Six years ago, Veronica Brown left Athens pregnant and alone. Now she was back with four children and unfinished business.

“Mommy, are we home now?” a soft little voice asked beside her.

Veronica lowered her gaze. Her daughter was gripping the handle of a pink suitcase, her round eyes bright with curiosity.

“Not yet,” Veronica said gently. “Home is where we’re going after we leave the airport.”

Halloween decorations already hung across the terminal, paper bats and orange lights stretching above the crowd.

A little boy walking ahead turned back. “Then can we hurry? Airports are boring.”

That was Tyler.

Among all her children, he was the one most likely to vanish if she looked away for three seconds. He had inherited her boldness, unfortunately multiplied by ten.

“Tyler,” Veronica warned.

He immediately gave her an innocent look. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You were thinking about doing something.”

Tyler clicked his tongue. “Mommy, judging your son by his past crimes is unfair.”

Veronica almost laughed, but the smile had barely reached her lips when she saw them.

Men in black suits.

The first one stood near Exit B, tall and unnaturally still, watching the crowd with the focused attention of someone searching for one particular face.

She might have dismissed him as someone’s driver if she hadn’t spotted a second man near Exit C.

Then a third beside the coffee kiosk, holding a tablet and speaking to a cleaner.

Veronica bent to retie Rosalie’s shoe and heard him ask whether the cleaner had seen the person in the photograph.

Her gaze dropped to the man’s cuff.

A small crest was engraved there.

The Jackson family emblem.

Her heartbeat slowed.

Had Alexander already found out she was back?

A memory rose before she could stop it.

Six years ago.

Someone had set her up and sent her into a hotel room where a middle-aged man was waiting for her with a sickening smile.

“So you’re the girl they sent me.”

Veronica stared at him.

The drug already burning through her bloodstream made the room sway around him.

The man looked her over openly.

“You’re prettier than they said.” He stepped closer. “Relax. Play your cards right tonight, and I can make you famous.”

Veronica had smashed a lamp against his head and run.

Then she had stumbled into another room.

A familiar hand had caught her.

Alexander.

Before Veronica could tell him what had happened, she realized something was wrong with him too.

He looked nothing like the Alexander she knew.

His eyes were red with restraint, his skin burning with the same feverish heat consuming her own body.

For once, there was no cold control or steady confidence in his face.

And under the haze of the drug and the feelings she had buried for years, Veronica reached up, cupped his face, and kissed him.

At dawn, she woke with her body still pressed against his arm.

Alexander was asleep beside her, the tension finally gone from his brow.

Veronica traced a fingertip lightly over his face.

“Maybe it’s time I told you,” she whispered, smiling faintly. “I’ve been in love with you for a long time.”

Then Alexander’s phone lit up on the nightstand.

Gabriel’s message flashed across the screen.

*If you really only see Veronie as the little sister you brought home, then stop giving people the wrong idea. Nancy is already making trouble.*

The smile disappeared from Veronica’s face.

Little sister.

She didn’t remember how long she stood there beside the bed.

She only remembered slowly pulling away from him, getting dressed, then bending down to press one final kiss to his cheek.

After that, she walked out of his room.

And out of his life.

Seven weeks later, in her new apartment in Belgium, Veronica sat on the bathroom floor with a pregnancy test trembling in her hand.

Two pink lines stared back at her.

She covered her mouth with one hand.

“Mommy, you’ve been tying my shoe for a whole century,” Rosalie complained.

Veronica blinked, the little girl’s voice pulling her back to the present.

“Right.”

She straightened and unzipped her tote, pulling out four black caps and the Halloween masks she had packed for the children.

“Caps on. Masks on. Stay together.” She glanced toward the main exit, then changed direction. “We’re taking the quieter exit at the far end of the terminal.”

Lucas frowned. “But the parking garage is closer this way.”

“Shh. You don’t understand,” Tyler cut in, pulling his cap down with far too much enthusiasm. His eyes lit up. “This is a secret mission, isn’t it, Mom?”

