It was a perfect trap, sprung the same way every holiday.

What Gene did not know — what she was about to learn — was that this year, for the first time, the trap had a way out, and it was sitting in a velvet box in a seven-year-old’s overnight bag.

Chapter 7 — I Prepared for It

“Brandon,” I whispered, turning my head a few degrees toward my husband.

He did not look at his mother.

He kept his eyes on Holly, who was staring at the tag in her lap with a small crease between her brows, trying to work out what she had done to earn it.