Chapter 2

My name is Willow Lawson.

I'm an orphan.

Eighteen years ago, someone left me at the door of an orphanage.

The director was good to me. The lunch lady would slip me an extra spoonful of meat at meals. Lily, in the bed next to mine, would sneak me half a piece of candy.

I'd shown off-the-charts intelligence from the time I was small.

It was enough to land me a sponsorship that paid for school.

Still, every evening after class, watching the other kids leave with their parents, I would linger by the iron gate a little longer.

And then walk back to the orphanage on my own.

At every parent-teacher conference, the other students had two adults sitting at their desks. The seat beside mine was always empty.

Bit by bit, the other kids figured out I was an orphan, and they started keeping their distance.

Later, distance turned into deliberate targeting.

Once they realized that bullying me had no consequences, they got bolder.

Beatings. Water dumped on me. Locked in bathrooms. Glue on my chair. Books torn to shreds.

I knew I was in no position to fight back.

All I could do was take it in silence.

Burying myself in books became my whole school life.

Eventually, my grades took off, and I locked in the top spot of my entire grade.

The teachers loved me.

Even the principal praised me to my face.

The bullies saw it and didn't dare push me as hard after that.

Before I knew it, the SATs were upon me.

Outside the testing center, parents stood waiting with flowers, pulling their kids into hugs the moment they walked out.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous.

When the scores came out, I sat at the top of the state with a near-perfect 1580.

A reporter came to interview me and asked if there was anything I wanted to say.

I looked into the camera, thought for a long moment, and finally spoke."I want my birth parents to see this. If they're still out there."

Over the next few days, I lost count of how many admissions calls I got.

Until I heard the name of the school I'd been dreaming of.

Kingsford University.

With grades like mine, the scholarships came from every level, from the state down to the school itself.

Even so, I kept picking up part-time work.

A few days later, the director called me. "Willow, sweetheart, your birth parents have reached out to us."

Mama Helen's voice was trembling on the other end of the line. "They're the Lawsons, out of Kingsford. The family that runs Lawson Group. They said you were taken by traffickers all those years ago. They've spent eighteen years looking, and they finally found you."

I sat there in stunned silence for a long time.

Long enough that Mama Helen had to call my name several times. "Willow.

"They're flying into Saulton tomorrow to do a DNA test. Once the results are back, you can meet them."

Mama Helen paused, her voice catching."Willow, you have a family now."

I hung up, dropped to the floor, and cried for a long time.

They had been searching for me for eighteen years.

I hadn't been thrown away after all.

It wasn't that no one wanted me.

Three days later, the DNA results came back.

Ninety-nine point nine nine percent.

I stared at that sheet of paper, reading it over and over until my eyes blurred and tears soaked through a patch of it.

Mom.

The word felt strange in my head.

I had a mom.

I couldn't sleep that night. I lay in bed and let myself imagine all kinds of things.

My mom had to be gentle. Her hands had to be soft.

When you saw me, you'd pull me into a hug.

And...

I imagined so many things that night.