Chapter 12: Taken Before Sunrise
Child services arrived at five in the morning.
The social worker was polite but firm.
A photograph had been submitted showing bruises on Ethan’s back.
Claire knew the image was false.
Ethan had no bruises.
But the judge had signed an emergency order.
Daniel demanded a medical examination before Ethan was removed.
The social worker agreed.
At the hospital, doctors confirmed Ethan had no injuries.
Still, the order remained active.
Ethan began crying when the social worker approached.
“No! I want Claire!”
Claire knelt and held both his hands.
“This is temporary.”
“You promised to keep me safe.”
The words broke something inside her.
“I will.”
“Don’t let the watch man find me.”
Daniel turned toward the social worker.
“Please listen to him.”
She gave Daniel the address of the temporary foster placement.
Only the court, the agency, and the foster family would know the location.
Ethan was driven away just after sunrise.
Claire stood in the parking lot until the car disappeared.
By noon, the fake photograph had been traced to an online account created two days earlier.
By evening, the account had vanished.
At nine, Claire received a call from the social worker.
Her voice was shaking.
“Ethan is missing.”
Daniel grabbed the phone.
“How?”
“A man arrived with transfer documents.”
“What man?”
“He had state identification. Everything looked official.”
Claire already knew the answer.
“Was he wearing a silver watch?”
The social worker began crying.
“Yes.”
Then Ethan’s foster mother called from another line.
She had found something beneath Ethan’s pillow.
A drawing showed a black car, a yellow coat, and a church.
Across the bottom, Ethan had written:
MOM SAID GO WHERE PEOPLE PROMISE FOREVER.
May you like
Claire looked at Daniel.
“The wedding church.”
