Chapter 89 Chapter 89
Amelia
By the time we pulled up in front of my parents’ house, my hands were shaking. Before the car fully stopped, I turned to Maxwell.
“Please,” I said quickly. “Wait for me in the car.”
He studied my face. “Amelia—”
“Please,” I repeated, softer now. “Just give me a few minutes. I will come back out and explain.”
He hesitated. Then he nodded once. “Five minutes.”
“Thank you.” I didn’t wait another second, I bolted out of the car, pushed the door open and rushed inside.
My mom was pacing back and forth across the living room, her hair messy like she had been running her hands through it. Her face looked pale and tired. My dad stood near the couch with his phone in his hand, staring at it like it had personally offended him.
“Mom!” I rushed toward them. “What happened?”
My dad exhaled sharply. “I went to the school to pick them up early. They told me someone else had already signed them out.”
My heart dropped. “That’s not possible,” I said immediately. “They don’t release the girls to just anyone.”
“That’s what I told them!” he snapped. “But they insisted someone came with authorization.”
“Authorization from who?” I demanded, my voice shaking now.
My mom rubbed her arms like she was cold. “They wouldn’t give clear answers,” she said. “They just kept saying it was cleared.”
I turned to my dad. “Did you give authorization to anyone? Maybe over the phone? Email? Anything?”
He looked almost offended. “No, not one person. We have always picked them up ourselves. You know that. Who else would we even give it to?”
Anger flared so fast it almost made me dizzy. It pushed against the fear, hot and sharp.
“This is negligence,” I said, my voice rising as I started pacing the room. “We are the only ones authorized. You, Dad, or me. That’s it. They know that. It’s on file.”
My chest felt tight, like I couldn’t get enough air. “I’m going to sue that school,” I added. “They can’t just hand over five children to a stranger like it’s nothing!”
My hands were shaking badly now. All I could think about were the girls. Were they crying? Were they asking for me? Were they scared?
“Dad,” I asked, my voice breaking, “has anyone called? Asked for ransom? Made any kind of threat?”
He shook his head slowly. “No one.”
That answer hurt more than I expected. Tears spilled down my face before I could stop them. I didn’t want to think the worst. I didn’t want my mind thinking maybe this was trafficking. I would rather this be about money. I would rather it be something we could fix by paying.
“Have you reported it to the police?” I asked quickly, wiping my face with the back of my hand.
Before either of them could answer, there was a knock at the door. My heart dropped into my stomach. My dad moved toward the door and opened it before they could knock again.
Two detectives stepped inside. One of them was older, calm, composed. His eyes scanned the room carefully without moving his head too much. The other was younger, already holding a small notebook, pen ready.
“Mrs. Davis?” the older one asked.
“Yes,” my mother answered weakly, stepping forward.
The man gave a small nod. “I’m Officer Daniels. This is Officer Ruiz. We are here to ask a few questions.”
My stomach twisted so hard I thought I might be sick. Officer Daniels slowly removed his hat, holding it in his hands. “We understand your children were picked up from school by someone not authorized.”
Hearing it from him made it worse. “Someone took them,” my mom said, her voice breaking. “The school said a woman picked them up. She told them there was a family emergency.”
Officer Ruiz looked up from his notebook. “When was the last time you saw the children?”
“This morning,” my dad answered quickly. “We dropped them off ourselves. They were fine. Everything was normal.”
“Did you authorize anyone else to pick them up?”
“No!” I said sharply before my parents could speak. My voice echoed in the room. “We are the only ones allowed. My parents, or me. That’s it.”
Officer Daniels nodded slowly and scribbled something down.
Then the front door opened again.I turned and froze, Maxwell stepped in as a maid opened the door.
My heart jumped into my throat. I thought he promised to stay in the car. I had planned to step outside in a minute, tell him my parents wanted me to stay over, and send him home before things got worse.
Instead, he was standing in the doorway, tall and composed, but his eyes were alert.
I hurried toward him. “What are you doing here?” I asked under my breath, confusion and panic mixing together. “You promised to stay in the car.”
He glanced at the detectives, then back at me. His expression didn’t change, but I could see the tension in his jaw. “I couldn’t sit in the car after seeing police vehicles pull up,” he said calmly. “What’s going on?”
I opened my mouth to answer. Nothing came out. My head was pounding. My thoughts were crashing into each other too fast to grab onto one.
The detectives were watching us now. Officer Daniels looked between us carefully. “And you are?” he asked Maxwell.
“Her husband,” Maxwell replied smoothly. He stepped further inside and greeted my parents politely. They responded automatically, still shaken.
Officer Ruiz gave a small nod, then focused on me again. “Who usually handles pickup?”
“My parents,” I said, gesturing toward them. “They drop them off every morning. Pick them up every afternoon.”
Officer Daniels looked at my dad. “Sir, what happened today?”
My dad cleared his throat, trying to steady himself. “We arrived at three, like always. The secretary told us the children had already been collected. A woman signed them out.”
“Did they verify identification?” Ruiz asked, pen ready.
“They said she knew the children’s names. Knew Amelia’s name,” my dad answered. My heart started pounding so hard it made my vision blur at the edges.
Officer Daniels turned back to me. “Mrs…”
“Mrs. Sinclair,” Maxwell said immediately, his voice firm.
The detective nodded once. “Mrs. Sinclair, has anyone else ever picked up your children before?”
The question made my throat go dry. Maxwell’s head turned toward me so fast I felt it. His eyes were filled with confusion.
“Your kids?” he repeated slowly. “What is he talking about?”
My stomach dropped.
“Wait,” he continued, his brows pulling together. “Your neighbor’s kids from the other day at the office are missing?”
The detectives’ eyes moved between us, confusion settling in. My heart was beating so loudly I was sure everyone could hear it.
I swallowed. “No,” I said carefully, forcing my voice to stay steady. “Just my parents.”
Officer Ruiz frowned slightly. “Any relatives? Friends? Babysitters? Anyone at all who might have had permission?”
“No,” I answered firmly. But Maxwell was still staring at me and in his eyes, I could see he had questions.
Officer Daniels flipped a page in his notebook. “Has there been any conflict recently? Over custody of the kids or anything like that? Is anyone upset with you?”
For a second, my mind went blank, i I shook my head. “No,” I said quickly. “No custody issues.”
Officer Daniels studied me carefully. “Are you the biological mother of the girls?”
I looked at my parents. My mom looked terrified, my dad looked tense. Then my eyes shifted to Maxwell. He looked completely lost.
“I am,” I said, my voice barely steady.
I couldn’t bring myself to look at Maxwell after that. But I felt it. The way his body stiffened beside me, the shift in his breathing.
The detective wrote something down. “And the father,” Officer Daniels continued, glancing toward Maxwell. “Is he the father?”
The question hung in the air, I couldn’t breathe. Before I could speak, my dad answered firmly. “No. He’s her husband. She had the girls before they met.”
“Hm.” Officer Ruiz tapped his pen lightly against the notebook. “We need to know about the biological father. That information could help us with this case.”
My hands started shaking again. I had hoped that this moment would never come like this. Not in front of detectives and certainly not like this. Slowly, I lifted my head. Maxwell was staring at me. His expression was unreadable now.
My throat burned. “He is the father,” I said quietly. Then, because my voice felt too small, I raised my hand and pointed weakly toward Maxwell.
His eyes widened instantly, my mother gasped. My father’s sharp inhale cut through the room.