29.

Alex

" Y ou've found him," I say. I'm sitting in Molly's office. She's been working on my case for a few weeks now, so I'm certain she has some sort of news about my brother's disappearance.

"Not exactly," she says. Molly leans back in her chair and avoids eye contact for a moment. This certainly isn't a good sign. Shit. Maybe I read the room wrong. When she asked me to come in for a meeting, I just naturally assumed it was good news.

"What do you mean? Is he dead?" My heart feels like it's going to stop beating. He can't be dead. Not after all of this time.

A horrified look crosses Molly's face.

"Oh, shit, no. Sweetie, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that."

"Then what? Why don't know you where he is?"

"He was adopted," she says.

Adopted.

Somehow, adoption is every foster kid's dream or nightmare. For me, it was both. I didn't want to get adopted because I thought it meant I'd get a new name, and Aaron would never be able to find me.

But what if the opposite happened?

"Adopted." The word feels foreign on my tongue.

"I have found evidence that he was adopted through an agency shortly after he was placed in foster care."

"That feels fast," I say. "My mom's parental rights weren't terminated for me for years." Even if I had wanted a family of my own, I ended up aging out of the system. It was too little, too late for a girl like me.

"It was," Molly says. "That confused me. Most of the time, adoption takes years. Even with private adoption, the system moves very slowly. When a parent gives up their rights voluntarily, adoptions can proceed much more quickly, but that doesn't seem to be the case with your brother. From what I can tell, your mother didn't sever her parental rights."

"She didn't? Then what happened to my brother?"

"That's where I'm stuck. I'm going to keep searching. If you're comfortable with it, I'd like to speak with your mother. I won't tell her who I am, but she might figure it out."

"Whatever it takes," I say. "I don't want to talk to her, but I trust you." And I mean it. For once, I feel like I have someone on my side, on my team. Molly and I don't know each other well, but I know that she's the kind of person who is going to go as far as it takes.

"Consider it done. In the meantime, I want to give you this."

She slides a piece of paper toward me.

"What is it?"

"The records I found for his adoption. He was adopted through an agency called Sunshine. There's not much about them online, but they do seem to be a legitimate business."

"Are they here in Siren City?" I ask. My heart begins to race. I could go there. I could go talk to them. I could find out exactly what's happening.

It might be abrasive, but surely, they'd help me.

Right?

Adoption agencies are all about helping people.

"They are, actually. I couldn't find a street address, but they're a subsidiary of Shadowvale Industries," she says.

My blood runs cold. That's Ryan's company. Why the hell would they own an adoption agency – especially one that seems like it's actually bad?

"What do you mean?"

"Shadowvale Industries owns a lot of companies in Siren City," she says, unconcerned. "I plan to reach out to some of the higher ups. I have some contacts that may be able to help us. The important thing is that we're one step closer to finding Aaron," she says. "We're one step closer to finding your brother."

I want to believe her. I want to believe that this entire nightmare is going to be totally worth it because Aaron is going to be found, and he's going to be okay. Only, I'm starting to believe that we're only scratching the surface of what Shadowvale Industries really is. The entire corporation is so big that nobody really knows just how deep its roots go.

Ryan is in the adoption business, but it doesn't sound like he's working to help create families.

It sounds like he's buying babies.

And I'm falling in love with a monster.