“Very smart, Tyler.” Veronica adjusted Rosalie’s mask. “From now until we meet your godmother, anyone who makes it outside without getting caught wins.”

That was all it took.

The four children immediately took the game seriously.

Veronica looked at them for a moment.

After she left the Jackson family, they had become the best thing that had ever happened to her.

She knew Alexander had searched for her after she disappeared, but she had never known how long he kept looking. She didn’t even know whether he was somewhere in this airport right now, much less what he would do if he discovered the children.

But one thing was certain.

She would never let anyone separate her from them.

---

At that same moment, on the other side of the airport, Alexander Jackson ended a call with a face dark enough to freeze the air around him.

“Still nothing?” Gabriel asked, striding toward him.

Alexander’s eyes swept across the crowd below. “He couldn’t have gone far.”

Gabriel’s usual lazy smile was gone. “The driver said Daniel slipped out before breakfast. The guard at the east gate thought he was heading to the garden. By the time anyone realized what had happened, he’d already taken a cab.”

Alexander’s jaw tightened.

Daniel Jackson, five years old, had never run away before.

He was quiet. Proud. Stubborn.

But not reckless.

At least, Alexander had thought so.

Until this morning.

A child with no mother, a father who was too strict, and a house full of adults who mistook silence for obedience.

Perhaps they had all been a little too sure of themselves.

Gabriel lowered his voice. “The cab driver confirmed he dropped Daniel at the airport.”

Alexander’s expression hardened. “Find him before he gets anywhere near a boarding gate.”

“I’ve already got people covering the exits. Airport staff are checking the surveillance footage.” Gabriel gave him a sidelong look. “But seriously, what did you do to the kid? He’s five, Alex. What makes a five-year-old run away from home?”

“I didn’t do anything a father shouldn’t...”

Alexander stopped.

Maybe he did have a clue.

Lately, Daniel had been asking strange questions.

*Did Mommy really die, or did she just go somewhere very, very far away?*

*If Mommy died, why don’t we have a grave for her?*

His son had grown up being told one thing.

His mother was dead.

As far as Alexander was concerned, a woman who gave birth, left her child on the Jacksons’ doorstep, and disappeared without a word might as well have been.

But Daniel must have heard something.

He was only five. He didn’t know where to start. He didn’t know his mother’s name, what she looked like, or even what country she might be in.

But he knew people took planes to faraway places.

He knew airports were how people left Athens.

And if none of the adults around him would help him find his mother, then apparently Daniel had decided he would do it himself.

That was how Alexander Jackson had ended up at the airport that morning.

Gabriel studied him. “You’re sure none of this has anything to do with you?”

Alexander shot him a cold look.

Gabriel ignored it.

“Because I’m starting to notice a pattern. People around you have a habit of disappearing without saying goodbye. First Veronica. Now Daniel. And then there was that so-called young actress from the Rainbow Hotel six years ago. We never even managed to recover the surveillance footage of her...”

Alexander was about to tell his brother to shut up when Gabriel suddenly stopped talking.

He froze.

Alexander frowned. “What?”

Gabriel kept staring toward one of the side passages.

“I just saw someone.”

Alexander’s eyes sharpened. “Daniel?”

“No.”

Gabriel hesitated.

“A woman. From behind.”

His voice dropped.

“She looked like Veronie.”

For the first time that morning, something shifted in Alexander’s expression.

Barely anything.

A flicker in his eyes.

His fingers tightening around his phone.

Then it vanished.

“You saw wrong,” Alexander said flatly. “This airport is full of women.”

“Not many of them walk like her.”

Alexander’s gaze turned cold. “We’re here for Daniel.”

“I know.” Gabriel exhaled. “But you looked for her like crazy after she disappeared. Don’t you ever wonder why she left without a word?”

*No.*

The answer came instinctively.

But for some reason, Alexander couldn’t force it past his throat.

Before Gabriel could press him again, Alexander’s phone buzzed.

