Chapter 22 - ELENA DISAPPEARSI lost my daughter for forty-seven seconds.
That was all.
Forty-seven seconds.
It happened at a charity event.
I turned to answer a question.
Dorian was speaking with Julian.
Sophie was five feet away.
Then Elena wasn’t there.
The world ended.
Dorian changed instantly.
Doors locked.
Security moved.
I screamed Elena’s name.
Then a waiter pointed beneath the dessert table.
Two tiny shoes.
Dorian dropped to his knees.
Elena was sitting beneath the table eating frosting directly from a cake she had apparently stolen.
“Da!”
Dorian closed his eyes.
I sat on the floor and started crying.
He pulled Elena out.
Then held both of us.
Nobody had kidnapped her.
Nobody had bypassed security.
Nobody was coming for our family.
Our daughter had simply wanted cake.
That night, Dorian stood beside her crib too long.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
He looked at me.
“I thought it was happening again.”
“I know.”
“I thought every terrible thing I ever did had finally reached her.”
I took his hand.
“That’s not how consequences work.”
“Sometimes it is.”
“Sometimes.”
I looked toward Elena.
“But we cannot raise her inside our fear.”
That became our next challenge.
May you like
Not defeating an enemy.
Learning how to stop expecting one.
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