Connor replies with a gruff ‘Cheers,’ and wipes tears from his cheek. Boys shouldn’t cry but he frequently does.

‘You’re forgiven,’ she had said that night. Sometimes he closes his eyes and tries to hear her voice, those words, but they evade him, lingering just out of his reach.

He doesn’t go and get his food. Instead, he types another ‘I’m sorry’ message to Hailey that will again remain unread.

Unanswered.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Aidan

Aidan sits at the kitchen table, a mug of cold coffee in front of him forming a skin. He really should have cooked more of a substantial meal than bacon sandwiches but his forehead actually aches with worry. Connor, Kieron, Lucy. None of his family are doing well and he doesn’t know how to make it right. He doesn’t know how to not make it worse.

During his interview with the police, he had felt the guilt visibly oozing out of him; in the twitching of his fingers, in his eyes that couldn’t quite look directly at the two faces sat impassively opposite him. What would happen to his family if he were sent to jail?

He deeply regrets everything.

All of it.

The screen of his phone lights, demanding attention. Her name illuminated and the sight of it tightens the knot of anxiety in his stomach.

At first he wanted to save her name under something else entirely but he had so many clients on his phone he knew that Lucy wouldn’t be suspicious about another woman contacting him.

His wife trusts him.

She shouldn’t.

Reluctantly he opens the message.

Shame about Tyler. How easily kids can disappear…

A tremble begins in his hands, before sweeping through his body, until every inch of him is shaking violently – his arms, his legs, his head.

His heart actually stops for a second when his phone starts to ring, jerking back into action again when he sees it’s only Lucy.

He licks his lips. His throat is parched.

He answers the call.

At first, he can’t hear anything but crying until she manages to splutter out, ‘Aidan, it… it’s Kieron. You have to come… Oh God, Aidan. Please come now.’

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Connor

Five days until Connor is taken

Connor barely notices the coldness of the wall he sits on, the vibrations that run up his legs as his heels kick back against the brick. He can’t shake the image of Kieron hooked up to machines and wires. When his brother had developed sepsis a few days ago, he’d heard the fear in his parents’ voices, seen blind panic in their eyes. But his mum had noticed the signs quickly and her speedy reaction had meant that Kieron was okay. But still, the thought of him in ICU sends his stomach spinning.

He’s okay.