"Why is Daddy fighting Mommy?"
Ethan stood quietly behind the staircase, hugging his toy dinosaur as his tiny heart pounded.
He had overheard everything.
The yelling.
The court case.
The word custody.
He didn't know what it meant—but he knew it felt like losing one of them.
He waited until no one was looking. Then he packed his Spider-Man bag with cookies, his favorite storybook, and a drawing he made of all three of them smiling.
And he slipped out the front door.
The rain had just started. Soft, harmless.
But in the city, even a drizzle could turn dangerous fast.
---
Meanwhile…
Sophia was in a heated meeting when her phone rang.
It was the housekeeper.
"Ma'am… Ethan isn't here."
She froze. "What do you mean he isn't there?"
"We thought he was with you."
The blood drained from her face.
In another part of the city, Adrian's phone buzzed too. He read Sophia's message.
Ethan is missing.
For the first time since their divorce, both of them felt the same thing at the same time—
Fear.
And a desperate need to find their son… together.