“Please, Mason,” I say, turning to him. “I’ll be okay. I’ve been here before. And I’ll have my phone on me the whole time.” I really hoped I was telling him the truth and that I was only going to see Ethan, not Lucas.
“Grace, you were a mess last time you walked out of here,” he says, and I sigh.
“I know, but nothinghappened.I really want to do this.”
Mason searches my face before glancing back at the man in the doorway. “You call me in five minutes. If you don’t, I’ll come in and get you myself,” he says, and somehow, I think he’d find a way.
“Thank you,” I say before walking through the doorway.
“Just keep following this corridor,” the guard says as the door shuts behind us, and I do as he says.
The corridor splits off up ahead, but just when I think I’ve somehow missed something, a door opens a couple of metres ahead of me.
“Emery?” Ethan questions, stepping out of the room, a confused frown wrinkling his forehead. “Is everything okay?”
“I…” I clear my throat. “I was hoping you could help me with something.”
Ethan tilts his head to the side, studying me. Maybe I’m wasting my time. He has no reason to help me, and I have nothing that I could give him. But before I left with Sebastian that night, he’d said I could find him here If I needed something. And here I am.
“How about we go inside rather than standing in the hallway?” he asks with a smile, and I nod.
When I enter the room, I recognise it as the same room we’d come to for Ethan to take my passport photo. Ethan drops into the chair behind his desk that is almost like a U- shape in the far corner, and when he spins back to me, one of his curls drops onto his forehead.
The way he moves, paired with his relaxed nature is different from Lucas Hale. I struggle to figure out their connection. Where Lucas is ruthless and thrives on power, Ethan is calming andnice. Iespecially find it hard to explain a scenario of how Lucas reacted to him telling him to leave when I was having my panic attack.
“So, what did you need help with?” he asks, gesturing to the other chair with his chin.
The chair squeaks as I sit, and I wring my hands in my lap, not sure exactly what to say. “I want to find Sebastian’s birth mother,” I say on a rush of breath.Remembering the photo of Sebastian and Elena I found in the reading room, I try to imagine that little boy left alone and waiting. Probably scared. And my heart breaks. I can’t imagine ever leaving a child like that. But my heart also aches for the boy who lost his mum.
He might have had Elena, and I’m grateful he did, but there still has to be a part of him, even buried deep down, that mourns the loss of the woman he never really knew.
Ethan’s brows raise as if that was the last thing he expected me to say. “What do you know about her?” he asks.
My mouth opens and closes without an answer.
“Anything?” he asks, and I realise I know nothing about her that could be helpful.
“I’m sorry.” I sigh. “All I know is that she left Sebastian in an alley in the city when he was four, and a few days later, he was found by Colton and Elena Reed.”
Ethan rakes a hand through his curls and lets out a breath. “It’s really not much to go on. Even if I could find a police report orsomethingthat listed the exact location he was found, I don’t know how much it will help.”
“But you found me…” I say.
“You were different. I had a picture. Aname,seeing as Grace is actually part of your legal name. Also, there’s someone who knows exactly who you are and is trying very hard to find you. He might not be broadcasting it to the world, but he still left a trace that I was able to tap into,” he says, and my stomach roils at the mention of my uncle.
“Thank you anyway,” I say, feeling my whole body deflate.
“I didn’t say Icouldn’t,but I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” he says, and my head snaps up. If there’s a chance, no matter how slim, I’ll take it.
Glancing at my phone, I realise my five minutes are up.I need to call Mason before he storms in here.Excusing myself, I click on Mason’s contact, and he answers on the first ring. The call only lasts a minute or so, but I reassure him that I’m okay and that I’ll be out soon.
“If I find anything, I’ll let you know.” He smiles, showing off one of his dimples.
“Why are you here?” I blurt out, immediately grimacing with embarrassment. “I mean, you’re nothing like Lucas. Why would you associate with someone like him?”Oh God, I’m making it worse, not better.
Ethan’s eyes dance with humour. At least he isn’t mad, though I guess that only furthers my point. “I suppose you could call it loyalty. My childhood wasn’t… easy. I messed up a lot in my teens, which put me in a lot of trouble with both the cops and people who couldn’t care less about the law,” he says with a sigh. “Lucas pulled me off the streets when I was sixteen. I don’t know where I’d be if he hadn’t. Hell, I’d probably be dead.”
As I listen to Ethan’s words, I find that maybe he and I aren’t so different.