Chapter 1

The night I was kidnapped, I made one last phone call to my dad, police captain Marcus Harper. "Dad, save me!"

"Grace, even your jealous tantrums should have better timing."

On the other end of the line, he was celebrating his adopted daughter's birthday. His voice dripped with impatience.

"Today is Annie's eighteenth birthday. Pushing her down the stairs wasn't enough for you? Now you have to lie and make a scene too?"

I cried and told him I hadn't done it. All I got in return was a dismissive chuckle.

"Grace, either come home right now and apologize to Annie, or don't ever come back."

I never made it back.

Three months later, a girl's body was unearthed at an abandoned slaughterhouse on the edge of the city.

Dad led the team to the scene.

He pulled back the blue tarp covering the body and saw the red cord around my wristbone, the one with "Stay Safe" engraved on its silver tag.

The man who had saved countless missing children finally lost his mind.

Chapter 1

"Grace, you'd better actually be kidnapped." Dad's voice on the other end was ice cold.

I was pinned down in the back of a van. A knife pressed against the side of my neck, and the slightest movement sent pain shuddering through me.

"Dad, I'm not lying to you." I fought to swallow back my sobs.

The man slapped me across the face. He hissed through clenched teeth, "I told you to ask for money, not have a family reunion!"

The phone fell onto the seat cushion, still on speaker.

Dad's side was noisy. Someone was singing. "Happy birthday, dear Annie!"

I heard the cake knife clink against the plate, heard Annie's sweet, coaxing voice. "Daddy, come make a wish!"

Something tightened in my throat.

Today was my birthday too.

Annie and I were born on the same day. The only difference was she had a cake, candles, and a diamond necklace Dad had picked out for her himself.

I had a knife at my throat.

"Grace." Dad finally spoke. "Are you done making a scene?"

I shook my head desperately, but he couldn't see me.

"Dad, I'm on the west side of town. They dragged me away from the bus stop. I really..."

"The west side?" Dad scoffed. "Half an hour ago you were at home pushing Annie, and now you're suddenly kidnapped on the west side?"

I froze. "I didn't push her."

"Her knee is scraped up like that and you're still denying it?"

"She fell on her own." The words tumbled out of me.

One of the kidnappers kicked me impatiently. I curled up in pain as Annie's tearful voice came through the phone.

"Dad, just let it go. She probably just hates me that much."

"She's not your sister." Dad's voice dropped. "No daughter of mine would act like this."

"Don't let someone like her ruin your mood, Annie. Come cut your birthday cake."

The van went quiet for a second. Even the kidnappers laughed.

"Well, well. Your old man doesn't want you, huh?"

Tears fell all at once. Not because I was scared, but because I suddenly remembered the slice of cake I had left for Dad before I went out, pieced together from day-old cake layers and canned frosting from a discount grocery store.

I had stuck a note on the fridge: "Dad, can you spend my eighteenth birthday with me tonight?"

He probably never saw it. And even if he had, he would have just crumpled it up and thrown it away.

"Dad, I'm begging you." My voice shook violently. "You're a detective, aren't you? Please save me."

Silence from his end.

I thought he believed me. The next second, he said, "Grace, do you know what happens when you file a false police report?"

"I didn't file a false report."

"You've been like this since you were a kid." His patience was completely spent. "Lying, stealing, bullying Annie, and now you've learned to threaten me with kidnapping?"

I opened my mouth but couldn't speak. Blood trickled from the side of my neck into my collar, cold enough to make me go numb.

The kidnapper grabbed the phone and shouted into it. "I have your daughter. Sixty grand. Wire it now!"

Dad laughed. "Tell her to come home and get it herself."

The man was stunned for a beat. "Are you fucking deaf? If I don't see the money, I will kill your daughter!"

"Go ahead." Dad said each word deliberately. "I've seen this kind of act before. I just wonder if whatever she's paying you is worth putting on such a performance."

The moment he finished, the line went dead.

The van was silent for a long time. The man stared at the phone screen and suddenly swore. "We got ourselves a lunatic."

The one behind the wheel turned to look at me. "So what do we do?"

"What can we do?" The man grabbed my hair and dragged me backward. "Dump her somewhere far. Nobody's coming to look."

I stared at the dark phone screen. My face stared back at me, wrecked and unrecognizable.

I used to think that when people were at their most terrified, they would call for their mothers.

But I didn't have a mother. All I had was Dad, and he had just told them, "Go ahead."

The van swerved sharply onto a side road. Someone sealed my mouth with tape. As I struggled, the red cord on my wrist rubbed my skin raw and bloody.

Dad had braided that cord for me.

When I was five, I went missing. He found me under a bridge.

That day, he held me tight and said, "Gracie, Daddy will always keep you safe."

Later, Annie came into our home. She was a girl Dad had rescued from a trafficking case.

She was afraid of the dark, afraid of the rain, afraid of being abandoned.

Dad said we had to be gentle with her. And bit by bit, my room became hers, my birthday became hers, and even Dad became hers.

The van door opened. Cold air rushed in. The man dragged me out.

