Lucas strode purposefully down the ornate corridor, the heavy award statue cool and weighty in his hand. The applause and congratulations from the ceremony still echoed in his ears, but his mind was elsewhere—on Mila. It had struck him, amid the crowd and camera flashes, that both Vivienne and Sebastian had vanished, and he'd not seen Mila by their side. At first, he'd reassured himself: surely, she was with her mother. But a father's intuition gnawed at him, drawing him away from the celebration and into the hushed, dim hallways of the venue.
His heart thudded a little faster as he turned a corner and saw a small cluster ahead: Elena, kneeling, with Mila wrapped tightly in her arms. The sight stopped Lucas in his tracks for a moment. Mila, usually so bright-eyed and lively, was clinging to Elena, her cheeks stained with tears, her tiny shoulders shuddering as she rested against the woman's shoulder.
