My mother makes a confused face. “Move back?”

It’s like we’re speaking two different languages. “Did you move back here or do you still live in Maine?”

“Oh, God,” she mutters, attempting to remember. “I came back, like, ten years ago? Josh was just a baby.”

She’s lived here for ten years?

“They’re going to arrest me, Atlas.”

Her child has been missing for two weeks, and she’s more worried about being arrested than she is about him. Some people never change. “What do you need me to do?”

“I don’t know. I was hoping he reached out to you and that maybe you knew where he was. But if you didn’t even know he existed—”

“Why would he reach out to me? Does he know about me? What does he know?”

“Other than your name? Nothing; you were never around.”

My adrenaline is rushing through me so fast, I’m shocked I’m still sitting across from her. My whole body is tense when I lean forward. “Let me get this straight. I have a little brother I never knew about, and he thinks I didn’t care that he existed?”

“I don’t think he actively thinks about you, Atlas. You’ve been absent his whole life.”

I ignore her dig because she’s wrong. Any kid that age would think about the brother they believed abandoned them. I’m sure he hates the idea of me. Hell, he’s probably the one who has been—Shit. Of course.

This explains so much. I would bet both of my restaurants that he’s the one who has been vandalizing them. And why the misspelling reminded me of my mother. The kid is eleven; I’m sure he’s capable of googling my information.

“Where do you live?” I ask her.

She practically squirms in her seat. “We’re in between houses, so we’ve been staying at the Risemore Inn for the past couple of months.”

“Go back there in case he shows up,” I suggest.

“I can’t afford to stay there anymore. I’m in between jobs, so I’m staying with a friend for a couple of days.”

I stand up and pull the money out of my pocket. I drop it on the table in front of her. “The number you called me on the other day—is that your cell?”

She nods, sliding the money off the table and into her hand.

“I’ll call you if I find out anything. Go back to the hotel and try to get the same room. He needs you to be there if he comes back.”

My mother nods, and for the first time, she looks somewhat ashamed. I leave her to sit in that feeling without saying goodbye. I’m hoping she’s feeling at least a fraction of what she made me feel for years. What she’s likely making my little brother feel right now.

I can’t believe this. She went and made a whole human and didn’t think to tell me?

I walk straight through the kitchen and out the back door. No one is in the alley right now, so I take a moment to pull myself together. I’m not sure I’ve ever been this stunned.