In the distance, I could see a row of abandoned factory buildings. Faded red letters on the wall read: NO TRESPASSING.

I knew then. I was never going home.

The man ripped the tape off my mouth and forced me to make another call. "Try someone else."

His hand was around my throat, choking off my air. In my contacts, Dad's number was at the top.

Next was Grandma, but she was old and I didn't want her to worry. After going back and forth, I finally dialed Annie's number.

The call was answered quickly. "Grace? You're still not home?"

"Is that Grace calling?" Dad's voice came through, growing clearer as he moved closer. "Playing games with me on the phone wasn't enough? Now you're calling Annie to keep up the act? Grace, when did you become like this?"

"I'm really not lying to you, Dad, I really..."

"Enough! Grace, it's eleven o'clock at night. If you're not back by midnight, don't bother coming home ever again!"

I heard rustling footsteps through the phone. I knew Dad had walked away.

"Grace?" Annie let out a short laugh. "I thought you hated me."

She lowered her voice. "If you actually die out there, I'll never have to worry about you stealing Dad away from me again."

"Oh, by the way," she said slowly, "I tore up that note on the fridge. Threw out the cake too. Don't even think about taking Dad from me today."

The kidnapper snatched the phone away. He hadn't heard what we said. He just cursed at me for stalling.

I watched the call disconnect. The last thread holding something together inside me snapped with it.

The man held the knife up to my face. "Last time I'm asking. Where's the money?"

I looked up at him. Suddenly, I wasn't shaking anymore. "My dad's a detective. He'll find you."

The man laughed so hard his shoulders shook. "Sure he will."

He crouched down and patted my cheek. "Then let him come looking."

Chapter 2

I didn't expect dying to happen so fast. And I didn't expect to still be able to see myself afterward.

My body was stuffed into the cold storage room behind the factory. The power had been cut long ago. Water pooled on the floor, and rotting woven bags were piled in the corners.

The man snapped my SIM card in half and tossed it into a gutter. The other one asked, "She's really dead?"

"What, leave her alive for her daddy to come get us?"

"Didn't her old man say he didn't care?"

"You actually believe a detective?"

I hovered in midair, watching them pile cement bags against the iron door.

Strangely, the pain was gone. There was only a cold so deep I couldn't even cry.

They left eventually. I was alone in the factory.

I wanted to go home. The moment the thought formed, the scene in front of me shifted.

Dad was unwrapping presents with Annie. The living room lights were bright, and a three-tiered cake sat on the table.

Annie wore a little crown, a smear of frosting still on her cheek.

She saw Dad's phone light up and reached over to lock the screen. "Who is it?"

He glanced down. "Your sister."

Her lashes fluttered. "Grace isn't really in trouble, is she?"

Dad turned his phone face-down on the table. "What kind of trouble could she possibly get into?"

"But she sounded like she was really crying."

"Annie." He fastened the necklace around her neck. "You're too kind. That's why she keeps fooling you."

Annie lowered her head. "I'm just afraid you'll regret it later."

Dad was quiet for a few seconds. "There's only one thing I regret."

I stood beside him. Even knowing he couldn't see me, I held my breath.

He stroked Annie's hair. "I should never have brought her home."

I heard myself laugh.

So even after you're dead, your heart can still ache.

I suddenly remembered. The year I was five, after my mother died, Dad worked cases for three straight days without coming home.

I was so hungry I couldn't stand it, so I went looking for him all the way to the bridge. I fell into the river and nearly drowned.

It was raining that day. When Dad came rushing to me, his pant legs were caked in mud and his eyes were terrifyingly red.

He held me so tight. "Gracie, you're all Daddy has left."

But people change. He had saved too many children. Whenever a missing child's family broke down in front of him, he would steady them.

He would say, "Don't worry. I'll find them."

The only time I begged him to save me, he said, "Go ahead."

At one in the morning, the landline rang. It was Grandma.

She lived in the old part of town. Her legs were bad, and she rarely went out. "Marcus, where's Gracie?"

Dad frowned. "Mom, why are you calling about her this late?"

"Today's her birthday. I made her chicken and dumplings, her favorite, but she never came."

"She's old enough to take care of herself. Stop worrying."

Grandma grew anxious. "Did you yell at her again?"

Dad pinched the bridge of his nose. "She pushed Annie down the stairs and made up some kidnapping story to scare us."

"Bullshit!" Grandma's voice shot up. "Gracie has been gentle since she was little. She wouldn't even step on an ant. You think she'd push someone?"

Annie stood at the top of the stairs, eyes rimmed red. Dad's expression darkened. "Mom, stop always taking her side."

"Taking her side?" Grandma was so angry she started coughing. "Marcus, your wife died young. Do you have any idea what Gracie's childhood was like?"

Dad glanced at Annie. "Let's talk about this tomorrow."

"Put Gracie on the phone."

"She's not here."

"Not here?" Grandma paused. "Where could she be at this hour?"

Dad didn't answer. Annie walked over and tugged gently at his sleeve. "Daddy, does Grandma not like me?"

Dad hung up immediately. He soothed her. "That's not true. Besides, you've still got me."

