Just in case.
Samia drove through the night, her old Toyota humming like a lullaby. She arrived at the resort as dawn bled gold over the sea. She found Alisha alive—not kidnapped, but sequestered. Pregnant. Protected. Samia Vince Banderos
Samia picked up the photo. Her thumb brushed the corner. “And what does your gut say, Mr. Vincent?” Just in case
He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t missing. He was hiding. She found Alisha alive—not kidnapped, but sequestered
“If I told you, you would have helped,” he said. “And then they would have come for you too.”
Samia stood there, caught between twenty years of anger and a truth she hadn’t expected: her father hadn’t abandoned them. He had built a wall around them by walking away.
The photo showed a woman with sea-glass eyes and a smile that could start a war. “My fiancée, Alisha. She vanished three weeks ago. The police say she ran off. I say she was taken.”