Chapter 7 - The Tickets for Two ChildrenThe destination was hidden inside one of Reena’s encrypted email accounts.
Two forged birth certificates.
Two new names.
Two airline reservations departing from Detroit for a country without a simple extradition process.
There was no ticket for Reena.
Victor had been assigned to transport the children.
At first, investigators believed Reena intended to follow later under another identity.
Then they found the financial agreement.
Victor would receive two hundred thousand dollars after delivering Drew and Lily to a remote property owned by an associate.
The documents did not specify long-term care.
They did not need to.
Reena wanted the children removed without triggering the trust clause. If they vanished while supposedly traveling with a family friend, she could present herself as a devastated guardian and continue controlling the money while authorities searched.
The forged records ensured the children would become difficult to locate.
Peter stood beside the hospital window, unable to speak.
Drew had escaped less than twenty-four hours before Victor planned to take them.
The basement confinement had been temporary preparation. Keep them weak. Keep them frightened. Make travel easier.
Lily woke and asked for juice.
The ordinary request nearly destroyed Peter.
He poured it carefully and held the cup while she drank. Her tiny hands remained wrapped around Drew’s old sweatshirt sleeve, which she refused to release even while sleeping.
The bond between them was not simply affection.
Drew had become the only parent Lily trusted to remain.
A child had assumed the role every adult abandoned.
Later, a social worker arrived to discuss emergency placement.
Peter immediately requested custody.
The social worker explained that background checks, home inspections, and legal hearings were required.
“How long?”
“We will move as quickly as possible.”
“They are not going into temporary care.”
“Mr. Calder—”
“They have already been removed from one home after their father died. Drew broke out of a locked basement carrying his sister. You will not separate them from each other or from me tonight.”
His voice rose only once.
Drew heard it from the bed.
Peter saw fear cross the boy’s face and immediately lowered his tone.
“I’m sorry.”
The social worker studied the children, then Peter.
The hospital agreed to keep them one additional night while emergency guardianship was reviewed.
Samuel Price filed Aaron’s successor documents that afternoon.
Reena’s arrest activated the trust provision automatically.
By evening, a judge granted Peter temporary custody.
He returned to the room holding the signed order.
Drew looked at the paper but could not read the legal language.
“What does it say?” he asked.
Peter sat between the two beds.
“It says you and Lily are coming home with me.”
Drew’s lips parted.
“For how long?”
Peter looked directly at him.
“For as long as you want me.”
May you like
Drew began crying without making a sound.
👉 Peter had won custody, but taking the children home meant returning them to the porch where Drew’s strength had finally given out.