Annie threw herself into his arms. I stood in the middle of the living room.

I suddenly remembered the night I had a high fever at fifteen. I had tugged at his sleeve the same way.

He told me the squad had a case and to take a cab to the hospital myself.

It was pouring rain that day. I sat in the emergency room hallway, burning up at a hundred and four degrees, and sent him over a dozen messages.

He only texted back two words: "Stop it."

That same night, because Annie had a nightmare, he drove home overnight from out of town.

Back then, I even made excuses for him. Annie had been trafficked. She needed Dad more. I was different. I was his biological daughter, and biological daughters were supposed to be understanding.

Looking back now, being understanding was useless. The ones who cry get the candy. The ones who don't cry? Nobody even hears them die.

Near dawn, Dad finally opened my messages.

The location I had sent the night before was still there. The bus stop on the west side.

He looked at it for a few seconds, then closed it.

Annie came over carrying a glass of milk. "Daddy, are you going to go look for Grace?"

Dad slid the phone back into his pocket. "No."

"What if..."

"If she wants to make a scene, let her get it out of her system." He picked up his car keys. "I'll drive you to school today."

Annie nodded obediently. At the door, she suddenly turned around and looked right at where I was standing.

My heart lurched. She couldn't see me, of course. But facing the empty air, her lips moved.

I read them clearly. She said, "You deserved it."

Chapter 3

When Grandma arrived at the house, Annie was trying on a dress. White, with a billowing skirt. Like a princess.

Dad sat on the couch, taking pictures of her. "Beautiful."

"Really?"

"When has Daddy ever lied to you?"

The doorbell rang for a long time. The housekeeper opened the door, and Grandma came in leaning on her cane, her face white as paper. "Where's Gracie?"

Dad set down his phone. "Mom, what are you doing here?"

"I asked you where Gracie is."

"I don't know." Grandma raised her hand and slapped him across the face, the sound so sharp the whole living room went silent.

Annie shrank behind Dad. He didn't flinch. He only frowned. "Mom, please. Not in front of Annie."

"Annie?" Grandma pointed at her. "She's a kid, but Gracie isn't?"

Annie's tears fell in big drops. "Grandma, I know you don't like me, but Grace really did push me."

She peeled back the bandage on her knee. A small scrape, a tiny patch of red. Grandma didn't even glance at it.

"All Gracie sent me last night was a single period."

I froze. I hadn't sent Grandma a message.

Grandma pulled out her phone with shaking hands. On the screen was our chat thread.

At 2:17 a.m., I had sent a single period. It must have gone through by accident while they were disposing of my body.

Dad took the phone, his brow furrowing. "She has time to send this but not to return a call?"

Grandma shook her head. "Something's wrong. She would never do this."

"Mom." Dad's tone was hard. "She knows exactly how to make you worry."

Grandma stared at him. "Marcus, what is your job?"

"I'm a detective."

"Then tell me. An eighteen-year-old girl doesn't come home all night, her phone is off, and the only thing she sends is a single period. Does that sound normal to you?"

Dad said nothing. Annie bit her lip. "What if Grace is doing this on purpose? She's done this before..."

Grandma whipped around to face her. "Shut your mouth."

Annie flinched. Dad stood. "Mom, Annie hasn't done anything."

Grandma was shaking with anger. "Keep protecting her. One day, you'll be on your knees begging Gracie to forgive you."

Irritation flickered across Dad's face. "She can learn to stop lying first."

I stood beside Grandma. I wanted so badly to hold her, but my hands passed right through her shoulder and touched nothing.

After Grandma left, Dad went to the station.

Not to look for me. Annie's school needed a fingerprint clearance, and the station was on the way.

The officer on duty greeted him with a smile. "Captain, someone reported a missing person from the west side last night. The family was in tears."

Dad's steps faltered. "Who?"

"An elderly woman. Said her granddaughter disappeared." The officer pulled up the report. "Name's Grace Harper."

Dad's face changed. "Was the report logged?"

"Yes, but it was classified as an adult voluntary absence. There was no verified sign of foul play, so it hadn't been assigned for an active search yet."

Then he added, "But the old lady said her granddaughter was kidnapped last night. Even called her father about it."

The room went quiet. Everyone looked at Dad.

Dad took the report. On it were my name, age, height, and the clothes I had last been seen wearing.

And one line Grandma had written in shaky handwriting: "My Gracie would never run off. Please, I'm begging you, look for her."

Dad stared at that line. His fingers tightened.

A colleague asked, "Captain, is Grace your daughter?"

Dad didn't answer.

His phone rang. It was Annie. "Daddy, I'm a little scared."

Dad immediately turned to leave. "What's wrong?"

"Some kids at school said Grace really is missing. They're all saying it's my fault because I kept you busy with my birthday."

"Don't be scared. I'm on my way."

"What about Grace?" Dad stopped. Annie sobbed, "If she comes back, can you tell her to stop hating me?"

He closed his eyes. "She won't come back to bother you."

I followed him out. Wind blew in through the station doors. The report was left under a stack of files, unassigned. Nobody looked at it again.