Two Years Gone - Two Secrets Born
morning wasn't birdsong or Cherry
Bang
Measure
driver or a friendly neighbour's greetin
fr
fisted in the hem of Monique's shirt. They had both drifted off sometime after u
ck came
up! Po
ond, her mind refused to catch up. She tried to believe she was ima
we have a warrant
eath c
.
at her, eyes
s. She scanned the room, her shoes, the go-bag, her phone. But she had not packed
ity had just bec
turned int
y into her arms and whispering, "Don'
sing something dark and dif
d, replaced by theing a key. O
time to hide.
t door b
re we can
raised her free hand, her voice calm for her daug
with me," she sa
r knees
, boots stomping across the hardwoo
ough the chao
tive
Jace." Once, he had held her like she mattered. Once,
ehind the badge order
eyes l
she
who Ch
till here to
red. Her voice cracked with
dn't flinch.
hild," one
ing Cherry to her chest. "You
n mock gentleness. "Ma'am, you're under arres
er down, please," Monique be
icer he
rris d
her.
oulders. Cold steel
ut shrieking, a wild, terrified sound Moniq
y! MO
her, don't, please,
rry away, and the todd
Moniqu
bli
or a s
t was
ker of
ried deep benea
it wa
ard and a flat expression, a child protective
e! You can't take her, call Ruby. Ruby Bell. She's my lawyer
arris said coldly. "
ision as she was dr
in her ears long after
stale coffee. Monique sat with her wrists pinched be
seat behind the protective glass, her voice raw a
n't re
as you
ade hi
didn'
the moment you saw her. Don't
, not
u lied to me. You disappeared when I needed you most.
is," Harris finally s
this the moment you wa
t a moment, Monique saw the man he had been, or the
er," he said. "Of Ava Morris. Y
ue fl
..I don't even know, what the
ago. Strangled. In an ap
I haven't, I just go
ias? Community counseling?" His voice was razor-sharp now. "You knew
sound familiar, but barely. From two years ago? A
she said, her voice lo
ll s
ed away
ealized somet
believe she
ld make his own sins
n the metal bench, shivering more from shock than temperature. She hadn't cried since t
d hours later, un
awyer's
collapsed w
m like a storm, all sharp heels,
appened?" Ruby hissed b
dered someone na
ps parting sli
she might've been in one of the su
tment leased under a fake name, but the ID photo they used is clearly doctored. The building's surveill
blinke
il
to Monique's chest l
" two years ago, who had offered her a sponsorship she refu
whispered. "He's
r an emergency hearing to get Cherry back in your custody. I'll push for bail. But you need to
d hard. "There's
wed her ey
id, quietly, "Cherry's
stopped m
e said, in
know who the father was. It wasn't until Cherry was bor
doned
ue no
the lines around h
and dangerous, "now we have