Chapter 1 - THE GIRL IN THE HOSPITAL
The emergency room doors opened and closed without stopping.
Doctors hurried through the corridor.
Nurses called out names.
Machines screamed behind thin walls.
Families sat with their hands clasped, praying for good news.
Nobody paid attention to the little girl walking barefoot down the hallway.
She was only five.
Her pink shirt was too large for her tiny body, and one gray sock hung loosely from her foot.
In both hands, she carried a battered cardboard box.
Inside were a few dolls, a cracked plastic cup, a tiny hairbrush, several broken toys, and a faded bracelet.
Everything she owned.
The girl stopped beside a doctor.
“Excuse me.”
Dr. Benjamin Kline looked down.
He immediately noticed the bruises beneath her tired eyes.
“Sweetheart, where is your mother?”
The girl pointed toward the emergency room.
“She’s in there.”
“Is she sick?”
The girl nodded.
“Very sick.”
Dr. Kline knelt beside her.
“Where’s your father?”
The girl lowered her eyes.
“I don't know.”
The doctor’s expression softened.
“Do you have anyone else we can call?”
She shook her head.
Then she pushed the cardboard box toward him.
“Please.”
“What is this?”
“My things.”
Dr. Kline frowned.
“Why are you giving them to me?”
The girl swallowed hard.
“Because Mommy said they might be worth enough to save her.”
The doctor stared at the box.
A five-year-old shouldn't have to sell the few toys she owned to keep her mother alive.
“What’s your mother’s name?”
“Anne Miller.”
The name made a man standing several feet away suddenly stop.
Matthew Sullivan had just entered the hospital.
Thirty-eight.
Billionaire.
CEO.
A man accustomed to controlling entire companies with one phone call.
But the moment he heard that name, he couldn't move.
Anne Miller.
The woman he had loved six years ago.
The woman who had disappeared overnight.
He had spent years believing she had chosen to leave him.
But then, three days earlier, he received a letter.
Four words.
She never stopped waiting.
He had followed the address to this hospital.
Now he was staring at a little girl with familiar brown eyes.
His eyes.
Matthew slowly approached.
“What's your name?”
The girl hugged the box.
“Sarah.”
His breath caught.
Then he noticed the bracelet hanging from her fingers.
A tiny string of faded beads.
His face went pale.
Years ago, Anne had made one exactly like it.
She had told him they were going to give that bracelet to their unborn daughter.
A daughter Matthew never got to meet.
“Where did you get that?” he whispered.
“Mommy made it.”
“For me.”
Matthew stared at her.
“Sarah…”
The girl looked up.
“Do you know my mommy?”
Before he could answer, a nurse rushed from the emergency room.
“Dr. Kline!”
The doctor stood.
“The patient is awake.”
Matthew turned toward the doors.
Then Anne's weak voice came from inside.
“Matthew…”
He froze.
She was alive.
And she knew he was here.
But before he could enter, his phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One photograph appeared on the screen.
Sarah.
Taken only seconds earlier.
Underneath it was a single sentence:
YOU FOUND ONE.
Matthew's blood ran cold.
Another message appeared.
May you like
NOW FIND THE OTHER.
***
