“Ryan,” she said softly.
His stomach dropped.
“She came days later. Exhausted. Pregnant again at the time. She said she needed time. She still calls once a month from different phones. Always asks if Mason is eating, growing. Never says where she is.”
Lucas ran a hand through his hair.
“And my brother?”
Ms. Harper opened a drawer and slid a folder across the desk.
“According to her, Ryan changed after an accident. Confused. Forgetful. Sometimes didn’t recognize people.”
Lucas felt the weight of regret crush his chest.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
She met his eyes.
She pulled out a worn photograph.
Ryan stood in it—thinner, older. A young woman beside him. A baby in her arms.
“That’s Elena,” she said. “And that’s Mason.”
Lucas’s hands shook.
“He’s my nephew.”
Searching for a Ghost
Lucas took leave from work.
He searched records. Hospitals. Old accident reports.
Ryan had been hospitalized in San Diego three years earlier after a motorcycle accident.
A nurse remembered him clearly.
“He was unconscious for weeks,” she said. “When he woke up, he didn’t recognize anyone. A woman came every day. Pregnant. Crying.”
Elena.
Lucas drove back north, his mind racing.
When he returned to the residence, Mason ran into his arms.
“Ms. Harper says you knew my dad.”
“Yes,” Lucas said. “We were very close.”
“Then why doesn’t he come?”
Lucas knelt.
“I’m looking for him.”
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