Chapter 1

The late-night chill cut through David Miller' s thin jacket as he stood on the porch, the streetlights of their working-class Philadelphia neighborhood casting long, empty shadows.

Ethan should have been home hours ago.

His old bicycle, the one David had pieced together from scraps, wasn't leaning in its usual spot.

He pulled out his worn phone, fingers fumbling as he dialed Victoria, his wife, for the tenth time.

It went to her voicemail again. "Victoria, it's David. Ethan... he' s not back from the grocery store. Call me. Please."

He hung up, a knot tightening in his gut.

Victoria was supposed to be at a late paralegal seminar, or so she'd said.

Meanwhile, miles away, in a glittering downtown venue, Victoria Hayes laughed, the sound lost in the thrum of music and celebratory shouts.

She raised a champagne flute to Finn Maxwell, her high school sweetheart Leo' s son. "To your future, Finn! Bright and limitless!"

The keys to a brand-new imported sports car dangled from her fingers before she pressed them into Finn' s eager hand.

"And the apartment near campus is all set," she added, her voice warm with an affection David hadn't heard in years. "Credit card's in the glove box. Don't hold back."

Finn, a spoiled, reckless teenager, just grinned, already picturing the parties.

His father, Leo Maxwell, a charming musician whose luck never seemed to turn, beamed beside him, his hand resting proprietarily on Victoria' s shoulder.

Back in their cramped row house, David paced the small living room. He tried Victoria again.

This time, she answered, her voice sharp, distant.

"David? What is it? I'm in an important meeting."

"Vicky, Ethan's not home. He was working late, but this is too late. I'm worried."

"He's a big boy, David. He probably met up with friends. Handle it. I'm busy."

The line clicked dead.

Handle it.

A little later, as David sat by the phone, numb, it rang. Not Victoria. The hospital.

Then, the police.

A hit-and-run. An old bicycle. A young man.

He didn't hear his own ragged breathing as he drove to the city morgue.

The sheet was pulled back.

Ethan. His bright, diligent Ethan. Valedictorian. Gone.

The world tilted, then went black.

When he came to, he was on a cold floor, a police officer helping him up.

He managed to call Victoria one last time, his voice a raw whisper.

"Ethan... he's gone, Vicky. He's dead."

Silence. Then, a strange, choked sound. "I... I'll be there soon."

Before she hung up, David heard her agitated, hushed voice speaking to someone else, not realizing he was still on the line.

"Leo, I have to go. Something's happened with Ethan... David found out... No, no, not about us. Something else... I have to keep up the act for David, you know how it is... You saved me all those years ago, I owe you everything... I'll make it up to David and Ethan, eventually. I promise."

The words slammed into David, each one a separate blow.

Keep up the act.

Saved her.

Make it up to them.

Eventually.

But eventually, for Ethan, would never come.