The Woman Who Disappeared
Chapter 02 - The Woman Who Disappeared
Ethan pushed his chair back.
For a second, Lily thought he was leaving.
Instead, he turned toward the ocean and dragged both hands through his hair.
"Sarah is dead?"
Lily's expression hardened.
"Six weeks ago."
The words struck him harder than any fist ever had.
Ethan sat down again.
Twenty-four years earlier, he and Sarah had been inseparable. They had lived in a cheap apartment in Santa Cruz, worked terrible jobs, and saved every dollar they could for a future they believed would last forever.
Then one morning, Sarah disappeared.
Her clothes were gone.
Her phone was disconnected.
Her parents claimed they didn't know where she was.
Ethan searched for months.
Eventually, a letter arrived.
Sarah had written that she had met someone else.
She told Ethan never to contact her again.
He still had that letter.
He had hated her for years because of it.
Now Lily reached into her bag.
"Did my mother ever tell you she was pregnant?"
Ethan slowly looked at her.
The café seemed to disappear around him.
"No."
Lily's voice broke.
"Then I guess she was telling the truth."
"About what?"
"That you never knew I existed."
Ray's head snapped toward Ethan.
Ethan didn't move.
Lily took one step backward, tears filling her eyes.
"My mother said my father was a man named Ethan Cole."
For twenty-four years, Ethan had believed Sarah abandoned him.
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Now a stranger with Sarah's eyes was standing in front of him.
And she was calling him Dad.
