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The woman from the motel camera.

Older.

Stronger.

Fighting.

Beautiful.

Alive.

“She changed her name,” I say.

Neither man answers.

“Brooks.”

Taylor keeps his eyes on the road.

“She had to disappear.”

“I know.”

“She probably thought changing her name was the only way to stay hidden from her parents.”

“I know.”

“She searched for Sage.”

“I know.”

Arthur leans forward between the seats.

“And she found you.”

I turn toward him.

“Not exactly.”

“She found Iron Ridge.”

“She called.”

“And who did she ask for?”

Me.

I look out the window.

For eighteen years, I wondered whether Hayley left me.

Whether she forgot me.

Whether she built another life.

Whether she ever thought about the boy she loved back in Tennessee.

Now I know.