The girl looked straight at him. There was no fear in her eyes, but there was no hope either. Her gaze was sharp and guarded, the look of someone who had learned early not to trust strangers.

Or anyone at all.

“Where are your parents?” Andrew asked, lowering his voice carefully, as if speaking too loudly might break something delicate between them.

The girl tightened her arms around the baby she was holding.

“There aren’t any,” she answered flatly.

The wind stirred dust across the yard of the abandoned house behind her. Andrew glanced toward the dark interior. Inside there was almost nothing—an old mattress, a rusty can, a damp blanket crumpled in the corner.

It wasn’t really a shelter.

It looked more like a place where someone waited for time to pass.

“How long have you been here?” he asked gently.

The girl hesitated. She glanced at Andrew’s expensive car parked nearby, then at the man in the tailored suit standing in front of her. Finally, she lowered her eyes to the dirt.

“Since Mom fell asleep,” she said quietly.

The words hit Andrew like a punch to the stomach.

“Where is your mom?”

The girl nodded toward the inside of the building.

Andrew slowly stepped forward. His assistant, Daniel, followed a few steps behind without speaking.

Inside, the air was thick and damp. There was a faint smell that told Andrew everything before he even looked closely.

In the corner, under a thin, dirty sheet, lay the still body of a young woman.

Too young.

Andrew didn’t need to step any closer to understand.

The girl hadn’t left.

She had been waiting.

Waiting for her mother to wake up.

Waiting for someone to come and do something.

The baby made a weak sound, a soft cry that barely filled the quiet room.

Andrew turned to Daniel.

“Call an ambulance. And the police.”

The girl immediately stepped back.

“No,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “Don’t take her away.”

Andrew knelt down in front of her. Mud darkened the knees of his expensive suit.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

She stared straight into his eyes.

“Everyone says that.”

The words pierced deeper than he expected.

Ten years earlier, he and his wife, Claire, had heard similar promises in sterile medical offices.

“We’ll do everything possible.”

“Don’t lose hope.”

“Medical science improves every year.”

But the results never changed.

Irreversible infertility.