A bodyguard’s voice came through the line.

“Mr. Jackson, we may have spotted him near the service corridor by Gate C. Small boy. Height and clothing match Young Master Daniel.”

Alexander’s expression sharpened instantly.

“Move.”

---

Veronica reached the parking level with the children less than twenty minutes later.

Lucy was already waiting beside a black SUV, wearing sunglasses and waving at them from a distance.

“Veronie! Over here!”

Rosalie ran forward first, dragging her pink suitcase behind her.

Veronica finally allowed herself to breathe.

They had made it out.

Lucy hurried over and helped with the suitcases. “Why did you come out this way? I was starting to think I’d missed you.”

“Something came up,” Veronica said briefly.

She opened the back door. “Get in first.”

Rosalie climbed in obediently. Lucas put his suitcase in the trunk. Noah stood quietly beside the car.

Veronica turned.

Then she froze.

One child was missing.

Her gaze swept over them again.

“Where’s Tyler?”

Lucas turned sharply. “Wasn’t he right behind us?”

Rosalie’s eyes widened. “He was still holding my hand before we came through the pedestrian tunnel!”

Lucy’s expression changed at once. “Veronie...”

“Stay here.” Veronica’s voice went calm in the way it only did when something was terribly wrong. “Watch them. Don’t leave this spot.”

“Mommy!” Rosalie cried.

Veronica bent down and cupped her daughter’s face. “I’ll bring your brother back.”

Then she turned and ran.

---

The airport seemed louder when she returned.

Every announcement scraped across her nerves. Every small boy in a cap made her heart jump.

Tyler was clever.

Too clever.

If he had wandered off, he wouldn’t have done it without a reason. But this was an airport. Too many strangers. Too many exits. Too many possibilities.

And if Alexander ran into Tyler, he would see it immediately.

The boy looked far too much like him.

Veronica forced herself not to panic.

Near a service corridor not far from Gate C, she finally spotted a small figure standing beside a wall.

Dark clothes. Black cap. Black Halloween mask.

Same height.

Same build.

For one second, all the fear in her chest exploded into relief.

“Tyler!”

Several people turned to look at her.

She ignored them.

Veronica rushed over, dropped to one knee, and pulled the boy into her arms.

“Do you have any idea how scared I was?” Her voice was low and tight, almost trembling. “I told you to stay close.”

The little boy stiffened.

Then he slowly lowered his hands, as though he didn’t know where to put them.

“I...”

That was strange.

Tyler always fought back when he knew he was guilty. He would argue, joke, bargain, or insist he had been conducting some kind of important investigation.

Veronica’s heart softened despite her fear.

He must have been frightened too.

“Hey, it’s okay.” She loosened her hold on him. “Just stay close to Mommy next time, okay? You still win the secret mission. I won’t tell your brothers or sister about this.”

She stood, took the child’s hand, and hurried back toward the parking level.

---

At almost the same time, Alexander reached the service corridor by Gate C.

A bodyguard pointed ahead. “Mr. Jackson, there.”

A small boy stood near the vending machines, dressed in dark clothes, a black Halloween mask, and a black cap pulled low over his face.

He seemed to be looking around, not frightened exactly.

More curious than anything.

Gabriel exhaled in relief. “Finally.”

Alexander’s face remained cold, but something in his shoulders loosened.

He crossed the distance in three strides.

“Daniel.”

The boy looked up.

For half a second, he only stared at Alexander.

Alexander’s eyes narrowed. “You still dare to look at me like that?”

Gabriel stepped in quickly. “All right, all right. We found him. That’s what matters.”

Alexander reached out and caught the boy by the wrist. His grip was firm, not painful, but impossible to shake off.

“Do you know how many people are looking for you?”

The child opened his mouth.

Then closed it again.

His gaze moved from Alexander to Gabriel, then to the bodyguards standing behind them.

He had no idea who these people were.

But he knew one thing for certain.

He wasn’t the boy they were looking for.

Because his name was **Tyler Brown**.