“Aren’t they going to be mad?”
“Who?”
“The people calling you.”
“Probably.”
“Will you get in trouble?”
Alexander almost smiled.
“They work for me.”
Lily considered that information.
“Do you have snacks?”
He did not.
Within ten minutes, the driver returned with soup, crackers, dry socks, two blankets, and hot chocolate in paper cups.
He had bought every child-sized item the hospital gift shop sold because Alexander had given him no instructions beyond, “They need everything.”
Chloe cupped both hands around the warm drink.
“Is this ours?”
“Yes,” Alexander said.
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
She took one careful sip, as though someone might change the answer.
The police reviewed footage from the bus stop and nearby traffic cameras.
The truth arrived frame by frame.
The girls’ father had brought them there shortly before sunset.
He carried a suitcase.
He pointed to the bench, bent down, and spoke to them.
Then he walked away without looking back.
Lily and Chloe remained exactly where he had left them.
As darkness fell, they shared a packet of crackers from one backpack.
When the rain began, they moved beneath the cracked shelter.
Several adults noticed them.
One person spoke to them for less than a minute, then boarded a bus.
No one called for help.
At two in the morning, Lily took off her cardigan and wrapped it around Chloe’s shoulders.
At dawn, Chloe woke and looked down the road.
Their father still had not returned.
Alexander watched the footage once.
Then he walked into an empty consultation room, closed the door, and stood with both hands braced against the wall until the rage inside him became something he could control.
His attorney found him there.
“The police identified the father’s vehicle,” she said.
“The apartment connected to him appears to have been cleared out.
Investigators are locating him now.”
“Relatives?”
“None confirmed.
Their mother died when they were very young.
No grandmother, aunt, or other safe guardian has been found.”
Alexander closed his eyes briefly.
No one comes.
“What happens tonight?” he asked.
“There is an emergency foster placement available, but the girls may have to be moved again within a few days.”
“Together?”
“Tonight, yes.
After that, there are no guarantees.”
Alexander turned toward her.
“There will be.”
His attorney knew that tone.
It was the one he used when a competitor believed a contract was settled and Alexander had just found the sentence that changed everything.
“You cannot acquire a family the way you acquire a company,” she warned.
“I know.”
