Still no sign of Mrs. Huffman.] 

Ever since he found out Maisy had divorced him and disappeared, Patrick had gone off the rails. He’d sent out every single member of the Huffman family, pulled every string he had, turned the whole city upside down looking for her. 

It didn’t matter if it was somewhere Maisy might go, or places he’d never expect–train stations, airports, every last highway exit. Nothing. Not a single trace. 

Out of options, he’d even gone to his old nemesis for help. The guy just laughed in his face when he heard Maisy was missing. 

He told Patrick that the day he traded Maisy for Melinda, he’d actually given her a shot–if she could get Patrick to pick up his phone, she’d be free to go. But Maisy called and called, and Patrick never answered. In the end, she’d had to jump out a window to get away. 

Only then did Patrick realize how much he’d hurt her by abandoning her that day. 

He’d lost it, nearly beating his rival to a pulp. By the time they were both bloody and exhausted, the other man just spat blood and sneered, “Patrick, you didn’t care if she lived or died back then. Now you think you can find her? Forget it. She’s never coming back.” 

“And as for that mistress of yours–I’d take a closer look at her if I were you.” 

The cut on Patrick’s lip started throbbing again at the memory. 

1/2 

Chapter 20 

He hadn’t thought about Melinda since the day he gave her a check and ended things for good. But his rival’s words kept nagging at him, so he’d had someone look into it. 

Turned out, Melinda was even more hopeless than he thought. 

When she was interning at the hospital, she’d messed up badly–serious accidents, wrong meds, even switched Grandpa Huffman’s prescription by mistake. Only Grandpa’s kindness kept her from getting in real trouble. 

And after she moved into the house, her “helpful” ways were a disaster. She’d spilled Deanna’s ashes, and during the whole kidnapping mess, she’d actually suggested to the kidnapper, “I’m just the Huffman family’s nurse–if you want a hostage, take his wife!” 

Reading all this, Patrick finally snapped. Melinda had been showing up a lot lately, asking for favors because of her grandma. Out of habit, he’d let his people help. But now? He was done. 

He called his assistant: “Stop helping the Hall family. Let them handle their own problems.” 

That was the last ounce of kindness he had for Melinda. 

He hung up, staring out the window as the sun climbed higher. But the light didn’t reach him–his heart was still stuck in the dark. 

A week had gone by. 

Still no sign of Maisy. 

It didn’t matter how big the world was–he’d searched everywhere, even looked overseas. Nowhere. Nothing. 

He thought about asking the Gilmore family, but then remembered he’d remarried. Knowing Maisy, there was no way she’d ever go back there. 

So he dropped it. 

But if not there, then where? 

‘Keep searching,” he ordered. “Do whatever it takes. If we still can’t find her, put out a missing 

ng, news of Maisy’s disappearance was everywhere–flyers on every corner, ering in every café. But still, nobody had seen her. 

cause all along, Maisy was with the Gilmores. Hidden in plain sight.